{"id":2209000,"date":"2024-03-29T09:09:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T13:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-trump-converted-his-vp-front-runner-from-skeptic-to-maga-faithful\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T09:10:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T13:10:40","slug":"how-trump-converted-his-vp-front-runner-from-skeptic-to-maga-faithful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-trump-converted-his-vp-front-runner-from-skeptic-to-maga-faithful\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming his VP front-runner from skeptic to a devoted supporter of MAGA, Trump&#8217;s strategic approach was key"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-trump-converted-his-vp-front-runner-from-skeptic-to-maga-faithful%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2209000&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-ukraine-a-hawkish-biden-and-some-skeptical-gop-lawmakers-mark-role-reversal\/\" title=\"Biden takes tough stance on Ukraine, GOP lawmakers show skepticism in role reversal.\">shown unwavering support<\/a> for former President Donald Trump\u200c during his campaign. Originally critical of Trump in 2011 and 2012, Donalds has since been\u2063 considered as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-val-demings-planning-to-run-against-sen-rubio-in-florida\/\" title=\"REPORT: Val Demings Planning To Run Against Sen. Rubio In Florida\">potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-knows-he-messed-up-on-fracking-at-debate-and-is-now-doing-damage-control-the-daily-wire\/\" title=\"Joe Biden Knows He Messed Up On Fracking At Debate And Is Now Doing Damage Control | The Daily Wire\">running mate<\/a><\/a>. Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judiciary-committee-splits-on-controversial-justice-department-nominee\/\" title=\"Judiciary Committee Splits on Controversial Justice Department Nominee\">past criticisms<\/a>, \u2063their relationship has \u2062evolved positively over time, as reported by CNN. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) transitioned from being critical of former President Donald Trump in 2011 and 2012 to becoming a strong\u200c supporter during Trump&#8217;s campaign. This \u2062shift \u200cled to Donalds being viewed as\u200d a potential running mate. Despite their initial differences, the relationship between them has improved over time,\u2063 highlighted in a CNN report.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/byron-donalds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Byron Donalds\">Byron Donalds<\/a> (R-FL) has been an ardent supporter of former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> in his presidential campaign and has been eyed as a possible running mate for Trump, but Donalds was not always an ally.<\/p>\n<p>Donalds criticized Trump several times in 2011 and 2012, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/29\/politics\/kfile-byron-donalds-trump-criticisms\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"report\">report<\/a> from CNN, even posting \u201cThank God!\u201d on Facebook when Trump announced he would not run in the 2012 presidential race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump is a huge distraction, and cares more about himself than the country in my opinion, but I could care less about him,\u201d Donalds wrote in a Facebook post in April 2011, per the report.<\/p>\n<p>Many of Donalds\u2019s comments about Trump came when the New York businessman was making headlines for being skeptical about then-President Barack Obama\u2019s place of birth and questioning his birth certificate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump is a self-promoter yelling about 25% tariffs on China,\u201d Donalds said in another Facebook post at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Donalds\u2019s posts came as he was running for Congress in 2012 \u2014 a race he lost.<\/p>\n<p>In subsequent years and elections, Donalds tied himself closer to Trump as the former president became the leader of the Republican Party. Donalds has been a fierce defender of Trump in the 2024 campaign, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/2868657\/byron-donalds-vp-trump-cpac\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"raising his profile\">raising his profile<\/a> in the race for Trump\u2019s running mate in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>He has also recently come to Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/2884365\/byron-donalds-defends-trumps-comments-about-black-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"defense\">defense<\/a>, claiming that black people like him \u201cbecause they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as being discriminated against.\u201d Donalds said Trump\u2019s various indictments are similar to what \u201cblack people had to deal with\u201d regarding the justice system in the country.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Donalds defended the congressman, arguing that the Florida congressman is being considered as a running mate because of his \u201csteadfast support for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/big-tech-censorship-left-wing-violence-in-national-spotlight\/\" title=\"Big Tech censorship, left-wing violence in national spotlight\">45th president<\/a> and his historic policy agenda\u201d and calling the report \u201cweak but typical of CNN.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to Donalds\u2019s office for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a staunch supporter of ex-President Donald Trump, was considered a potential running mate. However, he hadn&#8217;t always been an ally, criticizing Trump in 2011-2012, as per CNN. Despite prior differences, the relationship evolved positively over time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2209001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24055145500822-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24055145500822-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}