A longtime advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump floated the idea on Tuesday that retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson would being a pretty good running mate if The Donald should clinch the GOP nomination.
Republican operative Roger Stone, who left the Trump campaign in recent days over a conflict with the GOP frontrunner, told host and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura on the show “Off the Grid” that he still supports the billionaire’s presidential ambitions and could foresee a powerful ticket in the general election.
Stone said Trump would need a running mate who’s a “non-career” politician.
“I think Trump-Carson would be a very strong ticket. Now that’s just my opinion,” he said. “Beyond that, I would try to find somebody else outside the discipline of politics. He doesn’t need some governor or former governor or some Senator, he needs somebody who comes from another world. The world of business, the world of medicine.”
Trump’s campaign has said that Stone was fired in the past week following the first GOP debate, but Stone has said that he resigned.
Ventura, who earlier in the interview suggested he might like to return to politics on the Libertarian presidential ticket in 2016, asked Stone if he thought Trump would ever consider him for the Republican vice presidential slot.
“I think people view you as an outsider,” Stone said. “But Jesse, you’d have to become a registered Republican under the rules of the convention, and I don’t think I could ever get you to do that.”
Stone said that under those rules, Ventura might have to change his party affiliation to be considered for Trump’s VP.
“Well, he is a great negotiator, Jesse,” Stone said. “He’d maybe be able to get you to change your mind.”
Watch the interview:
