Stephen Colbert offers wild reason why JD Vance won’t be Trump VP – and it’s also bad news for Don Jr and Eric

Donald Trump will soon reveal who he’s chosen as his running mate for the 2024 presidential campaign after months of speculation – andThe Late Show host Stephen Colbert thinks he’s worked out who it won’t be.

The former president has reportedly narrowed his shortlist down to three candidates – Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Ohio Senator JD Vance and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – with the likes of Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kristi Noem and Elise Stefanik seemingly no longer in the running.

Vance, the author of the best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy and a Trump convert, would appear to be the former president’s starriest option but, according to Colbert, doesn’t stand a chance.

Why? Because of his facial hair.

The comedian outlined his theory on Tuesday night, playing a clip of pundit Marc Caputo telling Erin Burnett on CNN: “There’s some buzz in Trump’s orbit like, ‘Look, if JD Vance doesn’t get it, it’s because of the beard.’”

Colbert responded: “Wow! Trump doesn’t like beards? I mean why on Earth would he hate...”

The host then cut to a side-by-side image of the candidate’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, both of whom sport beards.

“OK, yeah. Makes sense,” he quipped.

The comic also pointed out that if Trump were ultimately to choose Vance as his prospective vice president, he would become the first bearded man to hold that office since Republican vice president Schuyler Colfax more than 150 years ago.

Trump is well known to disapprove of facial hair, disliking his former national security adviser John Bolton’smoustache (“The moustache is a major problem,” Steve Bannon once said, “Trump doesn’t think he looked the part”). He alsoreportedly ordered Don Jr to shave his Covid quarantine beard,