Trump finally reveals his shortlist for vice-president – and DeSantis has made the cut

Donald Trump has hinted at some of the names on the shortlist to be his running mate if he wins the Republican presidential nomination, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis among the more surprising inclusions.

Taking part in a Fox News town hall in South Carolina ahead of the state’s Republican primary on Saturday, Mr Trump was presented with a list of rumoured contenders by moderator Laura Ingraham that featured such popular GOP figures as former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott, Florida congressman Byron Donalds and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem as well as, much more improbably, Mr DeSantis.

The latter endured a fairly disastrous campaign for the White House, which he cut short ahead of the New Hampshire primary last month, in which he repeatedly failed to connect with voters and was bullied and taunted remorselessly by Mr Trump, who ridiculed him as “Ron DeSanctimonious”.

Having spent his final days as a candidate rebuking his fellow Republicans for being prepared to bow down to Mr Trump and “kiss the ring”, he now appears to be prepared to do the same himself, having reportedly flown out to South Carolina on Tuesday, as alluded to by Ms Ingraham during the broadcast.

Another intriguing name mentioned was that of Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii representative who was a Democratic presidential candidate as recently as four years ago.

Ms Gabbard appeared on Fox earlier this week to join in Mr Trump’s attack on Nato member states for not paying their dues to the military alliance while nevertheless expecting protection from the United States.

Not mentioned, significantly, was Elise Stefanik, the New York congresswoman who has been lobbying hard for the job in recent weeks, nor was Arkansas