Trump in no hurry as he leans into the pageantry of vice presidential tryouts

NEW YORK (AP) — As former President Donald Trump remains stuck in the courtroom listening to salacious details of an affair he denies, another spectacle is playing out in the background as his vice presidential tryouts get underway.

The dynamic was on full display over the weekend at a closed-door fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club that doubled as an audition featuring a long list of potential running mates. Trump, at one point, invited many of the contenders on stage like contestants in one of his old beauty pageants. The next day several of them, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, South Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. Marco Rubio and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, fanned out across Sunday news shows to sing his praises.

“This weekend, we had 15 people.… They’re all out there campaigning,” Trump told Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin on Tuesday. “It might actually be more effective this way because, you know, every one of them thinks they could be chosen, which I guess possibly is so.”

The comments demonstrate why Trump is in no rush to pick his potential second-in-command or publicly winnow his choices. For now, the presumptive GOP nominee is happy to revel in the attention as reporters parse his choices and prospective candidates jockey and woo him in an “Apprentice”-style competition.

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