Who will Donald Trump pick as running mate? Contenders gather in Florida | The Excerpt

On Saturday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson looks at a number of potential Trump VPs gathering at a donor retreat in Florida. More arrests have been made at campus protests, as Princeton students begin a hunger strike. Unemployment rose in April. USA TODAY National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry discusses protests against book bans and restrictions on Black history. President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday to 19 Americans. The 150th Kentucky Derby is today! Check out our special episode.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Saturday, May 4th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, we take a closer look at possibilities for Trump's running mate, plus we get some lukewarm jobs news, and protesters are pushing back against book bans.

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Several contenders for Donald Trump's running mate are attending a Republican donor retreat this weekend. I spoke with USA Today national political correspondent David Jackson to learn more. David, thanks for hopping on.

Hey, thanks for having me.

David, can you just start by telling us about this Republican donor retreat this weekend?

This event is not particularly unusual. The Republican Party frequently has what they call retreats for their big money donors. They do it down in Palm Beach, Florida, not far from the ex-president's home in Mar-a-Lago. It's an opportunity to butter up some of the people who give them a lot of money, millions and millions of dollars.

The interesting thing about this weekend is that it just so happens that the guest list includes six to eight people who are prominently mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates for Donald Trump, and that's what's got everyone's `interests in this particular event.

David, who are some of the names that really stand out to you and will be attending?

Several names that have been on the list for quite some time. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who campaigned a lot with Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. He's on the list. He's been highly praised by Trump and he would be the Republican Party's first African-American nominee on a national ticket. If Trump wants to go with the historical pick, that's probably going to be his answer.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is also going to be there. Now it's his home state, but a lot of people have talked about Rubio as a potential running mate for Trump. The problem there is that they're both from Florida and that might present some legal problems for them, so that might deter that thought.

Another candidate that gets a lot of attention is J.D. Vance, who's a freshman senator from Ohio. He's on TV a lot defending Trump. Trump really likes what he does on television, likes the way he defends him, and so he's another one that is being given serious consideration.

There are also a few female candidates on there. I think the most prominent name among those is a congresswoman from New York named Elise Stefanik, who also campaigned with Trump back during the New Hampshire primary. Basically was a tryout earlier in the year and she did well and she's someone that also said to be considering.

Beyond this retreat, David, who are some other names that you're keeping an eye out for who might be in the mix for Trump to consider as running mate?

Well, there are several in the second tier list, if you will. The group of names who aren't at this retreat this weekend are largely people who are being pushed by aides to former President Trump.

There's also a thought that Trump may not want someone who's particularly young and ambitious and who is thinking about running for president themselves in 2028, so more of a caretaker type of pick. That's where you hear names like former Housing Secretary Ben Carson. He's someone who's also mentioned a lot and he is not going to be at this particular retreat. There's all kind of speculation going on. The only thing we know for sure is that Trump is not telling anybody who he's got in mind and there are a lot of possibilities.

You mentioned Trump's aides, David. Do we have any sense on how he's going about this massive decision? Is he tapping others for advice on this or does it really appear he'll make this decision mostly on his own?

He's definitely going to make the decision on his own, but he is talking to a lot of people. He's talking to a lot of aides, he's talking to a lot of friends. I'm told that there is a team within the organization that's prepared dossiers on a dozen or so candidates, but I'm also told that Trump has barely looked at them. We're still a long ways away here. As you know that Trump is in the midst of a hush money trial, so he is got other things on his mind right now, but it's Donald Trump's show. A lot of this is going on inside of his own head and he says that he may not make the decision until the convention opens on July 15th. We've got a ways to go.

All right. David Jackson covers national politics for USA Today. Thank you, David.

Thank you, sir.

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More arrests were made at several colleges. 14 Princeton University students launched a hunger strike and police raided an NYU encampment yesterday in the latest battles on college campuses that have pitted university officials against their own students over the war in Gaza.

The protests calling for a ceasefire and for universities to divest from Israel and Israeli companies have spread nationwide since police arrested more than a hundred students at a Columbia University encampment last month. Since then, thousands of arrests have been made during campus protests. The hunger strike at Princeton comes a week after students launched a Gaza solidarity encampment, and after 15 protesters were arrested. You can read more with the link in today's show notes.

US payroll growth slowed last month as employers added 175,000 jobs. That's amid high interest rates and stubborn inflation while average pay increases fell to a three-year low. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said yesterday the unemployment rate rose from 3.8% to 3.9%. Job creation in April was still solid by historical standards, but the jobs report portrays a broadly cooling labor market. Last month, healthcare and social assistance again led job gains.

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Protesters marched yesterday in Washington, pushing back against book bans and restrictions on black history. I spoke with USA TODAY National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry for more. Deborah, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt today.

Thank you for having me.

Deborah, what did these protests outside the Supreme Court on Friday center on?

Well, they're groups of civil rights leaders and some students, and they were launching what's called the Freedom to Learn campaign. What they're protesting is several states and jurisdictions have implemented some book bans, as well as restricted some of the teachings of black history. They were there to protest against those efforts.

There were many leaders of civil rights organizations, but there were also a lot of students, particularly a large group from Morgan State University, which is HBCU in Maryland. They came and they were really excited about, as they put it, remembering and honoring the work of their ancestors who fought for civil rights decades ago. One student in particular, Thayla Baptiste said, "We're here, we're fired up. We will continue to advocate for our freedom to learn." She was really passionate about making sure that the young people were at the Supreme Court and representing for them and other students who couldn't be there.

What do protesters really functionally want?

Well, for the most part, they want the book bans to stop. They want the lessons to be taught, the full and unfiltered history, of black history of Native Americans. They want all of that to be taught and freely taught. They argue that people are trying to change the history, try not to tell the complete American history, which in this case they say black history is American history. All of that should be taught and taught throughout all the schools.

Deborah, can you help us better understand this moment that we're in, the broader context around book bans and how black history is being taught in America, and also how does critical race theory fit into this?

Well, for the most part, at least for the activist's perspective, they are arguing that there's efforts to water down and/or erase some history. They argue that there's a lot of misinformation about critical race theory that it's being used as part of a cultural war, as a weapon, and that is not actually being honestly discussed.

With that in mind, they are pushing back on these efforts to change that, to implement book bans, to decide who could read what and why. Many of the books that are being banned are books written by black authors or authors of color about issues like race and/or sexual identity. Most of the times it's been conservative lawmakers are pushing back saying that those issues should not be discussed or they should be discussed in different ways or that they should be more age appropriate. The supporters are arguing that there are different perspectives and saying that schools and lawmakers should have more say in what is taught in schools and parents should have more say.

Deborah, would you tell us more about Freedom Summer 2024, and also just generally what's next for this conversation going forward?

Basically, it's commemorating the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, and that happened in 1964 where hundreds of college students joined activists already in Mississippi where they spent the whole summer registering black people to vote. It was kind of a turning point in the movement.

What many groups are doing, including the Secretary of State in California, a lot of the veterans of the movement, as well as these protesters Friday, are trying to reenergize that whole focus and that energy and trying to remind people about what happened 60 years ago and how they could use that power and that energy to get people engaged in voting and get them actually to show up at the poll as well.

In this case, the protesters, they have in what's called as CRT or Critical Race Theory Summer School, where they will have people come in for a week long training to go over everything from advocacy, voter engagement, pushing again back against these book bans, and trying to help people become much more civically engaged and more importantly to plan to vote. Then there are different efforts by other groups to recognize Freedom Summer. Most of it's through voter registration efforts and making sure people are prepared and well-informed about why they should vote and when they should vote and the power of the vote.

All right. Deborah Barfield Berry is a national correspondent with USA Today. Thank you Deborah.

Thank you.

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President Joe Biden yesterday awarded 19 Americans the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He included former Vice President Al Gore, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Other recipients included Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky, actress Michelle Yeoh, talk show host Phil Donahue, and Judy Shepard, the co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an organization created in honor of her son who was murdered in one of the nation's most notorious anti-gay hate crimes.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom established by President John F. Kennedy is the nation's highest civilian honor presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the "prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal, public or private endeavors." Biden himself is a past recipient of the medal, receiving the honor as vice president from then President Barack Obama in 2017 before the end of their second term.

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The Kentucky Derby is later today. The famous horse race is marking its 150th anniversary. For more, check out our special deep dive episode from earlier this week. We have a link in today's show notes.

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Be sure to tune into The Excerpt tomorrow for a conversation with Nihad Awad, the National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, with my colleague Dana Taylor. You can find the episode right here beginning at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson and I'll be back Monday with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.