Tucker Carlson Talks About Being Donald Trump's 2024 VP

Conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson played down speculation he could be selected as Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate in the 2024 race, describing the notion as "just so unimaginable."

In an interview with his former Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM on Monday, the social media pundit responded to a question about whether he would serve, saying: "I haven't led a life that prepares a person for politics."

"I don't think I have any like horrible skeletons or anything," he added. "It's not that, it's just that that's not how my brain works. I've never done anything like that. I can't imagine spending time with politicians."

Newsweek approached the Trump campaign via email for comment on Tuesday.

Carlson's comments came after the former president, who currently leads the Republican primary field, told the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show earlier in November that he would consider the commentator for the second half of his ticket.

"I like Tucker a lot," Trump said at the time. "I guess I would. I think I'd say I would because he's got great common sense."

Last week, Axios reported that if Trump were to win the GOP nomination and the presidential election next year, he would fill his cabinet with loyalists willing to stretch boundaries for him, with leading lights of the conservative movement tipped for posts. Many of Trump's cabinet and White House staff at the start of his first term were conventional Republicans, which led to public fallouts.

The Republican presidential primary has already seen several figures from Trump's first administration launch campaigns against him, including his former vice president, Mike Pence, who dropped out of the race at the end of October, and Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Allies of Trump are looking to build an administration-in-waiting by taking applications for potential talent, with Axios earlier reporting the project was using artificial intelligence to ensure applicants' ideologies align with the former president's—though one expert suggested to Newsweek that it was a ploy to rile rivals and make his ascension appear "inevitable."

With Trump and Pence putting acres of distance between themselves since announcing their candidacy, people are asking: Who will he select to run with him, and who might be willing to?

Carlson said he was "a total sucker for Trump," who was "charming" as well as "funny as hell, and he's brave in a way." He added that he agreed "fundamentally" with the former president's views and was "kind of psyched to vote for Trump."

"But serving in politics with anybody, I mean, it's a lot for me to think about because I just don't think I'm really suited for that," Carlson said. "Would anyone want to see a guy like me run for office?" he asked, before answering his own question with: "Not really, actually."

Kelly then remarked that she would like to have seen Carlson on the GOP debate stage as "you would be saying what's real," but Carlson said he had known people who had run for president who he thought would be "completely honest" before they changed their messages due to outside influences.

He went on to say that he was content with his life and so he would need a reason to run for high office, which would disrupt that.

"I don't think America needs me, and I don't want to become an egomaniac or a solipsist—and that's what you become," Carlson remarked.