Rep. Byron Donalds says he could handle the vice president position — and president — if needed

Rep. Byron Donalds said Sunday he would be able to step in as president if needed if chosen as former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

“I think if you’re going to step into that job, it’s obviously the toughest job, the biggest job not just in our politics but really, frankly, in the world,” the Florida Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Look, I think that I would have an ability to step in. I’m actually pretty intelligent.”

“I can sift through issues really, really well. It’s about judgment. It’s about logic streams. It’s about how you make decisions, at the end of the day,” Mr. Donalds said.

Mr. Donalds’ name has been consistently mentioned as being on the former president’s short list of vice presidential candidates. He is up against Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York; Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

Mr. Donalds said he “100%” believes in himself.

“We’ll see what President Trump decides,” he said. “I’m going to support whatever he does.”

Mr. Donalds also defended Mr. Trump’s comments about the Wisconsin city that is set to host the Republican National Convention next month. The presumptive Republican nominee reportedly called Milwaukee a “horrible city” while in a closed meeting with House Republicans last week on Capitol Hill.

“With respect to Milwaukee, he was talking about allegations of voter fraud and also the crime rate,” he said. “I think it’s important for people to understand your murder rate may be down, but that doesn’t mean that violent crime, et cetera, are also lower. Those are two different pieces of crime. Obviously, murder is the most heinous of them all.”

The Trump campaign was quick to clarify what Mr. Trump meant, saying he was referring to the city’s crime rate and voter fraud.

Mr. Donalds said Republicans chose Wisconsin because “there are voters in the state of Wisconsin, like voters all across America, who are frustrated with what has happened to our country under Joe Biden.”

“Immigration massively up and out of control. The labor markets are okay, not great. Wages are down when you adjust them for inflation. People are struggling to make ends meet in Joe Biden’s America. So the president’s taken his message everywhere, including the City of Milwaukee,” he said.