Susan Rice, one of Joe Biden’s contenders for vice president, name-checked her President Trump-supporting son when asked whether she could identify with members of Trump’s base.
“I have a 23-year-old son whom I love dearly, whose politics are very, very different from my own and from the rest of our family,” Rice told NPR. “My son and I will have some robust disagreements over some matters of policy, not all. And yet, at the end of the day, you know, I love him dearly, and he loves me.”
Rice’s son Jake Rice-Cameron was president of the Stanford College Republicans and, during his tenure, hosted events such as “Make Stanford Great Again.”
His mother on Tuesday said the pair still share common ground despite her distaste for Trump.
“We agree, for example, on the importance of the United States playing a responsible, principled leadership role in the world,” she said. “We agree on the importance of having strong alliances. We agree we have to be clear-eyed and strong in dealing with adversaries like Russia and the threat that China may pose. We disagree on things like choice. I’m pro-choice. He’s pro-life. That’s the kind of difference that we ought to be able to respect.”
Rice, an Obama administration national security adviser and former United Nations ambassador, previously delved into her relationship with her son in her 2019 autobiography, Tough Love. The subject was broached in the NPR interview after she touted Biden’s ability to bridge political divides exacerbated during the Trump era.
Rice is reportedly near the top of Biden’s running mate shortlist. Other female candidates being considered by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee are California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and California Rep. Karen Bass.
But her candidacy is hindered by critics of her leadership in the aftermath of the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. A campaign neophyte, she’s also expecting scrutiny of her “unmasking” of Trump campaign officials Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Jared Kushner in intel reports about their undisclosed December 2016 meeting with United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
