Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently described what he is looking for in an "ideal" vice presidential candidate, and he is basing it on advice that he received from former President Donald Trump. 

Ramaswamy did so, according to Fox News, during a campaign stop that he made Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in Corydon, Iowa.

There, a voter asked Ramaswamy whether he would be able to find enough candidates with which to fill his cabinet if he were to be elected president in 2024.

The voter was concerned that Ramaswamy would not be able to find enough individuals who would agree with his ideas - individuals who, as the voter put it, "won't cut your legs off."

"Someone like Elon Musk"

Ramaswamy began by telling the voter, bluntly, that, no, he would not be able to find enough people to fill his cabinet if the candidates are limited to individuals residing in Washington, D.C.

The Republican presidential candidate, however, suggested that he would be able to find many people outside of Washington, D.C., to be part of his cabinet. And, it was here that Ramaswamy revealed what he is looking for in a vice presidential candidate.

"If you’re looking outside the pool, there are 300 million mostly good people in this country . . . So, a lot of them [cabinet members] are going to be outsiders. I mean, an ideal vice president would be someone like an Elon Musk. Now, he wasn’t born in the country, so he can’t, you know, but that’s the mold," Ramaswamy said.

Here, Ramaswamy was referring to the fact that Musk would neither be able to run for the U.S. presidency or vice presidency because he was born in South Africa and thus is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, which is what the U.S. Constitution requires in a presidential or vice presidential candidate.

But, this response from Ramaswamy came after he, earlier in the day, revealed that he learned this from Trump - that it is important to surround oneself, in the White House, with outsiders.

Trump will be looking for outsiders to fill his next administration

Vice presidential talk is a bit premature for Ramaswamy, considering the fact that he is significantly trailing in Republican primary polls.

Real Clear Politics currently has Ramaswamy polling in the single digits, trailing Trump - the leading candidate - by over 50 percentage points.

The importance of what Ramaswamy had to say, however, is this: it gives us some insight into who Trump would surround himself with were he to win a second presidential term in 2024.

If what Ramaswamy says is true, then Trump will be looking to surround himself with some outsiders.

This is not that surprising considering that Trump has frequently highlighted the fact that insiders played a significant role in undermining his first term as president.