Former President Donald Trump's search for a 2024 running mate, which has been ongoing almost since he announced his candidacy for a second term in late 2022, could involve some serious developments over the coming weekend.

Trump will play host this weekend for a Republican National Committee spring donor retreat, part of which will be held at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and will feature several guest speakers who are also prominent contenders to be his vice presidential pick, CNBC reported.

Though nothing has been confirmed, it seems likely that Trump will take advantage of the opportunity to quietly hold one-on-one meetings with the VP prospects who could also be in contention for other high-profile roles in a potential second Trump administration.

Top VP contenders to speak at South Florida RNC event

According to CNBC, the weekend's RNC event in South Florida includes a Friday evening reception at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palm Beach followed by a more formal dinner, while Saturday's schedule includes lunch at the Mar-a-Lago resort and is capped off with another dinner at the Four Seasons that night.

Some of the announced "special guests" who will deliver speeches and are also contenders to be former President Trump's running mate include Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC) and J.D. Vance (R-OH); Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Byron Donalds (R-FL); and GOP Govs. Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Doug Burgum of North Dakota.

Stefanik will speak during the Friday reception, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, while Sens. Rubio and Scott will deliver speeches at Friday night's dinner.

During the Saturday afternoon gathering at Mar-a-Lago, Trump himself will address attendees along with Reps. Donalds and Wesley Hunt (R-TX), as well as business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, while Saturday night's dinner will be headlined with a speech from Sen. Vance, among others, including several GOP Senate candidates in key battleground states.

Of course, as the liberal media can't seem to stop itself from doing, MSNBC host Alex Wagner derisively labeled the entire RNC event as little more than a "cattle call" for Trump and his possible VP picks, and joined with The Atlantic's McKay Coppins to critically discuss "the right mix and degree of shamelessness, malleability and abject obeisance" those contenders would need to display to earn Trump's nod of approval.

Real purpose of RNC event is fundraising

Fox News reported that though much of the media and public's attention will be largely focused on former President Trump's VP search, given how many top prospects will be in attendance, the primary purpose of the weekend's events is to raise money for Republicans ahead of November's elections.

An unnamed GOP strategist close to Trump told the outlet, "The events this weekend are really more about raising money for the presidential race than it is about auditions for the potential VP candidates."

Along those lines, Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said the spring donor retreat "is certainly an opportunity for a collection of the most dynamic leaders of our common sense movement to demonstrate the winning messages we have to end Biden’s weak and dangerously dishonest presidency. Those who financially support President Trump and the America First agenda will see that they are helping save our nation with victory in November."

Trump's VP search gets "serious"

It was just about a month ago that Politico published an in-depth report about how former President Trump's VP search was finally "starting to get serious" after months of speculation and teasing about who was and wasn't on the ever-changing "shortlist" of probable contenders for the important role.

Former senior counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway, outlined for the outlet some of the criteria she expected her former boss to consider in selecting his running mate but also suggested that Trump was eyeing some of the people on the list for other key roles in a prospective administration, and said, "The VP is the most important decision, but he is widely focused on personnel all around."

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), a strong ally of Trump, emphasized the particular importance of the former president's eventual VP pick in this election cycle as he explained, "This person will not only be one heartbeat away from the presidency during President Trump’s next term, but will likely be our nominee in ‘28 and serve as president for the next eight years following President Trump’s term."