The Trump 2024 Veepstakes
While we are just two state contests into the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary season, the outcome seems to be evident, that former President Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee. For many, Trump might not have been their first or even second choice, but Republicans and conservatives realize what a dangerous and perilous place our country now finds itself in, all thanks to the incompetency of Joe Biden and his merry band of equally incompetent buffoons. Because of this, we are seeing the Republican Party come together in a fairly decisive way, a good thing to see. Trump will be victorious in New Hampshire, so the first question will be, will Nikki Haley drop out of the race before the South Carolina primary to save herself from the embarrassment of losing badly in her home state, and the second question, and the one most fun to be bandied about, who will be Trump’s pick for Vice President?
The obvious first thing to point out is that Donald Trump has a deep bench to choose from. The Republican Party is chock full of smart, eager, very competent people. Most of the names that appear most often on the list are young, with undoubtedly very bright futures in the Republican Party. Donald Trump is looking for some very specific things in a V.P. pick. First and foremost, must be loyalty. In 2016, most had former Vice President Mike Pence pegged as the perfect balance to Trump. He had been around the D.C. swamp long enough to know how things worked, he was consistent in his conservative principles and appeared loyal. Then came Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans watched how easy it was for Democrats to completely spook him into waving off any challenges to the 2020 election, no matter how completely constitutional they were. He quickly certified an election that four years later, one-third of U.S. adults say was one in which they believe that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected.
Of course, the traditional thing most wanted in a V.P. is the ability to take over on a moment’s notice if, God forbid, the President is unable to continue fulfilling his official duties. Thanks to the Biden/Harris administration, the importance of that quality has been made even clearer. So, just who might be on the Veep shortlist?
When you think of youth, the first name that comes to mind is former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Besides being young, and extremely smart, he billed himself as one of the “two America First candidates,” the other presumably being Trump. He holds many of the same positions as Trump, and at just 38 years old, could have the ability to draw in younger voters to the Republican Party. But if not the Vice Presidency, because of his youth, Ramaswamy could conceivably run for a House or Senate seat from his native Ohio and do very well. Upon suspension of his own campaign, he immediately endorsed Trump. Vivek Ramaswamy will be a major force within the GOP for many years to come. Several women have come up in the V.P. discussion. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is a name always included on the list. She is also smart, young, and has an appeal that could bring over many new female Republican voters. Former Arizona Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has been mentioned. As Arizona has become a crucial swing state in recent elections, Kari Lake may be seen as someone who could secure Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. A recent addition to the list has been Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sanders is Trump’s former White House Press Secretary and was pretty good at manhandling swamp creatures in whatever form they came in. But Sanders has stated that she is quite happy being Governor of Arkansas and likely would not throw her name in the hat for V.P. Rounding out the list of strong Republican women, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). She is also a young rising star within the party. Her most recent claim to fame, shredding former Harvard President Claudine Gay over her “it depends on the context” squishy condemnation if that’s what you want to call it, of calling for the genocide of Jews on Harvard’s campus. But if the hope is that Stefanik would bring a few more Republican votes from New York, she might, but not enough to matter. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance’s name has been thrown around. He is yet another rising party rock star, and anyone who has read his book or seen the movie by the same name “Hillbilly Elegy,” knows what an amazing life story he has. But he is a first-term Senator and needs to arm himself with a bit more swamp experience. Former presidential candidate and current South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has V.P. potential. He is smart, experienced, would not take any crap from the media, and would add to the percentage of black voters that have signaled that they are no longer buying what the Democrat Party has been trying to sell black voters for over half a century, and coming over to the GOP. Finally, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. While the fact that there may have been a good amount of bad blood generated between him and Trump during his run for the White House, there is a good chance that could all become water under the bridge. Many have speculated that a Trump/DeSantis ticket would be a GOP dream team. At just 45 years old, he would also bring some youth to the ticket as well.
If you are Donald Trump, the deep, well-qualified Republican bench is a good problem to have.