How badly do you want to be vice president?
Query the average person off the street and their answers would probably tend closer to “not at all” than “I’d give my left arm to do it”, but regular people aren’t the ones in line to get the nod in the first place. For Washington politicians, particularly Republicans this year, the prospective pool of Trump running mates, they can hardly contain their anticipation at the possibility the nominee-to-be may call them sometime in the near future.
And this makes for a lot of excitement and a healthy dose of intrigue, too. Add the fact that Trump has already been through two general elections and one running mate selection process and this year’s choice is all the richer fodder for speculators and political gossipmongers to mold and shape.
Political pundits drone on about how Trump’s second vice president selection will automatically be primed to win the GOP’s 2028 nomination, overlooking the reality that much can happen between now and then, and, the fact no one knows who Trump will choose and the reasons why he did so in the next few months. Trump keeps his own counsel on the matter and its safe to say that even those in Trump’s inner circle aren’t privy to all of his personal deliberations.
Trump has always been impulsive, but he’s also very thorough and prides himself on being right. What he probably wants most for 2024 is to avoid what happened in 2020 when Mike Pence went off the rails publicly and privately over the election aftermath. This can’t and won’t happen again – and that’s why it’s thought Trump values loyalty above all else now. Two is stronger than one, right?
As for the potential candidates themselves, it’s nervous time, because there’s so much riding on Trump’s deliberations. In an article titled “GOP vice presidential hopefuls look for Trump’s golden ticket”, Brett Samuels reported at The Hill:
“Instead of the usual eight-year wait a vice presidential pick would face, Trump’s selection this time would become an overnight favorite to be the GOP nominee in four years.
“To the extent that whoever he picks as vice president could be the presumptive front-runner four years from now, it’s a bigger deal than normal,” said Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. The vice presidential pick could also be seen as the heir apparent for the MAGA movement, which has all but completely taken over the GOP under Trump.
“Allies to the ex-president and Republican strategists say Trump is not focused on setting up an heir apparent. He’s instead looking for a vice presidential candidate who will be loyal — perhaps the most important factor to Trump in picking any help — and someone who will help him defeat President Biden in November. But everyone involved in the jockeying knows the special importance of this year’s decision.”
Yes, it’s certainly important, but it also should be remembered that the job of vice president can just as easily be deflating and, where Trump is concerned, taxing for one’s patience and reputation.
Seriously, why would a promising pol want to be vice president? Here’s guessing the reasons are many, not the least of which is the status the position carries with keepers of the historical record, which, once the office is attained, lumps you in with other notables such as John Adams (the United States’ first vice president) and Thomas Jefferson and Spiro Agnew and Walter Mondale and Al Gore and Dick Cheney and… senile Joe Biden?
Except for maybe the first few examples, it’s not exactly a killer’s row of memorable names, but all of these human beings will be listed for eternity as once having been elected by the people of the United States to the second highest office in the nation. Regardless of their individual merit (or lack thereof), vice presidents have a line being etched on a marble wall somewhere.
Vice presidents also enjoy terrific “workplace” benefits including full-time Secret Service protection, a pretty sweet living set-up at the United States Naval Observatory (Number One Observatory Circle), three squares a day, near full use of Air Force Two and, as senile Joe Biden amply demonstrated, all the ice cream one could eat. As you may recall, Forrest Gump didn’t mind being wounded in Vietnam and then recovering because he could consume the cold stuff all day long if he wanted to. Gump possessed similar brain waves to Joe Biden, I think.
But probably the biggest perk of all is the privilege of being listed on the president’s administration as part of the critical whole. Mike Pence was indeed a valuable component of Donald Trump’s political operation, providing necessary ideological direction to a chief executive who loved to dabble in big picture conceptualism but, from reports, didn’t take to micromanaging little details.
Trump was – and is – the ultimate idea man, but someone had to be nearby to slice the big concepts into manageable pieces. Here’s thinking Trump relied on Pence to accept this role and it’s likely one of the biggest reasons why the two became so estranged after the 2020 election because the vice president refused to adopt the president’s view of constitutional power.
Current veep Kamala Harris, again, from reports, isn’t well regarded by the president’s staff handlers. She’s petulant, unorganized, flighty, inane, obtuse and generally incapable of doing much other than showing up and fixing her coiffure. The people who work for her can’t stand her, she treats underlings poorly and, if there ever was an example of someone being added to a presidential ticket because of their demographic intangibles, it’s cackling Kamala.
Biden immediately tasked her with big subject areas – illegal immigration and “voting rights” measures in the Democrat Congress – both of which she roundly screwed up. You may recall Harris made a number of overseas trips in the first couple years of the Biden administration and was panned by the international community for her lack of knowledge or abilities to learn. She’s an idiot. It’s why her presidential campaign didn’t even make it to 2020 (Kamala called off her campaign in December, 2019).
Vice presidents also enjoy the public’s impression that they’re a vital part of any administration without being saddled with a heck of a lot of responsibility. Senile Joe Biden got dressed up for every one of Barack Obama’s public events but didn’t have to do much other than flash his phony political smile and stay within shouting distance to bring the president a glass of ice water if he called for it. Kidding. I don’t know this for sure, but if you were Obama, what would you trust Joe Biden to do?
Therefore, it’s fathomable why so many Republicans are currently vying to be Donald Trump’s second vice president. Simply put, it’s a career maker, not a career breaker.
Even if, for some reason, the ticket fails to win this November’s election, that person likely still would have a leg-up on the 2028 Republican nomination race because he or she will have had the invaluable Trump tacit endorsement before they even start assembling the campaign machinery to make a go of it.
But this isn’t true of certain possible Trump running mates. If, for example, Trump temporarily loses his perspective and taps Nikki Haley to run with him out of pure electability attributes, there’s no guarantee that the MAGA grassroots would go along with her in the future. Trump’s movement has the telltale signs of having staying power, but there is only one Trump (at least outside his family) and there’s no guarantee that the “magic” would translate to his 2024 vice president choice.
Ditto for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, though here’s thinking the Floridian is much more capable of attracting the MAGA adherents’ loyalty and devotion in a few years’ time. DeSantis’s governing style is much more of Trump’s in-your-face variety than is Haley’s. The same could be for Senator Tim Scott, though it’s difficult to predict how aggressive the South Carolinian would become if he were to stand next to Trump for a few years.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that just because a vice president pairs with a legendary president that it’s no sure thing the chief executive’s agenda will be furthered by the next generation. Conservatives and Republicans rallied to George H.W. Bush’s side during the 1988 campaign only to be betrayed and disappointed by Ronald Reagan’s veep during his own presidency. Bush’s broken “Read My Lips” promise still resonates with conservatives who would be dead-set on making sure a follow-up establishment-type president didn’t ruin what Trump does in his second four years.
Those are some mighty big shoes to fill, and we’re not talking about shoe size. Trump’s cult of personality has a life of its own and conservatives love the fact that the lifelong real estate developer turned first-time politician turned president of the United States isn’t shy about hurting feelings among the swamp establishment. Trump generally doesn’t play nice just to make friends, and whenever he went against his instincts in his first term, it backfired on him.
Does such a boat-rocker-type Trump vice president exist? The person will need a steel spine and thick skin, but also an orientation towards the future and willingness to risk unpopularity to support policies and public stances that the establishment media will roundly trash.
Will Trump’s second vice president be willing to buck the headwinds on NATO, for instance?
It’s understandable how a plethora of Republicans are silently vying to be chosen by Donald Trump to be his new second-in-line. But success isn’t assured for that person. A vice president must be first and foremost a main cheerleader for a president’s agenda and decisions. Check your ego at the door. Can it be done?
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2024 presidential election