Trump’s beauty, er, vice-presidential pageant
Former President Donald Trump loves his pageants and competitions — and not just his spectacularly creepy reign as owner of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants or his old reality TV show The Apprentice .He relishes the ongoing pageant competition, the kissing of rings, the swearing of loyalty and other efforts to win his favor as he searches for a running mate.
The fact so many Republicans want to be on the ballot with Trump is a bit of a surprise, considering how the last guy in that job had to flee Capitol Hill from a crowd of Trump supporters who wanted to hang him. I suppose the current crop of ambitious Republicans have asked themselves, “Come on, how likely is it that would happen two cycles in a row?”
Depending on whom you listen to, Trump is reportedly considering Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and J.D. Vance of Ohio; Govs. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas and Doug Burgum of North Dakota; Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York; and former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is also a former Democrat.
By the time you read this, some other name might be the flavor of the day. The only major Republican figure who doesn’t have a dog’s chance is … eh, you saw South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem coming. Cricket didn’t.
(Trump said during a Fox News town hall in January that he had already picked his running mate, but you might have noticed not everything Trump says turns out to be true.)
For what it’s worth, Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s senior campaign advisers, scoffs at any list floating around in the media: “You should not make these kind of assumptions and then commit them to paper,” he posted on X. “They will only come back to bite you.”
The Republican veepstakes brings with it two elements lacking from the 2024 general election: suspense and drama. We already know that, barring some health issue, the Democratic ticket will be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They’re known quantities, running on four more years of what you’ve got already. Trump means four more years of what you’ve already had.
When Trump makes his selection, most of these GOP figures will return to relative obscurity. But somebody is going to be elevated into the national spotlight, on the ticket in a jump-ball race, running alongside a man who turns 78 on June 14, who likes to eat Big Macs and fries from McDonald’s. Trump’s running mate might well be a clogged artery away from the presidency.
Republicans like to jab, fairly, that considering Biden’s age, a vote for Biden in November 2024 might well be a vote for President Harris at some point in the following four years. But a vote for Trump might well be a vote for his running mate within the same period. The stakes of Trump’s selection are genuinely high.
Unlike in most presidential elections, when the choice of running mate has little impact on the final result, this year could be an exception. If Trump chooses someone who makes a more plausible future president than the less-than-reassuring Harris, plenty of wavering voters could break his way.
Expect Trump to drag this out as long as possible. He doesn’t really need a running mate until the Republican convention, which starts July 15. The closer we get to that date, the more intense the speculation will become — and if there’s anything Trump loves, it’s being at the center of a media frenzy. Trump announced his selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on July 15, 2016; the Republican convention in Cleveland began three days later.
It’s easily forgotten today, but in 2016, multiple news organizations reported that sources claimed Trump got cold feet about Pence and asked if he could alter his selection after word had leaked. Trump loves people competing to be his choice. He’s less comfortable with actually making a decision and being locked into it.
And that’s the problem with ever-increasing veepstakes hype. Eventually, that long list of names whittles down to one, and then you’re not left with a blank slate but an actual flesh-and-blood selection who will please some voters and disappoint others.
There’s probably no running mate who could single-handedly win the presidency for Trump. But there are definitely ones who could lose it for him.