For months, Media-industrial complex There is wild speculation about the vice presidential race, much of it from the would-be candidates themselves.
Suddenly these stories would come out: Tom Cotton, an exceptionally strong candidate! Ben Carson! Byron Donalds! Glenn Youngkin! People you knew, no matter what their qualifications, really didn’t have a chance to be president. Donald Trump’s running mate.
And then there was the former president himself, who met or campaigned with most of the contenders, watching their TV interviews, a process akin to “The Apprentice.”
One particularly absurd moment came when Axios reported that Nikki Haley Haley was being “actively considered” for the vice presidential spot. The news collapsed the next day when Trump released a statement saying Haley was definitely not being considered, which was not a surprise given the bitterness between them and her lack of support.
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Former President Trump’s vice presidential race is in its final stretch, and only three serious contenders remain: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
What was most surprising about most of the stories was that Trump had not made up his mind. Now he says he has made up his mind, but he hasn’t told the lucky contender. Of course, there’s no stopping Trump from changing his mind at the last minute, which he often does.
Still, since the investigation is still ongoing and multiple news outlets are reporting that it’s limited to just the lucky trio, I’m inclined to take those stories more seriously.
Those three are Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance and Doug Burgum.
Each brings their own strengths and weaknesses, so such decisions often depend on who Trump is most comfortable with. Eight years ago, it Mike Pence, Who was extremely loyal till January 6.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Florida Senator Marco Rubio are all in the running to become Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. (Left: Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Middle: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Rubio, the only nationally known person, may not think it’s a big deal. Naming the first Hispanic vice president will obviously excite that community, even if it’s not a monolithic community and Cuban-Americans will be the most excited. I don’t see the constitutional ban against two candidates from the same state as a big deal, because Florida Senator He can easily change his address.
I have interviewed Rubio several times, but more importantly, I saw him at a town hall in 2016 and he is a charismatic speaker. He has a grasp of foreign policy and has long resolved differences with Trump over mutual name-calling (“traitor”).
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As a strong speaker, he will certainly be in the news – which is also his disadvantage. Trump does not like to be in the shadows. From day one, whether openly or not, Rubio will run for president in 2028.
Furthermore, Rubio has decided not to campaign for the position. He did not join the campaign trail with other candidates. Trump’s Manhattan trial. According to some, this has made Trump question how much Marco wants the job, but I think it’s a different style.
Third-term Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was former President Trump’s main opponent in 2016, is now on his vice presidential shortlist. However, Rubio must be careful about how much of Trump’s fame he tries to take advantage of. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
J.D. Vance is not a familiar name and has been a senator for less than two years. He gained attention for his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was widely praised (and criticized) for its portrayal of the kind of white voter who would help Trump win. He is also a success story, having emerged from a difficult childhood in which his grandmother had to beg for more meals from Meals on Wheels.
But Vance opposed the former president in 2016 and ran on a “Never-Trump” policy (“stupid,” “reprehensible”), a stance he readily abandoned when running for office.
Vance undoubtedly has the sharpest wit in the group, the support of Donald Trump Jr. and the most pro-MAGA voting record, but his vision of revolution differs from Trump’s. Two years ago, Vance said in an interview that Trump should “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.” Of course, this would be a violation of civil service rules.
Senator JD Vance on rumors of Trump’s vice president bid: The president didn’t ask me
Vance said new York Times Columnist Ross Douthat, who knew him before he became a writer, said: “I had to face the reality that one of the reasons anti-Trump conservatives hated Donald Trump was because he was a threat to the way of doing things in this country that had been so good to them.”
Ohio Senator Recently he told the Washington Post: “The price of being beloved by the establishment is that you don’t say anything interesting.”
And that’s the problem. Vance will say a lot of interesting things, which will draw the boss’s attention to him.
“Hillbilly Elegy” author and freshman Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, once a strong Trump opponent, changed his tune when seeking federal office and is now a finalist for the former president’s vice presidential running mate. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Which brings us to Doug Burgum. He’s the governor! Has been for eight years. Yes, governor of a small state North Dakota, whose three electoral votes Trump will win anyway, but the former president has spent a lot of time with him and really likes him — despite Burgum having run against him earlier in the presidential election cycle.
For one thing, he’s a big business magnate who sold his tech company to Microsoft for a billion dollars two decades ago. For another, he’s charming in a quiet way. And Burgum has “the look” — the dignified presence of a vice president — and Trump likes to embrace people who seem to be from central casting.
When I interviewed Burgum a few weeks ago, he downplayed his prospects, saying he had a dozen private-sector ideas he’d prefer to try rather than make a big move. Cabinet position. He responded to issue-related questions efficiently and without missing a beat, sometimes in clear one-liners.
After attending the Alvin Bragg case and then reading the media coverage, he told me, “I thought they were in a different trial than the one they were in… The Americans have already acquitted Donald Trump.”
Still, as one of my colleagues said, he’s pretty fierce and new to the national game, so he still seems like a real guy.
The mild-mannered gentleman can also take a punch. Burgum told Fox’s Martha MacCallum last week that “under Joe Biden, We’re really living under a dictatorship today, where he’s, you know, bypassing Congress on immigration policy; he’s bypassing Congress on securing our border; he’s bypassing Congress on student loan forgiveness; he’s bypassing the Supreme Court.” That line of attack has resonated ever since.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum quickly rose to the top of former President Trump’s vice presidential shortlist following his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
So, by process of elimination, Burgum poses the fewest problems for Trump. He’s not trying to run for president in four years, he’s not going to draw much attention from the president, and he has a lot more potential than I thought when we did our interview.
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Now this is where I have to caution that this logical analysis could be off-base. Trump could, for example, pick Rubio, or someone who is not on the list of three. He could change his mind at the last minute. How would we know, since we have no way of checking who he has picked?
A word about the timing of the announcement: There’s a reason a vice-presidential name didn’t appear at the convention, and his name is Dan Quayle. The media went wild over George H. W. Bush’s choice, questioning everything from the senator’s intelligence to his ethical past, and it completely disrupted the convention.
When John McCain chose Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska And the Hockey Mom became very popular at the conference. Only to be questioned later by Katie Couric and others for being naive and unprepared.
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So I doubt Trump will announce his choice right before the election. Milwaukee ConventionThe story needs to be allowed to unfold before the focus shifts to the nominee.
But then again, anything is possible with Donald Trump.
