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Trump’s VP Pick
Picking a running mate will be one of the most significant signals Donald Trump will give the electorate, and it’ll be a crucial moment to his path to victory in November. According to the Washington Post, the speculation is he’s vetting Governor Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, and Senators Jeff and Bob Corker.
Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), and John Thune (S.D.) have also been bandied about in Trump Tower as options. Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who previously served in the House, are two of the leading women in the mix.
The only outright blunder would be Christie, who is wrong for many reasons, not least of which is that he’s another Northeastern bully (we need just one, thank you), he has horrifically bad political instincts (cheerleading the Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia Eagles’ stadiums, hugging Barack Obama, overeating …), and is now widely seen as a joke and a toady.
Trump needs to reassure wavering Republicans that he’s serious and basically on their team, and could use some help with the game of inside politics and legislation. He also needs someone who will not get cold feet nor give the GOPe an incentive to impeach him so as to have “their man” (Corker?) inherit the presidency. A woman would be okay and might help a little with female voters, though it might also look weak in a way, and the two women cited aren’t exactly legislative masterminds.
Of those mentioned, I’d pick Gingrich, since he meets most of the criteria I cited. I’m sure I’m missing various aspects and possibilities. Your thoughts?
Published in General
I wonder who would be fool enough to accept the job. It will end up staining them for the rest of their lives.
Scott Brown is the likely choice.
Yuck.
Agreed. Any way you look at it, this election is going to be a disaster.
How about former Senator Tom Coburn? He’s everything Trump is not: He speaks with a calm, measured voice, and has clear, well- considered principles.
He would reassure conservatives and would be a help legislatively. He has Washington experience but isn’t considered a Beltway insider.
Love Coburn, but he had some rather negative things to say about Trump. Not happening.
Trump is the nominee so conventional criteria of ideological consistency, geographic balance etc or any other rules that apply in normal times probably don’t apply.
I think Christie is probably the candidate best-suited to what will be the main role of Trump’s running mate–fielding questions from the press about un-PC outrages, anti-conservative stances and apparent flipflops and doing so with aplomb, humor and defiance.
Also Christie can sound like the average guy telling the establishment to drop dead even though his governing record is not exactly a reprise of a sagebrush rebellion.
We need to think outside the box this year because we are all way outside the box this year whether we know it or not. I rely on the insight of that great social philosopher Hunter S. Thompson:
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Well, more than just the election. We’re seeing who believes in the values of a liberal republican and who believes in fascism.
The staining you are talking about will be worn as a badge of honor by the anti-elitists. For example, just take libertarians: one should be glad to have their disdain.
I think Newt makes sense because the enemies of Trump and those who hate Newt (and Cruz, btw) align rather nicely: GOPe and the left wingers in the country.
Larry, might it be that you and Mark have a simple difference of opinion about some of Gingrich’s ideas?
What is Tom Cotton is the Vice Presidential pick and then we force Trump to pull out leaving Cotton as the candidate!
And, in all due respect, Cotton as VP doesn’t cover off my concerns about Trump.
Usually, it’s not specific ideas that are trotted out — instead, it’s just a knowing little thing like Mark says above — “we all know Newt can’t be trusted and he’s a flake.” When Newt feels strongly about something he’s usually right. Newt has a mind that allows all ideas to float through it, he can evaluate, compare and contrast and then move forward. Overall, he has done a great deal of good for the country. Much more than most Republicans. He does it by not being doctrinaire. This upsets closed minded people (like libertarians and other elitists).
So what’s Newt’s position on NAFTA now and is that palatable to Trump? Or are we at the point where he wants VP enough to say just about anything?
Why not Trump is a 70 year old man, who likely won’t run again at 74, then again you never know. But I doubt Trump will want to deal with the restrictions that come with being president.
So the scenario is Trump is president for 4 years, Tom Cotton who is 38 runs again in 2020 and is president for 8 years. I know, I know, and we’ll all get free puppies and rainbows everyday too, but it isnt implausible.
Yet another thread highlighting the disconnect between the #NeverTrump and the pro and reluctant Trump. We #NeverTrumpers have already written off this election. Not only are there no good outcomes for this election, the least bad outcome – a Trump victory and a good SCOTUS pick – is so improbable (I make it a 50:1 shot) that it doesn’t effect our calculations. Our main motivations are how to limit the damage. For that reason we don’t want a young conservative to associate with Trump if they don’t have to.
Then the polite thing to do would be to ask Mark for some specific examples, rather than accuse him of trafficking in leftist tropes because he thinks Gingrich has both good and bad ideas.
Okay, Larry.
It’s not about elitists and anti-elitists. It’s about who the collaborators were.
I haven’t written off the election. A lot can happen in the next month.
Why is there this nihilist streak in Never Trumpers? If you think that America is the last hope for freedom on Earth, why not fight? Again, not saying Trump is any kind of savior but we have to beat the Democrats to have any hope of saving the country from the left. The left is the enemy of freedom, not Trump. It is the left which is so entrenched in our bureaucracy and judiciary that any hope to get any semblance of a Constitutional Republic will not happen in my lifetime, but the breaks need to be put on the left or at least slowed down.
Aren’t Trump supporters the nihilists?
The “never” in NeverTrumpers tells you who the nihilists are. Also, when people say they have written off an election already — this is nihilism combined with depression — otherwise known as nihilism^2.
Interestingly, I find that when people talk that way they are mostly passing on a meme that is meant to be destructive of Newt and/or his character. I am countering with an anti-meme of the same quality and type. My interest is not in convincing Mark but in helping to move others to think twice before they write someone off.
We are well past the time that Newt’s positions matter, Tom. But, I appreciate how your mind works on this but I think he and I are having the exact conversation we want to have. Here’s the thing, though, blogs like this have other people affected by them: lurkers, listeners and other curious people.
No, (for the record i was not a Trump supporter during the primary, I am anti- Hillary and anti-leftism anything to defeat the left I am game for) .
I listen to a lot of talk radio and the impression I got from many of the enthusiatic Trump supporters during the primary was that they didn’t trust the other candidates to go after Hillary the way they wanted them to. Many supporters believed that another candidates would have pulled their punches, they wanted someone to challenge her on Benghazi, her emails, her corrupt foundation, the bimbo eruptions, White water, Etc…. the whole thing. They didn’t trust the other Republicans to do it because they had been disappointed time and time again by the leaders in the party by not pushing back on Obama.
I didn’t agree with this I believed Ted Cruz would have hammered Clinton on all of that and much more articulately. It would have been amazing to see that debate but my candidate lost and Trump is the presumptive nominee so I want him to win. No President Hillary, ever.
How about Christie at Justice.
I’m saying that a good VP pick is not going to calm people’s concerns about this man – it just won’t have that much influence.
There are a lot of assumptions here on both sides. I have no confidence in Trump. I believe he is a pathological liar, who will say anything to forward his interests. He is not concerned with the Constitution or process rights.
How do you know? John McCain will be 80 in November, and he won’t give up. He’s running for a 6-year term right now.
This is my assessment as well. He may be better than Hillary, but that’s setting the bar ridiculously low.
And … if I’m not mistaken, Thad Cochran is already embalmed yet he won’t give up either. #RememberMississippi
No Fred, they are proceeding based on the established order. We have had a primary election, Trump won the necessary delegates and is now the presumptive nominee. The never crowd is trying to rewrite the rules. Herein lies the problem between the two camps. It’s really quite simple.