Amid all the recent turmoil, I’ve been thinking about the upcoming election. I think that, so far, Donald Trump has been running an excellent campaign. He has avoided any “mean tweet,” “horseface” gaffes, and hopefully, he will continue to be sensible in his comments. Defending himself against attacks is perfectly legitimate; being a boor isn’t. To date, he has effectively done the former and avoided the latter. But he’s Trump, so we keep our fingers crossed. Biden is (perhaps inadvertently) making himself and policy the main issues in this campaign, and that is helping Trump, too.
I believe Trump has won the abortion debate. I wish abortion would end today, but that’s not going to happen, it isn’t where the country is at present. Mr. Trump’s “let the states and the people decide” sounds imminently reasonable to most Americans. He has pushed the Democrats into defending their hard-left, abortion-on-demand position which will only appeal to their crazy base. Trump wasn’t going to win any of those votes anyway. By sounding moderate, and in effect saying he doesn’t want the federal government to decide the issue—a federal government fewer and fewer Americans are trusting nowadays—he has seized the high ground here.
His trials are purely political, and most Americans seem to realize it. The Democratic Party-hard left hope they can use some convictions against him to convince enough Americans that Trump is a criminal who doesn’t deserve the presidency. Given the locations of these trials, there is a solid chance they will get some convictions, but so far, nothing, legally, the Democrats have thrown against Trump has hurt him drastically. Many Americans see these trials for what they are—a blatantly politicized use of the DOJ to personally attack a political opponent, and presently, the Dems aren’t winning this issue, either. It’s too transparent. Further, many Americans are waking up to just how horrible a President Joe Biden has been, and an unfairly convicted Trump is more appealing to them than four more years of a senile, 80-plus-year-old failure (who is probably a bigger criminal than Trump) with an unpopular vice president.
Trump has also been judicious with the “pro-Palestinian” protests. Let Biden handle them, which he clearly hasn’t been able to do. Trump is pro-Israel and everybody knows it. Biden has only fumbled the issue, as he has everything else.
So, currently, things look good for Trump. But America is a horribly divided country, the Democrats will certainly cheat, and there yet remain 6-plus months until the election. Lots can still happen.
I mentioned Biden’s vice president, and, for the remainder of this column, I want to discuss Trump’s choice. That selection will certainly be important, if not decisive. It may indeed make a difference in a close election—a solid choice will help him, a bad choice could hurt him. Whom should he select?
I have a favorite and I will mention that person before I finish this article, but I want to talk principle first. I am of the firm belief that the vice president should be selected with the presidency in view—who would be the best person to take over if Trump died in office? Biden has been able to stumble his way through his four years, but Trump would be 78 years old when inaugurated. He appears to be in good health, but 78 isn’t young and there are no guarantees for anyone, especially at that age. He needs to select the person who would be the best president in case he did perish during his term.
Personally, I have no doubt who that is—Ron DeSantis. He was my first choice for Republican nominee during the primaries (Trump was my second), and I still believe he would make an excellent president. I don’t know if there is too much “bad blood” between Trump and DeSantis for DJT to ask RDS, or if RDS would accept if DJT asked him. I am speaking ideally here. Get the best person—for America—in the vice presidential chair. That should be the first, primary consideration.
And can you imagine a debate between DeSantis and Kamala Harris? The Democrats would NEVER let that happen. They probably aren’t going to let Biden debate Trump, either. DeSantis is my first choice for VP.
Yet, when selecting a running mate, there is always the talk about choosing a candidate from a state with a large electoral vote so that perhaps the VP can “bring” that state with him in the general election. Trump will almost surely win Florida, DeSantis or no DeSantis, so “bringing Florida with him” wouldn’t come into play. Who else is possible?
Tim Scott has been mentioned, and he could possibly sway some black votes towards the GOP. That would be helpful. But Tim Scott as president? Hmmm...And Trump will win South Carolina anyway. I’m not sure Scott’s ready to be president. But I wouldn’t oppose his selection as VP.
Would Kristi Noem help with women voters? Maybe. Maybe not. The GOP will win South Dakota regardless. A big question is, who is there in the “swing states” that Trump could select? Frankly, I’ve heard no well-known names yet from those locations. Sorry, but Kari Lake is not ready for Washington. Trump won’t choose the untrustworthy Brian Kemp. There are some good people in some of those states, I’m sure, but they’ll need some PR work if Trump selects one of them. No, of course, to Nikki Haley. I’m not an Elise Stefanik fan, either, and Trump won’t win New York even if he selects her.
Ron DeSantis. If he’ll take it.
I’ll mention another name I’ve heard: Glenn Youngkin. He seems pretty solid and he might be able to bring Virginia with him.
Probably, Trump will choose someone I haven’t discussed here. But I wish he would select the best person to take over as president, if necessary. That, to me, is priority No. 1.
Check my substack mklewis929.substack.com. There’s lots of other good stuff on Leftism, the Founders, etc., along with Biblical studies, so sign up. Follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.
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