I think Trump will pick Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallon for his vice presidential nominee. A woman, in Trump’s mind, will obfuscate the thousands of words and acts in his life that have amply demonstrated that he has no respect for women. Also, it will balance the ticket geographically and culturally. Trump of course will not care that Fallon is not prepared to be president, because Trump has shown that he is not ready to be President himself, and he does not care particularly about the knowledge necessary to be President.
Also, Fallon has exhibited the necessary “toughness” on human rights issues related to torture that Trump will relate to by continue to execute prisoners for many months after knowing that the cocktails being used were experimental and constituted torture. That should fit in nicely with Trump’s advocacy of water-boarding and much more.
But seriously, Trump has routinely surrounded himself with women, and seems most comfortable when his subordinates are women. She would also shore up support among social conservatives prior to the convention. But the real reason I fear he will choose Fallon is that Trump is nothing if not a marketer. He knows that it will be a more appealing picture to market to suburban and ‘low-information’ voters. Just that simple.
The next most likely is Scott Brown. Despite a raft of issues I need not explain here, he would appeal to the same voters. One of these two will be the pick.
I hope he does not pick her, because she would be a good pick.
My front runner is Newt, my dark horse is Huntsmen.
Newt is a signal to the conservative establishment and Wall Street that he won’t rock the boat on immigration or trade, and that he would work with Ryan and the others. He’s also a good attacks dog and practitioner of dog whistle and sexist politics. One of the few “elder statesmen” willing to say yes along with Sen. Sessions.
Huntsmen could bring a lot of money to the ticket through his father’s organization, he also is someone who would normally be too moderate for the GOP voter base but would be acceptable to the establishment this year while Trump has shown you don’t need consistency or principles to win over social conservatives.
Being the good soldier for the party and helping make Trump respectable and have a decent showing will set him up nicely as the electable moderate acceptable to the Establishment and simultaneously acceptable to the Trump faction for 2020. Like Boris Johnson, biggest risk is that the side he backs now to set up a future run actually wins in the present.
Any Republican with an ounce of sanity is staying far away from Trump, and Huntsman has much more than an ounce. I wouldn’t be surprised if he votes for Clinton.
Gender is the odd determining factor of his years race, with Trump holding a historically high double digit lead with men more than offset by Hillary’s far more sizable double digit less with women, who are more reliable voters. Adding a woman won’t peel any away from her, so he will double down on men.
But he’s no fool, and he knows that none of the men supposedly under consideration have any appeal or sizzle with average voters – except Brown. Plus, many of them are sentient beings with (relatively) independent minds. That’s the last thing he wants.
I can’t remember a veepstakes where there was a huge need to consider if the person would want the job. Despite the (perhaps necessary) handwringing about the odd poll and some mysterious concern about Pennsylvania, what we’re seeing is the biggest defeat since Goldwater on the Republican side. Would Fallon want that? I don’t know. What does she bring to the ticket other than a vagina?
Mike Pence seems to be interviewing well. That is, he can put words into sentences and can stand Trump for small periods of time. So he’s my favorite.
…what Elizabeth Warren brought to the ticket besides her vagina, I think you would take it amiss.
To suggest that the only skills that a governor has in administration and policy are gynecological is disgusting.
I don’t know anything at all about Mary Fallon. I do know Elizabeth Warren. A suggestion that Ms. Warren brings nothing besides her vagina to the ticket reveals more about the speaker than about Ms. Warren.
In the case of GOP nominations for VP, on the other hand, I feel compelled to ask (in more gracious language) — what, besides her gender, did Sarah Palin bring to the ticket?
Ms. Palin was, I remind you, also a governor. It seems evident to me that whatever skills Ms. Palin brought to that ticket included neither administration nor policy. It seems to me that her nomination was a transparent attempt to play the “gender card”.
Whether the reference to Ms. Fallon is “her vagina” or “her gender”, the point remains the same — “what does she bring to the ticket”?
Senator McCain was not particularly beloved of the most conservative part of the party, and Ms. Palin seemed like a means of bringing them along.
During campaigns, Vice Presidents often get cast as the attack dog, giving sharp and memorable speeches about the opponent’s deficiencies. Ms. Palin, at her first well-scripted, not too drunk, light on the word salad appearance, seemed stunningly capable of besting even Spiro Agnew as attack dog.
In hindsight, we all know that the only thing Ms. Palin is really good at is resentment: no one nurses slights and hurts better. I’m guessing the McCain campaign never got a straight answer on the newspapers and magazines she read regularly read before she was tapped.
As I recall before being thrust into the national spotlight she had a decent reputation as a maverick and reformer similar to McCain’s and was willing to take on the established Alaska GOP.
And your ignorance is your bliss. Remember that the next time you slam those from out of state who insult Warren.
Sort of mainstream, but also elder statesman of the radicals.
Christie WOULD make sense, for the New Jersey appeal, if he still had any.
Newt brings to a Trump presidency the ability to guide him through DC, GOP donors and especially the foreign policy establishment that thinks he is ignorant. If they were to win, think of him as the new Cheney, the real power in the WH.
He’d do anything to get back in the game. If they lose he gets a lot of press and some book deals out of it, not to mention Trump’s supporters for his email lists. And if they win, well, he gets to be the man behind the throne.
Rachel Maddow makes a very interesting point about Gingrich. In his 2008 run, he never really stopped his book tour. His campaign became almost an arm of the book tour — to the extent of even dressing up a campaign worker as a character in one of his wife Callista’s books.
A not inconceivable end of the Trump campaign is for it to turn into a means of selling a whole lot of Art of Deal, doing fundraising to repay the $45 million used to win the primary, and ending up showing a modest profit. Gingrich, along with other perpetual candidate presidents, seems to have figured out how to turn being potentially presidential into a career.