One way Mr. Trump is keeping attention focused on his campaign is by not naming his VP pick. Now, I don’t envy him that particular task, as former VP Mike Pence (R-IN) has too high of moral standards to use again, and your replacement pick is always ticklish.
But he’ll have a few eager volunteers to pick from: Rep Stefanik (R-NY) and Mace (R-SC) have reportedly waved some flags, for example. But here’s the guy I’d put my money on … if I really had to. From Maddowblog:
In the same interview, Stephanopoulos reminded [Senator J. D. Vance (R-OH)] of a 2021 podcast in which Vance suggested that Trump can and should defy court rulings. Evidently, the Ohioan hasn’t changed his mind.
“The Constitution says that the Supreme Court can make rulings, but if the Supreme Court ― and look, I hope that they would not do this ― but if the Supreme Court said that the president of the United States can’t fire a general, that would be an illegitimate ruling and the president has to have Article 2 prerogative under the Constitution to actually run the military as he sees fit,” Vance said, suggesting politicians should decide which court rulings are and are not “legitimate.”
But I was especially interested in an exchange in which the ABC News host asked, more than once, whether Vance would’ve agreed to certify the 2020 presidential election had he been the vice president at the time. It led to this answer:
“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there. That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020. I think that’s what we should have done.”
Hey, look at Vance’s qualifications:
- He blows with the wind. He used to be a Trump critic, now he’s a Trump lover. Moral flexibility – ironic from a guy against divorce – is an important quality when working for Mr. Trump.
- Senator Vance has held the title for 1 year, with no other elective experience; by inauguration, he’ll have another year under his belt. No real accomplishments in the Senate, which are hard to come by for newcomers to the chamber.
- His foreign affairs experience appears to consist of opining that Ukraine will just have to give up territory to the aggressor, Russia. Perhaps we should ask him if he’d prefer to fight the Russians on the fields of Ukraine, or at Niagara Falls.
These are dream qualifications for Mr. Trump, as it discourages the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, as Vance would be just about as ineffectual as Trump.
And possibly as ambitious, but more for power than prestige or flat-out wealth.
