Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Tulsi and Vivek make Trump's short list

This article has an embedded tweet announcing at least part of Donald Trump's short list for vice president. On that list: Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Byron Donalds, Kristi Noem, and Tulsi Gabbard. So: the raging Indians are on board (Tulsi and Vivek). Awesome. And I'm fine with DeSantis, Donalds, Noem, and Scott. I don't think this is the complete list, but if I were to rank them my own way, from my top choice to my bottom choice, I'd order them this way:

1. Vivek Ramaswamy (intellect, agenda, articulateness, energy)
2. Ron DeSantis (agenda, experience, articulateness)
3. Tulsi Gabbard (rightward-evolving agenda, experience, articulateness)
4. Byron Donalds (raw aggression, experience, priorities, articulateness, energy)
5. Kristi Noem (extreme loyalty, priorities, articulateness)
6. Tim Scott (extreme loyalty, priorities)

Tim Scott is a good man who deserves better than last place in this ranking. It's just that I like the people above Scott a lot more. Vivek would be the most vociferous, articulate defender of Trump; DeSantis has governing experience and a track record of mostly the same priorities as Trump; Tulsi isn't a Republican, but she'd be an awesome left-field pick who is also smart and articulate, as well as an attractor of the female vote (I'd also love to see a veep rematch between her and Kamala Harris for a second thrashing); Byron Donalds has been a forceful congressman, and watching him grill Democrats during hearings has been an evil pleasure; Kristi Noem doesn't register at the national level as much as #1-#4 do, but she's been a consistent pit bull for Trump almost on the order of Kari Lake; Tim Scott got compliments from Trump for being such a staunch defender, but he's a bit low-key otherwise.

These are all good choices. I'd be happy with any of them, especially #1 to #4.

Now, I'm morbidly curious to see whether Biden still plans to run with Kamala, or if he's got a Newsom up his sleeve. No one on the left strikes me as an intellectual powerhouse. Biden seems ready to run like a coward from any debate; he'll stick to scripts. So it'll be up to the VP candidates to bring the interest and the fireworks while the old lions prowl about.



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