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.