It’s not too early for Republicans to start thinking about a winning ticket in 2024 – one that will likely include a dinged-up Donald Trump at the top.
Trump’s indictment won’t stop him from running or winning the nomination but it highlights the need for a strong conservative without baggage to stand next to him.
Right now the strongest second banana is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has designs of his own on the White House. Trump and DeSantis would be a formidable team if they ever decided to run together.
Trump and DeSantis have openly feuded and would seem to be an unlikely pairing but stranger things have happened in politics before.
Vice President Kamala Harris trashed Joe Biden during the 2020 primaries and that didn’t stop Biden from picking her as his running mate.
The latest polls show DeSantis trailing Trump by a wide margin among GOP voters nationally and in key states like New Hampshire. Trump’s numbers nationally actually improved after his indictment last week.
Trump also destroyed DeSantis at the annual CPAC straw poll last month.
The latest Saint Anselm College poll of Granite State voters showed Trump leading the GOP field with 42%, with DeSantis trailing at 29%, Gov. Chris Sununu – who has not declared – at 14% and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at just 4%.
DeSantis has not said officially he’s running for president but all the signs point to him gearing up his White House campaign.
But if DeSantis really wants to have a chance the best chance of winning, it would be as Trump’s veep.
It’s a long shot that DeSantis would give up his presidential ambitions right now, but that’s what he should do if Republicans want the best chance of winning back the White House.
DeSantis has publicly ruled out being Trump’s veep nominee, but that’s not surprising right now. Things can change quickly in politics.
DeSantis has said he’s “more of an executive guy” than a vice president.
“I think that you want to be able to do things,” he told Newsmax, adding that’s “part of the reason why I got into the job” as governor.
Trump has also dismissed the idea of picking DeSantis as his running mate.
“No, I never thought of it,” he told Newsmax. “I think there are a lot of great people in the Republican Party. I never thought of it.”
Trump would not be the first or last presidential nominee to change their mind about prospective running mates.
And there have been shifts in DeSantis’s views of Trump lately that could smooth things over between the two power-hungry pols.
The Florida governor has harshly criticized the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg for his grand jury investigation into Trump’s hush money payments to a porn star, calling it “weaponizing” his prosecutorial power.
