Donald Trump Can Make Real History and Expand the Tent With His Vice Presidential Pick, But Will He?

Trump needs a savvy, loyal #2 who can help draw more voters and get things done with Congress. Tim Scott is that person far more than any other candidate under consideration.

We are weeks away from Donald Trump naming his Vice Presidential running mate for 2024. There are endless leaks and theories being pushed by “insiders” and prognosticators on a daily basis. These are the names currently being pushed (in no particular order):

• U.S. Senator J.D. Vance

• North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum

• U.S. Senator Marco Rubio

• Dr. Ben Carson

• Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

• Congressman Byron Donalds

• Congresswoman Elise Stefanik

• U.S. Senator Tim Scott

There are several notable politicians who are no longer on the list: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. There are several deserving politicians who never made the list, but should have been seriously considered: Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Perhaps Trump will surprise us by naming one of these three very successful politicians. 

In terms of the active list, let me take care of contenders who I think shouldn’t even be under consideration due to obvious reasons. First, with the 78-year-old Trump and given the stark too-mentally-unfit contrast he is trying to make with 81-year-old Joe Biden, I think it makes little sense to name soon-to-be 68-year-old Burgum or soon-to-be 73-year-old Carson to the ticket. Americans rightfully want some level of insurance due to Biden’s clear deterioration and Trump’s age (even though Trump is far more energetic and mentally fit than Biden) that we don’t go from old President to nearly as old Vice-President.

Next, per the Twelfth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, both Rubio and Donalds shouldn’t be on the list. If Trump wanted to test the amendment by picking a fellow Floridian, DeSantis is far superior to both Rubio and Donalds. Plus, Rubio is close to Trump disloyalist-in-chief and former Mike Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short. Short worked with Rubio on his 2016 presidential run before switching to Pence. Trump cannot risk having more moles within the tent.

With those four out, that leaves Vance (40-years-old on August 2), Huckabee Sanders (42-years-old on August 13), Stefanik (40 years old on July 2), and Scott (59-years-old on September 19). Now, I’m all for presenting a stark contrast with age, but I do worry that the three barely-in-their-40s contenders are too young with too little real world experience to rightly state they are prepared to be President should something tragic occur to Trump early in his presidency. Vance has finance experience and less than two-years of elected office experience on his resume (I don’t like career politicians, but his resume is thin). Similarly, Huckabee Sanders has less than two years as governor under her belt—though she served as Trump’s talented Press Secretary for two years. Before serving Trump, she did political consulting. As for Stefanik, she has served in the U.S. House for just under nine years, gaining valuable political experience during that time. Before being elected, Stefanik served in several staffer roles for politicians, including President George W. Bush. All three would be younger than both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when those men became President. I suspect voters would be nervous given their young ages and overall lack of experience. 

More specifically, other than his very strong media skills and quick-thinking abilities, I’m not sure Vance brings anything to the ticket. I can’t identify any voting population which isn't already voting for Trump that would increase due to Vance’s presence. Trump will win Ohio, so Vance doesn’t help there either. Under Ohio law, should Vance become the Vice-President, his seat would be filled by Governor Mike DeWine. Given DeWine’s anti-Trump views and his history as a moderate, he likely would appoint someone more similar to moderate Rob Portman than conservative Vance. That would be a loss for Ohio and the U.S. Senate.

For both Huckabee Sanders and Stefanik, their presence on the ticket could attract more of the suburban white female vote that Trump has struggled to secure over the years. As one large Republican donor submitted, Huckabee Sanders could appeal to that voting segment given her next-door neighbor qualities. Stefanik is a bit more edgy than Sanders, but she, too, could attract suburban white women. 

As for Scott, his elected experience goes back to 1995 when he was elected to the Charleston County Council. He then served in the South Carolina House of Representatives for two years before winning a U.S. House seat. He has served in the Senate for the last eleven years. Before entering politics, Scott founded an insurance firm and served as a partner in a real estate company. The only real question mark on Scott is that he has never been married (currently scheduled to get married in August) and has no kids, which some voters may find unrelatable. Like Huckabee Sanders and Stefanik, Scott could draw new voters into the Trump column. Specifically, he may appeal strongly to black men, which is a group that Trump hit 18% in 2020. With Scott on the ticket, that number could rise substantially. Any increase in the black male vote would be very hard for Biden to compensate for among other voters.

Scott also represents an historic selection. In 1870, REPUBLICAN Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first black U.S. Senator when he was sworn in to represent Mississippi, which DEMOCRAT Senators opposed. In 1872, REPUBLICAN Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became America’s first black governor when he took the reins in Louisiana. Should a Trump-Scott ticket win in November, Scott arguably could be the first truly black Vice President.

Now, to be clear, I don’t subscribe to the identity politics of the Left and find racial classifications based on percentages to be un-American. With that said, let me send the Left into orbit by stating that Trump selecting Scott as his Vice Presidential running mate would put REPUBLICANS once again in line to elect the first truly black American to be Vice President. Yes, yes, I realize Kamala Harris claims that distinction, but she is half Indian having mostly been raised by her Indian mother among Indian relatives. She only seized on her dad’s Jamaican descent to gain economic and political advantages that came with being black instead of Indian. 

Should Trump-Scott win in 2024, Scott would be in line to run for president in 2028. Should he win in 2028, he would become America’s first truly black president, as Obama, like Harris, is half-white by his mother whose white family largely raised him. Like Harris, Obama only grabbed hold of his African dad’s racial background to gain economic and political advantages he wouldn’t receive using his mother’s background. 

Again, these aren’t my racial rules. These are the Left’s racial rules. Would Obama and Harris have met the Left’s threshold had each one been 25% black or 12.5% black? Where is the Left’s cutoff? What if they had been Republicans? Does anyone believe the Left wouldn’t have labeled them as “ostensibly black” or “Uncle Toms” or “not black” as it unfailingly does to Scott, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or, in Biden’s view, any black person who doesn’t vote for him?

In many ways, today’s Left has adopted the abhorrent racial “one-drop” rule of the Southern DEMOCRATS from the Reconstruction and Jim Crow Eras. As Dr. Henry Louis Gates has revealed countless times to his genealogy volunteers, each person’s racial background is far from “pure” and often times someone comes from ancestors outside of their known racial group. Perhaps someone has done extensive research on every president and vice-president in U.S. history to certifiably determine that not one of them had black (or Hispanic or Asian) ancestors for which they could claim to be the “first,” but I haven't seen it. Heck, back in the 1990s, many on the Left referred to Bill Clinton as America’s “first” black President.

As I see it, we are all Americans and only that matters. My DNA says I’m 88% German, with a touch of five other nationalities. I would get laughed at by my friends with Italian ancestry if I claimed to be Italian based on my 1% Sardinian DNA. Though in fairness, I absolutely love Italian food—well, American-Italian food:-) My point is why do people claim X ancestry, which frankly may not be a majority of their DNA, as they ditch the rest of who they came from. In the twenty years since Obama burst onto the scene, I can’t recall him ever talking about the Dunham family with whom he spent his entire childhood. Not much gratitude in that one. I only can recall Harris talking about her Indian clan when she tells the made-up “fweedom" story she stole from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., while in a stroller pushed by her mother. 

Again, I reject the Left's racial classifications whatever they currently are, but, when you live by the sword, you also must be willing to die by it. Trump’s selection of Scott would be historic, as he is the descendant of slaves. That would make Scott the first descendant of slaves to become Vice President or President. Both Harris's and Obama’s minority parents were highly educated immigrants to America making both of them first generation Americans, so certainly didn’t experience the brutality of the Jim Crow Era into which Scott and his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were born. His success and elevation to the ticket would be an enormously uplifting story that would give the Republican ticket a strong chance to push its black support beyond any level past Republicans have achieved. 

Based on reports, Trump may not pick Scott because he isn’t charismatic enough. Perhaps that is EXACTLY why Trump should pick Scott, as Trump’s charisma sucks up all the oxygen in the room anyway. Trump needs a savvy, loyal #2 who can help draw more voters and get things done with Congress and against the Administration State. Scott is that person far more than any other candidate under consideration.

In case you missed it, listen to my interview on The Bruce Hooley Show when we discussed Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, whether the transradical agenda would be protected judicially, if Biden will pardon Hunter Biden, and Harris’s hypocrisy.