Well, my earlier guess of Noem seems to be as dead as cricket the dog. Lets go at this scientifically, is there a Republican governor or senator from a swing state who is sufficiently, er, compliant?
Even better!
The discussion of Tommy “the Tuber” Tuberville attending today’s Trump court session as a plea for the VP slot suggests one of the big unknowns among the many unknowns between now and November. Namely, it suggests the possibility that Trump could McCain himself, if I may coin a phrase. His selection pool will be very limited to begin with since his prime requirement in a VP is to be a human doormat, as well as someone willing to be perceived as a devoted Trump acolyte – which in the long term could spell political doom.
And because Trump is an idiot, he may well pick someone so unpalatable that they’re unelectable on a national level. This has the potential to do more to damage Trump than a criminal conviction. It will be interesting to see.
If he’s richer than Donald, then there’s no way he’s the VP choice
It will be like a Win This Car contest. The last pair of lips to leave Trump’s ass gets to be VP.
No one is richer than Donald. Just ask him. 
I thought that was Kristi Noem, but it seems that I keep getting the Dakotas mixed up. Or as Bill Maher says, “why are there two Dakotas?” The population of both Dakotas together would barely make up one decent-size city.
My easy trick to remembering the difference is:
SD is the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Badlands and the Sioux Nation.
ND is empty.
/hijack
Reminds me of the good old joke:
“What’s the best thing to come out of North Dakota?”
“Highway 2!”
Many Presidential slogans are pretty lame. MAGA was recycled from different times.
A new election. A new (recycled) slogan.
“Trump’s crimey coup. And Burgum too.” ??
Or an empty barrel rolling down the stairs.
JD Vance of Ohio seems to be campaigning hard. Don’t know how realistic his chances are.
Vance is slimy the way Donald likes people to be–but he got famous by writing a book.
Donald is creeped out by people who read books, let alone who write them. I think he’d like the sliminess and the white-maleness…but he’s never going to feel comfortable around Vance. He’d always suspect that Vance was looking down on him.
Vance’s background is much humbler than Donald’s. He was working class rural white Appalachian. Clearly not someone who could look down on New York billionaire Trump.
The problem with his book is that he called out that demographic, his demographic, for their ignorance and self-defeating habits. He laid some (not all) of the responsibilty for their problems at their own feet. As an insider, he could do this without seeming vindictive, but that is not how the Culture of Grievance is supposed to work.
Of course, he has disavowed it all now. But there’s a chance a few Magats may have read his book and resented the message.
I was thinking of Vance looking down on Trump intellectually. Class-origins wasn’t in my mind.
Trump is scarcely an aristocrat, anyway. Rich son of a rich father: sure. But no impressive family tree. (A big part of the Trump bio is his eternal unhappiness about how New York’s actual upper class disdained him, after all.)
As for MAGA folks resenting some of the conclusions Vance put forth in his book: nah. They’ll never know about them.
I don’t think Vance’s chance at the Veephood are nil; I just think Donald would prefer someone clearly illiterate. Or at least better able to express contempt for smarty-pants writer-types than Vance could manage.
I still think it’ll be a presumed weaker female character. JD Vance is far too aggressive for Trump’s taste. I strongly think that after Pence failed to “do his duty” by Trump (major sarcasm of course) his biggest requirement is someone who has NO chance, no power, no thoughts other than those provided by Trump. A yes-man, and one with no other leverage.
And again, considering Trump’s view on a woman’s role, all other things being considered, he’d automatically consider them weaker. Of course, the same could be said for a non-white candidate, but I think his base would respond better to a female VP who ticks all the boxes of “Christian Housewife Standing up for Traditional Values including Subservience to Men” rather than “Token Black who never questions Whitey”.
I don’t see any way his base would want a black man, however cowed, one cheeseburger chocking away from the president’s office again.
So Vance is too risky to TRUMP, and Tim Scott is too risky to Trump’s base IMHO. I still lean towards Kari Lake (proven loyalty there), but for sure Trump is letting everyone audition, if nothing else it proves his power and tickles his ego.
I think it will be Tim Scott. While being black will be a negative in Trump’s eyes, he has the bootlicking down to a science. He also has an easy name to remember and say. It’s only 2 syllables, like Mike Pence.
That’s a convincing point. On some level he doesn’t want a running mate whose name he will mangle while they are his running mate. That can wait until he backstabs them eventually.
This all seems correct to me. I do see the arguments people are making in favor of Tim Scott, but… for Trump voters to consider to possibility of ANOTHER BLACK MAN becoming President is a tough sell.
Not that they’d be okay with a FEMALE President, either, but so long as she has a husband, they could probably talk themselves into the comforting thought that he would be the real President.
My bet is still on Marco Rubio, though. He’s not white, but he’s not black either. He’s proven himself ready and willing to prostrate himself before their Orange Idol (and he’ll prove it yet again by changing his residence from Florida to wherever his D.C.-area home is). He ‘brings the Latino vote,’ or so GOP strategists will believe.
And Trump doesn’t feel even remotely threatened by him. Rubio took the Little Marco put-down and said ‘please sir may I have another.’
They’ve already set up the dates for the VP debates, even though Harris doesn’t have an opponent yet.