IS IT POSSIBLE TO FORM A TRUMP-DESANTIS TICKET
The obstacle is the former President himself.
He would no doubt consider three factors before he would choose the governor as his running mate. First, whether Mr. Trump would feel comfortable with Mr. DeSantis who is so energetic, youthful, and more importantly, as ruthless as the boss.
Second, could his publicity machine overcome the comparison between the First Ladies. The Florida First Lady is convincingly charming in public. She has a good brain too. In contrast, the former First Lady seems a little stiff and un-smooth in public. The former President would not like that. He has always wanted to tell the nation that he possesses the best. His woman has to be the most charming and beautiful in any setting. Anyone who upstages his wife is upstaging him, something he won’t tolerate.
The third consideration is probably the deal-breaker. With a Ron DeSantis VP, much younger, more energetic, and much more experienced than the President Donald Trump, the party would not indulge in Mr. Trump’s antics any longer. They would want to move on. The possibility of being replaced during his term would never be overlooked by the former President. Thus, his VP could only be someone like congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene or Elise Stefanik whom the party would be scared to death to see either one of them occupying the Oval Office. So, it would do anything and everything to keep him sitting behind the Resolute Desk for the full term.
The Governor could play humble, meek, and always walk three steps behind the boss, just like VP Mike Pence, who was a natural Trump Vice President. But that is something more easily said than done because it has to be real. The governor has a rather stiff personality, and a proud man; he wouldn’t play that role well. And a pretender could not escape the former President’s experienced and sharp eyes when it comes to pretending.
JOHN P. LE PHONG
