With the same energy as a redditor ranking famous women in order of their attractiveness, Donald Trump has given his rabid fanbase some clues as to who would be his pick for vice president in the upcoming election.
The names are an unsurprising mix of knee bending sychophants and deranged MAGA types, but one person who fits both of those criteria yet wasn’t mentioned once by the former president is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Greene has long been an unabashed cheerleader of Trump, yet the outspoken politician doesn’t seem to have been rewarded by the Cheeto-in-chief in any substantial way. In recent weeks, what has always been an uncomfortably cultish love of the one term president and attempted insurrectionist seems to have gone into overdrive, which many saw as Greene positioning herself for a role in a potential Trump administration.
However, the former president spoke about potential candidates for his vice president during a recent Fox News town hall event, and Greene wasn’t on his shortlist.
Names that were thrown about included the senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Florida governor and Disney hater Ron DeSantis (who has fallen back into line after his embarrassingly poor campaign was steamrolled by Trump), and the former Hawaii politician Tulsi Gabbard.
At the event, host Laura Ingraham (who has been called “a monster” by her own brother) put forward six names and asked the former president to comment on them. Aside from the above three, the others were professional racist person of color and primary loser Vivek Ramaswamy, the governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem (who in a very Trump-like move, fired a state official who denied her daughter a real estate appraisal license), and Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is most widely known for trying to submit false evidence to the Biden impeachment inquiry. They’re not sending their best, clearly.
Trump confirmed all of these people were on his shortlist, before adding: “Honestly all of those people are good. They’re all good, they’re all solid.”
Given his cognitive decline and instinctual need to fill silence, it cannot be confirmed whether or not Trump could pick any of these people out of a line up. Like many people who aren’t the brightest, there is a chance he was simply agreeing with whatever Ingraham said.
This line of thinking is backed up by the fact that Trump has spent the last few months bullying DeSantis relentlessly, from calling him a child groomer to giving him silly nicknames like “DeSanctimonious.” With that said, we know that Trump is willing to endorse anybody who licks his boot, and since DeSantis suspended his primary campaign and endorsed the former president, all of those attacks have stopped.
During the town hall Trump specifically mentioned Tim Scott, who was also in attendance. Scott has made a habit of campaigning for Trump instead of doing his own job, and that clearly has had an impact. On the South Carolina-based politician, Trump said:
“A lot of people are talking about that gentleman right over there. He’s been such a great advocate. I have to say this in a very positive way, Tim Scott, he has been much better for me than he was for himself. I watched his campaign, and he doesn’t like talking about himself. But boy does he talk about Trump. … I called him and I said, ‘Tim, you’re better for me than you were for yourself.’”
Under a Trump administration it’s likely that the office of vice president would be relegated to a minimal role, given the former Apprentice host’s need to dominate everyone and everything around him. So, all of this talk might seem a little bit pointless. However, Trump is known for his incredibly unhealthy diet, and has clearly been in cognitive decline since before the last election. Add in the very credible reports that he is also using a cocktail of drugs to keep himself pepped up, and the chances of a Trump heart attack (or worse) aren’t exactly small.
So, perhaps we should be happy that Greene’s endless attempts to woo Trump are falling on deaf ears, because the prospect of her in power isn’t exactly one to savor. Then again, at least she would suffer from the same problems as her predecessor, as both seem unable to harness the power of government without making a mess. Having someone relatively competent next in line to the throne, like DeSantis or Noem, is a much more terrifying proposition.