It is a pairing conservatives and Republicans have desired – even prayed for – from the moment Florida Governor Ron DeSantis scored a landslide reelection victory in November of 2022. With his broad electoral appeal in a crucial state confirmed, DeSantis was ideally positioned to take the final step up the ladder to the Oval Office. But with the giant-sized obstacle named Donald J. Trump standing in the way, how could DeSantis capitalize on his moment, his time, the height of his popularity? Well, what if they could join forces as the Trump-DeSantis 2024 presidential ticket?
There has doubtless already been considerable discussion about such a pairing in both Trump’s and DeSantis’s inner circles, and from the Washington corridors of power to water coolers and diners across the land. But while speculation and reporting have for months centered around the notion that neither man would embrace the idea, that may have changed.
While we have no sense yet of what DeSantis might be thinking about the vice presidency, the New York Post’s famous Page Six reports that Trump is more open to the idea than expected. “[S]ome Trumpworld insiders are urging the 45th chief executive to make DeSantis his running mate — and Trump is “listening … but hasn’t agreed.” The source inside Trumpworld says those advising Trump believe “the VP offer [would] stop DeSantis from opposing [Trump] and offer a ‘youthful conservative vigor’ to the slot, which Biden doesn’t have … DeSantis would also bring in big money to the campaign … [b]ut “so far there’s no deal yet.”
Trump-DeSantis Makes Sense for So Many Reasons
There are plenty of good reasons for Trump, DeSantis and the party to embrace such an alliance, even beyond the evident strength of both candidates. From the standpoint of balance, usually but not always a consideration when selecting a VP, Trump is older, DeSantis younger. DeSantis knows Capitol Hill, having served in the House for six years. Trump knows the White House. And while they would undoubtedly make a formidable ticket, when compared head-to-head with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – one very old and unpopular, the other even more unpopular – they would appear even more attractive to a broad swath of the Republican and independent electorate.
At the same time, two conservative white men running together will likely set some political strategists on edge. There will be an impetus and temptation to play the diversity game and pick a woman like Nikki Haley to appeal to those pesky suburban women whose flip-flop from 2016 to 2020 was one of the principal reasons Trump came up short the second time around. Or the presidential nominee could try to soften his image another way and pick off more minority votes – as Trump did in 2020 – by selecting a person of color like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). Many if not most analysts already believe both Haley, who entered the race on Valentine’s Day, and Scott, who recently formed an exploratory committee, are in actuality running for vice president.
Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
But while there are many viable running mates scattered across the GOP, does it not make sense for any party to offer up the two candidates whose appeal clearly stands head and shoulders above all the others? Not since Barack Obama upset Hillary Clinton in 2008 have two such party powerhouses competed for the top spot, and not since John F. Kennedy picked Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960 has the presidential nominee selected a running mate of similarly grand stature.
Both Trump and DeSantis could expend valuable resources and energy stirring up a hornet’s nest in the primaries, even as they share the same values, worldview, and ideological bent, in the process wounding the party and the eventual nominee. Trump has already trashed DeSantis on multiple occasions – hinting without evidence, as they say in elite media, that the Florida governor is actually a war-mongering neocon bent on destroying social security. And for good measure, he might even have groomed teenage girls – or worse. Are conservatives, the Republican party and the country well served by a bitterly divisive primary with the victor left standing amidst a pile of political rubble? Why engage in a scorched-earth offensive when you can simply add your rival to your team and thereby sidestep damaging infighting while adding significant strength to the ticket?
The reasons such a pairing makes sense not just for the voters but for both Trump and DeSantis are many. If Trump was ultimately seeking eight years as president, neither man would likely agree to such an arrangement. Trump would be looking over his shoulder at an ambitious vice president, and DeSantis would be frustrated by having to serve eight years in a job once described by the late Vice President John Nance Garner as a “warm bucket of sh–.” But Trump is only eligible to serve four more years, and so the stakes are entirely different. By becoming vice president, DeSantis could put himself in an ideal position to win the top spot in 2028, while Trump would not have to worry about DeSantis forming a separate power base.
We will soon be able to detect whether Trump is serious about his openness to DeSantis by how he refers to his rival up through the debates. If he continues on the attack, then he is likely tacking in the direction of someone else for the number two spot. But if he lets his foot off the gas, saying little or nothing disparaging, it is likely a sign that he is at least keeping such an option open. At the same time, unlike many politicians, DeSantis does not present as the type of candidate who will either pander in order to get the job or gladly accept such an invitation after enduring constant attacks by Trump. DeSantis could instead step away and run for an open seat in the White House in 2028. He might miss his moment, which would appear to be right now, but he would also avoid diminishing his own brand if Trump goes down to defeat.
The likelihood of a Trump-DeSantis ticket comes down to a single question. Will Trump’s unquenchable thirst to win overtake his need to hold center stage all by himself? Is he willing to accept if not embrace the attention DeSantis would certainly attract? Will he be comfortable with the prospect of grooming the man who would succeed him in the ultimate seat of power? After three bad election cycles in a row, is Trump’s need to recover his foremost self-identity as a winner enough to bring another power player on board – unlike the loyal, malleable Mike Pence?
Indeed, for Republicans from coast to coast, it seems, Trump-DeSantis represents a Dream Team that would make the 1992 US Olympic basketball team blush. But perhaps just as satisfying is that their sweetest dream is also the left’s worst nightmare.
