Both as a professional political analyst and as a human being, I have loathed the Donald Trump era of American politics.
Beyond the substantive damage he has wrought, I just don’t like thinking about him. I don’t care about his life story. I don’t care to know how his mind works. I don’t care about his family. I would rather never write about him again and I look forward to the day when I no longer have to.
My deepest fear is that day will never come. Even when Trump’s time in politics is over, another family member could maintain dominance of the Republican Party and continue to influence the country.
Today, I wrote about the potential impact of Trump’s pick for vice-president, since that person could have the inside track in the race for control of the post-Trump GOP.
But if Trump’s game is keeping control in the family, he may select a weak figure unlikely to assert control.
Who might that person be?
First, here’s what’s leading the Washington Monthly website:
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The Business Records Case Against Trump Wasn’t Some Legal Confection: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Stetson University law professor, explains how business crimes and electoral crimes often overlap. Click here for the full story.
Why Trump’s Veep Pick Matters: My look at how the next Republican vice presidential nominee could shape the future of the GOP. Click here for the full story.
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Of the candidates reported to be on Trump’s short list, the one least likely to wield power is former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. As I wrote in the column, “Carson will be 73 years old before Election Day and has never been an assertive figure regarding policy.”
Perhaps one of the reasons that little-known Doug Burgum is so high on the short list is that Trump thinks Burgum’s relatively moderate record as North Dakota Governor would mark him as ill-suited to lead the post-Trump GOP. However, if Trump wins, Burgum would be well-positioned to run in 2028 as the sitting vice president. And if Trump loses, Burgum could make the case that a more welcoming face is what the party needs (and he could leverage his personal fortune to help make the case).
The hyper-MAGA Senator J.D. Vance strikes me as a pick to make if Trump is not interested in keeping control of the party in the family, and instead wants to bestow the power to an ideological heir instead of a genetic heir—a Tom Wambsgans instead of a Kendall Roy.
So it was a little surprising to me to see that as CNN was reporting on Vance’s anti-Trump social media postings before 2017, Donald Trump, Junior sent a statement defending Vance’s conversion: “We’re 100% confident that JD is America First to the core.” If the younger Trump has eyes on stepping into his father’s shoes, elevating the young and highly ambitious Ohioan would complicate his plan. Vance getting the nod may mean Trump doesn’t have a keep-in-it-the-family plan.
Whether that would end up better or worse for America, I can’t say. But at least it might mean less Trump in our lives.
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Best,
Bill Scher, Washington Monthly politics editor
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