In the actual Republican primary for 2024, Trump is the front-runner.
He easily defeated Trump supporters Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa with 98 out of 99 counties, and he severely damaged Nikki Haley’s candidacy in New Hampshire.
In spite of radical judges and district attorneys in states such as New York and Georgia persecuting him for political reasons without justification, President Trump’s increasing popularity has forced Republican officials to concede that he will not only be the nominee for the Republican Party but also the 47th President of the United States.
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A few Republicans are frantically making less-than-subtle moves to secure the Vice Presidential position, grabbing hold of primetime cable TV segments or stump speeches.
Conservative commentators often bring up Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy as possible vice presidential candidates; both have been spotted supporting Trump in New Hampshire. In an effort to connect themselves with the party’s front-runner, rumored contenders such as Kari Lake, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz are actively boosting their campaign presence in states such as Nevada, New Hampshire, and Iowa.
I’d like to discuss some names that are being mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates as the “Vice Presidential race” picks up steam.
I am not affiliated with the Trump campaign, and these names are not on any official list. As I’ve mentioned in other pieces [links supplied], I’ve been transparent about my opinion that Tucker Carlson would make the perfect running partner for President Trump.
After speaking to a loyal crowd of thousands in a crammed hockey stadium in Edmonton, Canada, Tucker is back on the list.
While some of the names on this list may not be significant candidates, they have created talk and discussion about their possibilities, whether legitimately or not.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, and some prominent absences, such as Kristi Noem, may have a higher chance of winning than some of the names included here.
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Having said that, whether or not these individuals are serious candidates or long shots, they are nonetheless worthy of discussion for all the right reasons since they are frequently mentioned in political circles:
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy, who entered the 2024 presidential race as one of only two America First candidates, went from being an obscure Big Pharma guy to a MAGA luminary. Even though Ramaswamy’s unlikely campaign came to an abrupt end—he abruptly endorsed Donald Trump after finishing in fourth place in Iowa—he has shown a dedication to the cause and ideals of America First and, thus far, seems sincere in wanting to turn this nation around.
Concerns about his past, wealth, and citizenship still exist, which adds to the eccentricities that occasionally infuriated the Trump fan base. Examples include his declaration, made just before he dropped out of the race, that only he could win the general election.
That being said, in my overall MAGA power rankings, I would probably put Ramaswamy third, behind Tucker Carlson and Kari Lake, among the America First-affiliated politicians and celebrities who aren’t named Trump.
It is remarkable that he become a self-made millionaire before turning forty. It is also audacious and laudable that he vehemently rejects the tenets of wokeism and its offshoot policies, such as affirmative action and DEI, and has exposed them for what they are: anti-White, reverse racism.
Because of his youth and selective educational background (Yale Law School; Harvard Undergrad), he has an advantage over most major party candidates in that he is more aware of the scope of these issues and how they have undermined the American Dream for younger generations, especially young men from traditional American families.
Most promisingly, perhaps, Ramaswamy has, perhaps naively, defied the trend and offered a radical alternative: one that is upbeat, vibrant, youthful, and audaciously asserts that the republic is not a geriatric patient but is simply going through the growing pains of adolescence, still being a young country compared to the rest of the Western world. This contrasts with the doom and gloom mentality of so many on the Right, one that seems irrevocably in thrall to a fetishistic dogma that America’s decline is irreversible.
Ramaswamy appears to have a long-term commitment to this cause, even if he is also amassing a substantial wealth in the process, based on his recent appearances in support of President Trump’s campaign and his endorsement of Kari Lake for the Arizona Senate.
Additionally, he is right to consistently reference the tenets of the American Revolution and declare them to be natural truths—truths that, when applied to our day of widespread deceit and falsehoods, appear so radical.
All of this is to suggest that Ramaswamy may prove to be a valuable voice in the movement that Trump started in the end. Though it’s possible that he shouldn’t be given the prestigious position of second in command just yet, he might eventually show himself to be a strong and trustworthy truth-teller who can rise above the trenchant mediocrity of our ruling class and become a mainstay in the movement for many years to come.
In my opinion, Ramaswamy’s abilities ought to be evaluated firsthand; Ronna McDaniel’s successor as RNC Chair would be a perfect fit. A post like this could be the deciding factor in determining whether he can turn around an organization that is currently having a difficult time raising money. Additionally, he could use the post’s influence to persuade state Republican leaders, many of whom are only supporting the cause for political reasons, to align with MAGA, which is essential if the party and the nation are to have any chance of surviving the next four years of President Trump’s term.
Zeldin Lee
Of all the contenders on this list, Lee Zeldin has the longest odds, and for good reason. The former congressman from Long Island, who lost to Kathy Hochul in the 2022 race for governor, has been making an overt attempt to secure the vice presidential slot. He most famously made his overt bid during the New Hampshire primary on CNN. He has also been using social media to increase his profile and is alleged to have fed pro-Trump media outlets the false information that he had already been selected to be Trump’s vice president.
When former Trump administration staffer Sebastian Gorka made a strong implication last week that Zeldin had received the go-ahead, the rumor mill went into overdrive. Pat Bet-David and other prominent conservatives also seemed to be feeding the narrative.
Nevertheless, everything came to an abrupt end when longtime Trump ally Roger Stone tweeted “Lee Zeldin has not been picked as Trump’s VP. Anyone who says otherwise has no idea what he’s talking about.”
Though Zeldin is an intriguing four-term congressman from NY-01, it’s unclear why, in the event that Trump were looking for a New Yorker, he would pick Zeldin over Stefanik. Stefanik appears like a more notable option because of his lengthier time in Congress, his loud and strong backing of Trump, and his elevated role as Chair of the House Republican Conference.
Trump also favors selecting victors with a track record of success. For example, although Zeldin fared well in the 2022 gubernatorial contest, he lost by 6.4 points to one of the nation’s most unpopular governors.
Zeldin was not even the most MAGA contender in that contest; that went to Andrew Giuliani. On the campaign road, Zeldin has professed his loyalty to Trump, although questions have been raised over his actual beliefs.
For instance, during his gubernatorial campaign, he allegedly told Wall Street backers—who subsequently supported Ron DeSantis and, more recently, Nikki Haley—that, despite his refusal to certify Biden’s election results, he had never declared the 2020 contest’s results to be “illegitimate.”
The fact that Zeldin’s erstwhile Long Island delegation—which consists of RINO lawmakers Mike Lawler, Andrew Garbarino, and Anthony D’Esposito—remains adamantly anti-Trump is even more worrisome. Zeldin is said to still be cordial and tight with these members. (An more holdout, Nick Lalota, reluctantly gave Donald Trump his endorsement on January 20th.)
Being one of the most influential and well-known Republicans in New York State, Zeldin may not hold political office anymore, but one would assume that he would have some influence on these Long Island RINOs to align them with the MAGA movement.
None of these Republicans have embraced President Trump thus far, and Zeldin hasn’t criticized any of them for it either. Nikki Haley will be the Republican nominee, according to comments made as recently as late last year by former Long Island congressman Peter King, who is still a kingmaker on the island despite having served out his term in Congress.
Zeldin hasn’t criticized King or any other Republican delegates in the New York delegation who haven’t endorsed President Trump yet. It’s been reported that these delegates are actively working behind the scenes to manipulate the fully controlled process of selecting presidential delegates from New York State to lessen the number of delegates that Trump will receive at the convention.
Furthermore, downstate party leaders are not limited to federal lawmakers in their anti-Trump sentiment; Zeldin has had cordial relationships with the chairmen of Nassau County and Suffolk County, both of whom are blatantly anti-Trump and have only supported candidates who share their extreme Trump derangement, like Mazi Pilip, the former liberal Democrat and IDF officer who is running for the NY-03 seat vacated by George Santos.
Pilip has said that she will not support Trump in the event that he is found guilty of a crime, adopting the leftist talking heads on CNN and MSNBC’s stance that “nobody is above the law.”
Rather than concentrating on optimizing Trump’s delegates and, conversely, the number of registered voters throughout New York State, State Party Leaders are devoting all of their time and energy to re-electing another RINO to Congress, a candidate whose declared intentions to be disloyal to President Trump should she be elected.
The idea that Party officials would nominate another RINO instead of a MAGA warrior to represent the interests of their constituents deserves to be called out in the strongest of terms, something Zeldin has refused to do. Long Island Republican voters, both in Nassau and Suffolk County, are extremely pro-Trump.
The vast majority of regular Republican voters in New York State, but particularly on Long Island, reject the indictments for the political prosecutions they so obviously are. However, Republican officials throughout the state have been duped by TDS and have put their political interests ahead of those of their constituents.
Zeldin’s voice might be a powerful counterforce, but it has been conspicuously absent from the political scene while the institutions of both parties practically run New York State to the ground.
He has not sought to unite downstate Republicans behind Donald Trump, nor has he called out Ed Cox, the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee, who appears to be issuing anti-Trump marching orders to the rest of the state.
Unlike Elise Stefanik, who has so heroically done so, he has not even, as far as I know, filed an ethics complaint against any of the judges, D.A.’s, attorneys general, or governors for blatantly violating the Constitution with their political hatchet job on the 45th President.
All of this is to argue that Lee Zeldin’s record is woefully inadequate insofar as he portrays himself to the public as a MAGA warrior and Trump supporter. Zeldin needs to prove his words with deeds, or else he runs the risk of being perceived as just another swindler who uses the Trump name for his own political gain and doesn’t use his bully pulpit to hold dishonest party leaders in downstate New York accountable.
Zeldin would be better off using his skills to tidy up his own backyard rather than soft-campaigning for vice president. He should make use of his influence to help drive out Republican Party hacks from their positions throughout New York State. He should also focus on building a larger coalition that is adamantly and proudly in favor of Donald Trump and MAGA in order to retake those state party offices. At last, the establishment should align itself with the interests of the grassroots, who are being ignored by those in positions of authority in New York.
Stephanie Elise
Though maybe not as much of a long shot as Lee Zeldin, Elise Stefanik is undoubtedly another contender. Since taking office in 2015, the present House Republican Conference Chair has represented New York’s 21st district, which is primarily a rural area that includes a sizable portion of land in northwest New York. Since then, he has rapidly risen to prominence in Congress as one of the most influential voices among Republicans in general and the MAGA movement in particular.
She has also shown herself to be a successful fundraiser for the 45th President; in only the fourth quarter of 2023, her team raised over $5 million, and throughout the previous several years, she has thrown multiple events at Trump estates around New York State, including his Westchester Golf Club.
In contrast to many others in her party, Stefanik was the first elected Republican to support Trump while holding a state or federal office. She was also the first high-ranking member of Congress to do so when she endorsed the 45th President back in November 2022. This was especially true of the Republican delegation in New York State.
The accomplishment is viewed as all the more amazing in light of the fact that some members of her own state party delegation, like Mike Lawler, Andrew Garbarino, and Anthony D’Esposito, are obstinately clinging to the race even though it has narrowed down to just two contenders, and Nikki Haley is the only one without a realistic path to the presidency.
Even though it could be argued that Stefanik should be doing more to support Trump—such as organizing her coalition of state lawmakers, many of whom are still holding out—and especially applying public pressure to Ed Cox, the leader of the anti-Trump New York State Party, to either back down or step down—she has at least taken steps that reckless New York lawmakers would never dare to take. For example, she filed an ethics complaint against Judge Engoron, who is overseeing President Trump’s sham civil trial that could dismantle his entire business empire, for abusing his authority and violating fundamental due process.
However, Stefanik has done a commendable job of adhering to the MAGA party line considering the strength of the opposition she faces. Unlike Zeldin, she did not vote to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election and continues to maintain that the results were marred by fraud and corruption, making them illegitimate.
Stefanik is therefore a very deserving nominee among New York Republicans for the vice presidential position, since President Trump seemed to sincerely respect her steadfastness over the years.
She should be recognized for it for all of her hard work over the years, if not with the second-in-command role then at least with a cabinet position.
Rand Paul
When Rand Paul decided to create a website called “Never Nikki” instead of endorsing a Republican primary candidate, he created a stir early in the month.
Senator Paul announced concurrently with the website’s debut, which aims to increase public understanding of how dangerous the candidate favored by Washington’s military-industrial complex would be. “As I look over the GOP candidates for President, I don’t yet have a first choice. But I do know one thing: count me in as #NeverNikki!”
He expressed concerns in the video that accompanied the announcement about Haley’s apparent inability to understand a key James Madisonian principle: the significance of protecting our right to privacy in the age of widespread surveillance, a right that Haley has publicly declared to be expendable in the name of “natural security,” a rationale that has been used to justify everything from the failed Iraq invasion to the Patriot Act and the progressive infringement on personal freedoms that has accelerated under Biden.
Senator Paul had not yet withdrawn DeSantis and Ramaswamy when he made the video public. Despite the improbable development of Senator Paul voting for Robert Kennedy, with whom he had some encouraging remarks, the only remaining non-Haley contender in the contest is Donald Trump.
Senator Paul will thus probably soon be supporting the 45th President’s reelection campaign by default. In the US Senate, Senator Paul has long advocated for individual liberty and non-interventionism.
The senator from Kentucky is hardly an isolationist, but he has emphasized prudence when his colleagues have blindly embraced military involvement in regions like the Middle East and the Ukraine.
He is more than ever in step with his war-weary countrymen, who would prefer that our priorities shift from abroad to the homeland, which has been devastated by inflation, deindustrialization, open borders, high crime and lawlessness, and opioid addiction. He is a rare voice of pragmatism in an arena of hawks.
The American people are calling for a drastic course correction, and in a sea of confusion, Senator Paul has frequently been a rare voice of reason—if also occasionally a thorn in MAGA’s side on subjects like border security because of his libertarian tendency.
In that sense, hardly many senators have the qualifications and personality that Senator Paul does for the Vice-Presidential position.
Despite occasionally disagreeing with President Trump on a few crucial issues like immigration and law enforcement, he has been in the Senate long enough to demonstrate his general allegiance to the MAGA cause and has experience where other populist-aligned Senators, like J.D. Vance and Josh Hawley, are comparatively inexperienced.
Overall, Senator Paul would be an excellent vice president since not many members of Congress could match the package that the junior senator from The Bluegrass State—a position he has held since 2011—brings to the table.
Ben Carson
One of the few cabinet secretaries to have supported President Trump throughout his entire term in office—including through the rigged 2020 election, his impeachment, and the subsequent political prosecution by the Biden deep state—is Ben Carson, the placid Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during President Trump’s first term.
That is a distinction that should be commended, and at the at least, earn him a cabinet position in the next Trump government. Carson stands in stark contrast to the majority of Washington, a cunning city full of politicians who say one thing in public then sever ties with those they claim to be committed to behind closed doors, because of his unwavering allegiance and warm personality.
From the start, Carson has supported Trump and MAGA, and he has stuck to his socially conservative, budget-conscious platform when speaking alongside the 45th President and appearing on the campaign trail.
Even if his manner occasionally draws criticism for being overly calm in a time when some level of ruthlessness is necessary to get anything done, Carson has shown to be trustworthy.
The main concern with Carson is not so much that he would be disloyal—he strikes the right note on important issues like immigration, election integrity, and an America First economic policy—but rather that, should he win the presidency, he wouldn’t have the right demeanor and qualifications.
After all, President Trump stated in a recent interview that the most crucial qualification for the Vice-Presidential position was someone who could fulfill the responsibilities of the President of the United States.
Carson, on the other hand, might be the right choice if Trump is searching for someone who will be dependable and won’t, say, try to scheme to become the 45th President’s successor. This is because Carson doesn’t seem to have a lot of ambition for higher office and could, therefore, serve as second-in-command with diligence before retiring discreetly at the end of his term.
Tucker Carlson
Because Tucker Carlson fits all the boxes for the perfect vice presidential candidate—loyalty, dedication to the cause, and succession—he has been my favorite option.
In Canada, Carlson recently hosted a speech that sold out a whole hockey arena, exhibiting a level of celebrity similar to that of the 45th President that hasn’t decreased in the months since he left his prestigious job at Fox News, where he was by far the most watched program on cable news.
Tucker started his own media company and has since traveled the United States and the world interviewing diplomats and foreign leaders and highlighting significant political and social developments in nations like Spain, Canada, and Hungary that have experienced populist uprisings against increasingly oppressive ruling classes similar to our own.
Carlson had a discernible ideological change under the Trump administration, moving away from his previous libertarian views and toward nationalism and populism, much like the 45th President.
This may be seen as opportunism, but Carlson has repeatedly shown a fearlessness in addressing topics that few, if any, other politicians are willing to openly discuss, like military non-intervention, the threat of a weaponized national security state, and the domestic denial of liberties by the federal government.
In that sense, knowing who the second-in-command is, he can guarantee, in addition to loyalty to the 45th President’s program, protection against their shared opponents, who would probably think twice before playing a joke on Trump.
These days, Carlson’s lack of formal political experience is less of a drawback and may possibly be an asset. When weighed against Biden’s more than 50 years of experience in Washington, Trump’s four years as president allays those worries about his lack of expertise, which is actually beneficial.
Since outsiders are more trustworthy than insiders, Carlson poses less of a threat than an experienced politician. Instead, he might appoint a team of Washington operatives who may pose a threat to the White House by working from within, like Pence’s staff did during the first Trump term.
Carlson knows the inner workings of the Swamp better than most seasoned political professionals, having lived and worked there for decades. This experience adds even more weight to his criticisms of the blob.
Trump may be understandably hesitant to unite such star power—between himself and Carlson—on a single ticket, but in my opinion, doing so would not only make a strong statement to the DC Swamp that they mean business, but it would also make the most appealing option for common voters, many of whom are easily swayed by the whims of celebrities, as we have recently witnessed with the Taylor Swift scandal.
By appealing to the attraction of pop culture, Democrats want to win over younger people by utilizing their connections in Hollywood and the media.
The natural disadvantage Republicans have in popular culture might be countered by a Trump ticket led by a formidable pair of media and political celebrities, creating the momentum that the party needs to win big in November. The author humbly believes that Tucker Carlson would make the ideal vice president.
Tucker Carlson will get the nod.