Former President Donald Trump has been teasing for months about who might be dialed up as the next GOP vice presidential candidate. Will she be pretty, will he be a Democrat, or will Trump clone himself? With a rally scheduled in the Sunshine State today (July 9), some believe it might be a public pronouncement that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will join the ticket.
The highly anticipated announcement comes at the most inopportune time: Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is under attack from friend and foe to step aside after a debate performance that exposed a leader with serious cognitive issues. No political operative would upset that apple cart. However, the nominating convention is just days away, and in light of Trump’s grand entrances to his events, he likely wants his plane to have his running mate emblazoned on the fuselage before landing in Milwaukee for the convention. That would give the decal guys a few days to work on the aircraft currently sequestered from public view.
Say what you will, but Trump is a brand. But there is a sticking point to this GOP ticket: the US Constitution.
Trouble on Ticket of Trump and Rubio
Having Rubio on the ticket presents a problem: The Constitution bars the president and vice president from residing in the same state. Article II, paragraph 3, states: “The electors … shall vote for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” The 12th Amendment was enacted in 1804 to clarify how the election process now works.
In the olden days, electors would cast a ballot for two people. The top vote count determined who was president, and the man finishing second was the new vice president. The reasoning behind the provision was sound: force electors out of their political circles and prevent the largest states from creating a monopoly on power.
For the most part, today’s ticket process doesn’t fall under the 12th Amendment – but it has happened and was handled easily. It was in 2000, when George W. Bush from Texas picked Dick Cheney, also living in Texas, to be his running mate. Just days before the announcement was made, Cheney changed his residency to his Wyoming home from where he had served in Congress. To be fair, Cheney did have deep ties to Wyoming, where he maintained a ranch. Of course, it was challenged in lawsuits, but at the time, it wasn’t something the courts wanted to decide.
In Trump’s case, someone would likely add it to the list of the man’s crimes against nature, and his poll numbers would likely go up overnight.
The Big Tease
“It could happen anytime this week,” senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News. “But anyone telling you they know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying unless that person is named Donald J. Trump.”
Rubio appeared on the CNN program State of the Union and didn’t allow even a hint.
“Look, I’ve heard nothing, I know nothing, and you probably know more than I do about it. Donald Trump has a decision to make. He’ll make it when he needs to make it. He’ll make a good decision. I know for certain that I will be out there over the next three or four months, working on behalf of his campaign in some capacity.”
Trump is heading to Pennsylvania for an afternoon rally at the Butler Farm Show on Saturday — a short hop for another possible VP pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. It’s doubtful anyone will know until Trump pulls off a big reveal in the style of his old TV show, The Apprentice, with millions of viewers watching. It’s more his way than a rally environment. But again, it’s Trump, and no one really knows what the guy is up to behind the scenes.
“Well, I have people in mind. I have so many good people. We have such a deep bench,” Trump told reporters. “But we’ll be making a decision sometime early convention or before convention.”
Now would be the time to decide if the gold-appointed plane wants that paint job before landing in Milwaukee.
