As the 2022 midterms draw ever closer and the expected red wave continues to overtake the country, Americans everywhere are turning their eyes to yet another horizon, one that is a bit farther out. With a red tide expected to take over both congressional houses in November, the question is no longer can the Republicans retake the majority but whether or not they can retake the White House.
Naturally, that brings us to 2024 and its presidential election.
Now, with the midterms still ahead of us and nothing set in stone quite yet, contenders for the Oval Office, at least on the Republican side of the aisle, aren’t making any big moves yet. Plans, maybe behind closed doors. But no announcements have been made, and no campaigns officially started.
And yes, we all know that includes former President Donald Trump. While some would say he shouldn’t run again, I’m pretty sure most of us expect him to do so anyway.
Then again, most of us have also been hearing an awful lot, and pretty much all of it good, about Florida’s conservative Governor Ron DeSantis. In fact, many have floated his name as one who should run for the White House.
But against Trump?
As “Conservative Warrior” Wayne Allen Root discovered after sending out a poll to his mailing list, Trump is still very much the number one pick for American conservatives everywhere.
Wayne’s poll simply asked who his fans would “support for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.” He didn’t give a list of options or names. He just let the people fill in a name.
As he says, “Ninety-five percent picked Trump.”
However, he did add that the remaining five percent put Ron DeSantis’s name down.
What this means is that 1) Trump is still the favorite by far, but 2) DeSantis shouldn’t be forgotten.
This was even further indicated by the fact that Wayne says that most respondents who picked Trump said they would definitely vote for him should DeSantis be his VP.
Enter the Trump-DeSantis ticket.
Really, it’s not a bad idea. I mean, here you have two men who so far agree on pretty much everything policy-wise and are known for taking no guff. They just go about them in a slightly different way. Such a pairing could be great for America.
Certainly, American conservatives think so.
There’s just one little problem. As the way things stand right now, the two cannot run together on the same ticket – at least not without incurring a significant and possibly insurmountable loss.
To put it simply, the problem is that they are both from the same state or claim residency in the same state. And per the rules of the Electoral College, if both candidates run from the same state, they lose that state’s electoral votes.
Now, maybe, if that state were somewhere like South Dakota, which only gets three electoral votes, it might be doable and worthwhile. But Florida, with its much larger population and,therefore, amount of representation, receives a whopping 29 electoral votes. Let’s face it, neither Trump nor DeSantis can afford to lose all those.
And so that means a Trump-DeSantis ticket just isn’t possible. That is unless one of them moves out of state.
Now, as a successful businessman, Trump definitely has more of an option to do this. After all, he has properties all over, right? For instance, he could move to his mansion and golf club known as Bedminster in New Jersey.
This would free up the electoral votes problem for sure, allowing DeSantis to join Trump on the presidential ticket. And should they win the White House, it would mean a freer America – possibly even for the next 12 years or so, if DeSantis was then voted in as President of the United States.
The question is, is that something that Trump would be willing to do?
As several have suggested, moving for him wouldn’t be the problem. Instead, would he be willing to take a man like DeSantis with him to the White House, a man who, let’s be honest, is no Mike Pence?
