With the 2024 Republican primary contest all but officially decided, even as it has barely begun, much of the focus has shifted to who former President Donald Trump might choose as his running mate and vice presidential candidate.
According to Daily Caller columnist Mary Rooke, one seemingly "obvious" pick for the VP slot would be one of his putative former rivals for the GOP nomination, business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy, readers may recall, ended his presidential campaign and dropped out of the race after the Iowa Caucus and then immediately joined up with Trump on the campaign trail in New Hampshire and fully embraced the role of a surrogate with a full-throated endorsement of the former president's bid for re-election.
In Rooke's estimation, "The base wants Trump. They want him to come back into the executive branch and wreak havoc on the entitled ruling class that jailed political prisoners, sent billions overseas while our economy collapsed, closed down pipelines, pushed [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] over safety, and left the U.S. border wide open for terrorists to enter."
"To them, it’s 2016 again, but on steroids," she continued. "Trump’s VP pick needs to reflect this. Enter Vivek Ramaswamy."
The columnist argued that Ramaswamy has shown that he is an "asset" on the campaign trail, has an ability to connect with and genuinely listen to the concerns of Trump's base, and presents good "optics" in that he is "handsome," his wife is "beautiful," and in conjunction with their young children -- which shows he has a real stake in the nation's future -- they collectively project a "wholesome" family picture.
Rooke also observed that Ramaswamy adopted a decidedly "different approach" than all of the other candidates in dealing with Trump when he was still leading his own campaign, in that "He embraces all the parts of Trump that were good for the American people. He talked about the issues surrounding the former president without demonizing him," and put on a "masterclass in handling a base scorned by the ruling class."
"His fellow Republican candidates could be correct in their attacks that Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign was essentially him auditioning for the open vice president position. But the jokes on them," she concluded. "The biggest shock is that any of them ran at all. For those outside the D.C. consultant class, there was never anything more obvious than the reality that Trump would always be the nominee."
To be sure, Rooke is not alone in suggesting that Ramaswamy looks like a potential top choice for former President Trump's running mate, as he was included in a recent analysis from The Washington Post of possible Trump VP picks that "make the most sense."
The Post's analysis that, setting aside some "brief scuffles" right before the Iowa Caucus, "Ramaswamy effectively ran as a surrogate for Trump in the 2024 presidential race. While other candidates declined to criticize Trump, Ramaswamy was actually cheerleading for him. Few campaigns have looked more like an effort to secure a job that isn’t actually the presidency."
There are a few drawbacks, however, for while Ramaswamy proved that he is "an effective messenger who might be more at home in the No. 2 role," he isn't particularly well-known by most Americans, and of those who are familiar with him, nearly twice as many dislike him than hold a favorable opinion.
When Ramaswamy dropped out of the race after Iowa and then joined Trump in New Hampshire to deliver a resounding in-person endorsement, Fox News reported that Trump appeared quite pleased, praised his former competitor as a "fantastic guy," and proclaimed to a cheering crowd of his supporters, "He's going to be working with us and he'll be working with us for a long time."
It wasn't immediately clear if Trump had been referencing a position for Ramaswamy on his campaign or in a prospective second administration, but when asked later if he'd be open to being Trump's running mate and VP, Ramaswamy told Fox News host Jesse Watters, "I want to serve this country any way I can."
For what it is worth, the Oddschecker site that tracks betting on politics currently shows Ramaswamy as the favorite to be Trump's choice, albeit just narrowly ahead of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
