This NBC News story says that Donald Trump is seriously considering asking Sen. Marco Rubio to be his running mate. The article also mentions the immediate problem with that idea, which is that both Rubio and Trump are residents of Florida. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution prevents electors from voting for both a president and vice-president from the state in which they reside.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that if the Trump-Rubio ticket were to win Florida, as seems likely, the electors in Florida could not cast a vote for both of them. Presumably, they’d choose Trump in that case, but it could cost Rubio the vice-presidency. I don’t know what would happen. Maybe it would get settled by the U.S. House of Representatives. If Trump seems likely to push through with this idea, maybe I’ll research it further.
You may remember that this came up in 2000 when George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. Both of them clearly were living in Texas at the time, and quite obviously Bush could not beat Gore without Texas, not could Cheney beat Lieberman. In that case, Cheney switched his prime residence to Wyoming which had a patina of plausibility. Cheney owned a residence there and he had served for years as Wyoming’s congressman in Washington DC. I think Cheney actually went so far as to put his Dallas home up for sale, and I know he obtained a Wyoming driver’s license.
Trump and Rubio will need Florida’s Electoral College votes so I suppose Rubio could try something similar but, as a sitting senator, I don’t think it would pass judicial muster. Which means Trump would have to be the one to switch residencies. He could become a resident of New Jersey for example, which I think he would prefer to New York at this point. But does Trump want to go through all that nonsense?
In general, he seems to want to create the most stress on the system as he can, so I guess I shouldn’t discount a fake move to the Garden State which is challenged in court, followed by some kind of insurrection, this time probably carried out by the left. Who knows?
Rubio would make a lot of sense. He might be just dumb enough to accept the job.
Jesus, could Trump do any more to stress the American electoral system? I am surprised that Trump is even considering someone who is a member of “The Swamp”, at least from an historical perspective. Of course Rubio, like 99% of the other “mainstream” Republicans, has loooong since relinquished his testicles to Trump, and they are now securely residing in long-term storage at Trump’s gilded Mar A Lago estate.
Without a shred of doubt, the mainstream media would cream their jeans at the prospect of having “respectable” Republican VP candidate like Rubio on the ticket. After all, he is a “serious Republican”, with all sorts of bonafides among the Beltway. And he LOVES quoting Bible verses to us. How much more “Real American” can you get, right? The Sunday shows would be absolutely thrilled to have him on every fucking chance they had, and he could give all sorts of respectable patina to the coming fascist dictatorship of Donald Trump. David Brooks would pen his usual mind-numbing screed confirming what a wonderful, middle ground choice this is by Trump, and that maybe it represents, finally, an indication of Trump’s moderation and maturity in his political evolution. If this is a real thing, I have to give someone credit for even considering a choice like this. It’s kinda scary to me. I think we were all anticipating a raging MAGA lunatic. Rubio, even though a credible case can be made that he’s one of those same lunatics, will never be portrayed that way within the national political conversation. Like Dick Cheney, maybe the most radical and consequential VP in history, Rubio will never called out for what he is a part of, and the policies with which he has aligned himself. He’s simply too much a part of the conventional D.C. crowd. He’s an absolutely safe choice, and with Trump’s public seal of approval, he will immediately be golden to the MAGA crowd.
I fucking hope this is not for real.
But can Trump and maga take a partially serious person or is that a bridge too far? i hope i hope
Trump could personally light a fire to a truckload of puppies and kittens on the Washington Mall in a nationally televised broadcast on Easter Sunday and the MAGA folk would still support him because ANYTHING he does is okay; even going as far as picking Rubio.
It’s those who have evolved in the last few years to leaning away from Trump who might see a partially serious person like Rubio on the ticket as cause enough to just go ahead and vote for Trump.
Trump’s trolling.
“Look how I can make everyone suck up to me!!!”
Is there any politician in Florida that Trump has not signaled as a potential VP choice? Count them