The urgency to know the identity of the person who will accompany Donald Trump on the ticket as his candidate for vice president was put on hold, like the rest of the issues in American politics, after the attack that the Republican candidate suffered this Saturday afternoon at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. There was speculation that this corner of the Midwest could be the place where the tycoon would reveal who he had chosen for the post after months of deliberation. There was not even an option: the electoral event was interrupted a few minutes after it began by shots fired by a sniper stationed on the roof of a nearby building, although outside the premises. Trump was slightly injured and the secret service killed the shooter. One attendee at the rally died and two others were left in critical condition.
Before this unexpected new chapter in the history of political violence in the United States, a last-minute change in the rules governing the Republican National Convention, which will take place from Monday to Thursday next week in Milwaukee, will allow Donald Trump, 78, to maintain until the end the only suspense that, apart from Joe Biden’s fate, remains at this point for the Republican Party, already completely surrendered at his feet: who will accompany Trump as vice president?
In an interview on a radio show, Trump said Friday that he would “love to announce [el nombre] during the convention, or maybe on Monday”; that the winnowing was already down to four candidates; and that he was enjoying the process as a “very sophisticated version of The Apprentice”, he reality show with which the real estate crook became a reality TV star.
The betting pools have seen at least a dozen names floated around. They all agree on three as the most likely candidates, although a major surprise from Trump cannot be ruled out. The Republican seems willing to break the unwritten rule that advises looking for a second to diversify the electoral offer, although the only thing that is certain at this point is that with Trump, as comfortable in chaos and improvisation as in suspense, you never know. Below are three profiles of these supposed finalists and a quick review of the other options.
JD Vance. Young and hillbilly
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JD Vance, a 39-year-old senator from Ohio who has a past as a Marine in Iraq, a venture capitalist and a best-selling author, rose to fame in 2016 thanks to his memoir Hillbilly. A rural elegya book that was hailed as the definitive portrait of life in the “rust belt,” that ill-fated piece of land in the Midwest that brought Trump to the White House. Vance then used his newly acquired persona as a public intellectual to define the tycoon as “America’s Hitler.” In this time, in which the former president’s support catapulted him to the Senate in the 2022 elections, he has become one of his most fervent admirers.
In favor: He is the dream come true of the MAGA movement (Make America Great Again): young, successful and fiercely nationalist populist. He shares with the boss the apocalyptic vision of the United States, the taste for free trade, the isolationist desires that would wipe out with a stroke of the pen what remains of the old idea of the power as the police of the free world and the desire to close the border with Mexico. He also has the close relationship that unites Vance with the former president’s firstborn; it is a strange friendship, between a rich boy from New York and a poor young man from the self-made Midwest. In addition, Vance is the favorite in the orbit of some of the most glittering planets in the MAGA universe, from the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson to the ideologue of Trumpism, now in prison, Steve Bannon.
Against: If candidate Trump is looking to reach new audiences with his second-in-command, Vance may not be the best idea: he is very young, yes, but he does not seem to have the ability to attract the female or minority vote. In addition, he represents a state, Ohio, that the president has won.
Marco Rubio. The old enemy and the Latino vote
In the 2016 Republican primaries, Marco Rubio, the son of working-class Cuban immigrants in Florida, was one of Trump’s most serious rivals, and for a fleeting moment it seemed possible to imagine a Latino in the White House. In that campaign, he was able to see the magnate’s talent for cruelty, who nicknamed him Little Marco to mock his height. Rubio responded with little elegance when he called attention to his rival’s small hands. Those quarrels are long gone. Rubio, 53, has since become a close collaborator of the former president from the Senate and was almost named secretary of state in the final stages of Trump’s first term.
In favor: His fame has a national reach and could serve to attract Latino voters, one of the most sought-after prizes in this campaign. Rubio speaks Spanish, like a growing percentage of the American population. The two are ideologically aligned, and at a recent rally near Miami, Trump said Rubio was “someone who has truly become a friend.”
Against: There is one procedural nuance that may not be in his favour. The US Constitution specifies that a state’s electoral votes must go to at least one candidate, either president or vice president, from another state. Both Trump and Rubio live in Florida, which has 30 electoral votes. If these were needed to ensure a slim Republican victory, there would always be the option for Rubio to register after the election and before the inauguration somewhere else. There is a precedent: Dick Cheney’s move from Texas to Wyoming in 2000 so he could be George W. Bush’s vice president.

Doug Burgum. Little known, but a millionaire
He is 67 years old and is the governor of North Dakota. He ran in the Republican primaries, which Trump won by a landslide, but never had a chance. The love affair between the two has had its ups and downs, but he has been in robust health lately. Trump rescued Burgum from anonymity and has placed him in a race in which no one really expected him. Apparently, he admires the fact that he is rich (he made his money with a company that software which he sold in 2001 to Microsoft), as well as, according to an aide to the former president, The Wall Street Journal, his “good-looking white man” appearance.
In favor: His lack of a reputation outside North Dakota could be his best assets. It is impossible for him to overshadow Trump, who is an uncomfortable man when others around him shine more than he does. His business acumen also earns him points in the eyes of the boss.
Against: Going so unnoticed could mean that he would not count enough on the ballot. He is an older white man, like Trump, so he does not contribute to the diversity of the electoral offer. Nor does his extremist positions on the issue of abortion, which has become radioactive for the Republicans, help him.

Women, African Americans… and the rest
The perfect manual for selecting a vice president advises using this trump card to open the game by choosing, for example, a woman; someone who appeals to minorities; or someone who lowers the average age of the tandem. You can also use geography, betting on a well-known face in a decisive state.
Assuming Trump is a by-the-book person, that would suggest he might go with a woman. Perhaps New York Rep. Elise Stefanik or repentant Democrat Tulsi Gabbard; Kari Lake, a former reality TV star who lost her bid for governor of Arizona; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was Trump’s White House press secretary and was enough to become governor of Arkansas; or Kristi Noem, his counterpart in South Dakota. It’s not clear she can undo the damage she did to her image by publishing her memoir, which recounted the gruesome account of the day she killed a dog.
Among the candidates who could attract the black vote, two stand out: Tim Scott and Byron Donalds. Scott is a senator from South Carolina, who faced Trump in the primaries and has since broken all records for paying him homage. Donalds, a congressman from Florida, was described by the former president at a rally in Michigan as “an incredible guy” and revealed that he was “on the list of possible vice presidents.”
This list is completed by other names that have been heard more loudly before than now. For example, that of Vivek Ramaswamy, the “millionaire” “anti-woke”the son of self-made Indian immigrants. In the chapter closest to political fiction, there is the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who at one point seemed capable of overshadowing Trump, and Nikki Haley, the rival who went the furthest in the primaries. Like so many enemies of the former president, Haley has ended up folding sails: from saying that she did not intend to “kiss the ring” of the candidate to announcing in May that she would vote for him. Having overcome this last resistance, all that remains is to find out the traveling companion who could return Trump to the White House.
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