It’s generally a big deal when the presumptive presidential nominee from either party chooses their running mate. It’s a somewhat smaller deal when the guy in second place — who may or may not force the person in first place to a contested convention — chooses his potential vice president.
There is, however, one way in which this is a big deal. For Trump, Ted Cruz’s alliance with Carly Fiorina highlights the most glaring issue facing his potential general-election campaign: Women can’t stand him. And, by taking Fiorina off the board, Cruz has left Trump with pitifully few options should he wish to soothe his problems with women by choosing a woman for his running mate.
According to Trump, women love him. He’d be fantastic for women, believe him! But when actual women — outside of Donald Trump’s head — have an opportunity to talk to pollsters about the Orange Menace, 70% of them have unfavorable views. When he ranted that Hillary Clinton only has “the woman card” to play, Mary Pat Christie, Chris Christie’s wife, appeared to roll her eyes behind him. And that’s a woman on his side!
Can Trump somehow neutralize the disdain women feel for him? It’s a longshot. He’s made fun of his opponent’s wife’s looks and shrugged his shoulders about it when called on it. He’s said women who have abortions should be punished. Even when he dialed that comment back, women had trouble unhearing it.
If Trump wanted to make inroads with women with a vice president pick, he’d have slim pickings among Republican politicians. After their Twitter bickering, where she bested him with a blistering “bless your heart,” Nikki Haley is out. Last week, Bill O’Reilly suggested Trump should pick Susana Martinez, governor of New Mexico, but a few days after that Martinez let loose on Trump at a Republican Governors Association meeting saying she was offended by his comments on immigrants.
So, who does that leave? Omarosa? Michele Bachmann? Melania?
It’s unlikely anyone who wants an actual future in politics would say yes to such an offer. To accept a Trump VP slot, one would have to be comfortable with the reality TV circus. One would have to be untroubled by the moral stench that will linger for the rest of one’s life. One would have to be essentially lacking in all dignity.
Which leaves: Sarah Palin.
Trump talks a lot about loyalty, and few people have shown Palin’s type of loyalty — joining him for eating pizza with a fork in New York City, endorsing him early, leaving her husband in the hospital following a serious accident to remain by Trump’s side.
Palin brings very little else to the table. She won’t help him win any states he wouldn’t have won without her, she won’t help him make friends with the establishment types he will eventually need, and she won’t add polish to a candidate deeply in need of policy credibility.
In a normal election, there’s no chance she would be under consideration by anyone. But we’re not in a normal election, and we may very well get to see what happens when both candidates on a ticket go rogue together.
