Electoral politics in 2024 is not going to lack excitement, if that’s the right word.  Well, it won’t be boring.  But the primaries have been boring.  The major party nominees were basically already in place at the beginning of the year.

It was obvious that Joe Biden would be essentially unopposed in the Democratic Party.  The establishment made sure of that.  If Biden isn’t the nominee, it sure won’t be decided by the electorate.  It will be decided by the party elite and announced around the convention.

Trump was obvious for other reasons.  There were Republican debates, but Trump wisely didn’t participate.  Even though some of the media tried to create some drama and give it coverage, it was rather clear at the beginning of January 2024 that Trump was the easy favorite for the nomination.  This is why it was foolish for DeSantis to ever try this year.

There is more drama within the Libertarian Party, as it really isn’t clear who will get the nomination.  There was talk about Robert Kennedy Jr. trying to get the nomination, presumably for ballot access, but that isn’t likely to happen at this point.  Plus, there probably aren’t a lot of libertarians within the party who would be willing to compromise on RFK, as he obviously isn’t a libertarian.

There are happenings in the arena in politics that will certainly impact the general election.  The powers-that-be are trying to throw Trump in jail, or bankrupt him, or do anything they can to keep him off the ballot.  They are quite determined to try anything to keep him away from the White House again.

But it is interesting that another piece of political drama that has popped up is that of the running mates.  I have said that I will not vote for Trump if he picks someone establishment as his running mate.  I will consider voting for him, even though there are many areas where I disagree, if he picks someone that the establishment opposes as much as him.

Anyway, aside from the question of whether Biden gets replaced this summer, perhaps the biggest political drama over the next few months will be the picks for vice president.  If Biden remains the nominee, then Kamala Harris will likely remain the nominee as his running mate.  It would be difficult politically to throw her aside at this point.

Vice Presidential Contenders

One name that is supposedly on Trump’s consideration list is Tulsi Gabbard.  It is interesting that I have also heard her mentioned as a possible running mate for RFK.  It seems unlikely that the same person would be mentioned as a possible running mate for two different presidential candidates in the same race.

If Trump picked Tulsi, it would give me some assurance that there is hope for a less interventionist foreign policy.  Tulsi is no libertarian when it comes to foreign policy.  She has her issues.  But she is seemingly far better than what we have gotten over the last many decades from major party nominees.

It is hard to believe that Tulsi was running as a Democrat just 4 years ago.  In fact, she is the one who took down Kamala Harris in the debates.  I don’t think Kamala is looking forward to a rematch in a vice presidential debate.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Trump is going to pick Vivek Ramaswamy or Tucker Carlson or anyone like them.  I think Tulsi is probably the best we can realistically hope for.  Any establishment pick like Tim Scott will just tell us that Trump didn’t learn anything from 4 years in office and that he will continue to surround himself by people who hate him.

Even more interesting than Trump’s contender list is RFK’s contender list.  RFK appeared on Dave Smith’s podcast and offered him the spot.  Then they argued for over an hour about Israel and Gaza, and then RFK proceeded to repeat his offer to Dave.  It looks like Dave Smith has declined the offer because of their opposing views on the Israeli state.

Next, we heard that Jesse Ventura and Aaron Rodgers are on the short list for RFK.  This is encouraging in some respect because it shows the RFK is still running a somewhat anti-establishment campaign in spite of his position on supporting funding for Israel.

Jesse Ventura literally had a show on conspiracy theories, including an interesting one where he met some lady who warned about the government trying to cull the population with vaccines.  He would be a good insurance policy for RFK.

Talk of Aaron Rodgers doesn’t even seem to make sense.  He is still playing football.  I don’t think he can continue to play for the Jets and run a campaign.  I see the appeal of having him, and the two share similar skepticism of vaccines.

I like Aaron Rodgers, which is partially why I hope he doesn’t get into politics.  If he is forced to take certain political positions, I will probably like him a lot less.

It is also interesting that as soon as his name came up, some establishment hack accused him of saying that he believed the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax.  It is complete hearsay.  I think this was a shot across the bow for Aaron Rodgers.  If he gets into a presidential race, he is going to face relentless attacks from the media.  He should definitely be prepared for this if he does decide to accept an offer to run with RFK, but that is looking highly unlikely now.

Conclusion

I think RFK is going to pick an interesting running mate no matter what.  He really does fear for his life, and rightly so.  The best protection is finding someone at least as anti-establishment as him.  Still, we don’t know if RFK will be allowed in the debates, even though he is polling around 10%.

Trump’s VP pick will be interesting initially.  It will tell us whether he might actually change anything of significance other than rhetoric.  I think Tulsi would actually be a decent pick, as at least it would give us some hope for reducing the American empire overseas.

There is no Biden pick.  The only pick is coming from the establishment and whether they decide to keep Biden out there as the nominee.  He is deeply unpopular.  They will go with whomever they think has the best chance at beating Trump, whether fairly or not.