Many months ago, Stephen K. Bannon asserted that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was aspiring to become former President Donald J. Trump’s running-mate in the 2024 Election Cycle (should Trump become the GOP nominee, of course).
In fact, MTG has been making bold moves since the new year started to appear as a more competent member of the House Republicans rather than just another Far Right-wing ideological bomb thrower, like her colleague-turned-rival Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
It was strongly suggested by former President Trump that Marjorie Taylor Greene run for the United States Senate in 2024.
But more reports are emanating that Bannon’s original claim, that Marjorie Taylor Greene was seeking to become Trump’s running-mate, are dominating the news cycle.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: A Female Trump?
This desire on MTG’s part, more than anything, is likely why she has made such a Machiavellian shift away from being the bomb-throwing, conservative fire breathing, ultra-MAGA backbencher for the House GOP and toward becoming a real powerbroker in Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) coalition.
Yet, MTG should realize that her “Trump in drag” schtick has a natural limit to it. She would be an awful pairing with Trump. So, too, would the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, for that matter. The former president, should he become the GOP nominee once more in 2024, doesn’t need someone like him in female form. General Election voters are already weary of him.
The last thing they want is Trump plus Female Trump as the Republican ticket.
More to the point, MTG’s possible pairing with Trump for the 2024 ticket was already tested in May of this year.
The results were awful.
According to a Rasmussen Reports and Political Media, Inc., poll that was conducted two months ago, 1,050 likely American voters indicated that they’d elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Trump-MTG 44 percent to 40 percent.
Sure, that’s a speculative poll and it’s only a four-point differential. Sadly, that margin may grow larger, given both Trump and MTG’s penchant for saying really irresponsible things.
Presently, Donald Trump is by-and-far the likeliest person to win the increasingly crowded GOP field in the Republican Party’s Primary. He’s an average of 20 points ahead of his nearest Republican rival, Florida’s popular Governor Ron DeSantis.
After DeSantis’ bizarre choice to let a bunch of social media influencers—one of whom was a rabid antisemite—run his campaign, that chasm of support between the Florida governor and Trump has only widened.
Trump Must Mind the Independent Voters (Who Hate MTG)
Regardless of Trump’s massive level of support among likely Republican voters, the scene gets cloudier for the former president as he squares off against President Biden in the General Election.
This is why Trump’s vice-presidential choice is so critical for his campaign.
Unsure independent voters will be looking to see if Donald Trump is able to balance his insatiable need to capture headlines and attention by making insane-sounding statements or social media rants with a vice-presidential choice that could serve as a calming element to Trump’s more unconventional behaviors and views.
In this way, Mike Pence, who was not my favorite person in Republican politics, was an inspired choice because he was, in every way, the anti-Trump. Whereas Trump was funny and dynamic, Pence was static and stern. Trump was new to government (and it showed) while Pence had a prior career in government.
Ultimately, the relationship collapsed under the weight of its internal contradictions.
Still, Trump’s choice to make Pence his number two in 2016 was brilliant and brought a great deal of balanceto an otherwise unstable ticket.
Let Trump Be Trump—Within Reason
There is a strain of thought that has consumed the minds of many MAGA-types on the Right to “let Trump be Trump.” That is certainly a necessity, considering his dynamism is both his greatest asset and vulnerability. Yet, having a wall of predictability around Trump’s ball of unpredictability would be key to showing voters that Trump can make informed choices beyond simply seeking more attention from the media.
MTG would undercut that.
Further, ever since she began her Machiavelli swing toward the Republican Party’s center, MTG has garnered more enemies, not fewer of them.
Sure, she now has the Speaker of the House’s ear—as well as Trump’s. But many of her House Republican colleagues, as well as the elements of the conservative bomb-thrower caucus that MTG once rode with, have turned on her.
Donald Trump’s initial thought of having MTG run for the Senate is a much better pathway forward for MTG. She cannot remain in the House because she has a massive target on her back.
True, Marjorie Taylor Greene will be targeted in the Senate, too.
But at least she’ll be operating in the Upper Chamber of Congress and will have far greater influence and sway there than she does as just one of 435 members of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Greene would make a terrible number two, though, for Trump. Yes, she’s a woman. And Trump needs a minority as VP candidate to, at least partly, deprive the Biden-Harris of its strongest support—minorities.
However, Marjorie Taylor Greene is very unpopular with most female voters in ways that Vice-President Kamala Harris is not. Plus, MTG turns off other minority voters. No, MTG and, to a lesser extent, Kari Lake, would awful choices for Trump’s number two slot.
Marjorie Taylor Greene for Senate
MTG has deftly maneuvered herself in a commendably Machiavellian way away from the extreme and irresponsible members of the House Republicans. Because of these deft moves employed by MTG, she should take Trump’s suggestion and focus on running for the Georgia Senate.
Besides, Republicans need stronger members in the Senate. It’d also be nice to have Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have MTG breathing down his political neck, keeping him honest—something that he has struggled doing for many years.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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