Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, took quite a thrashing in the recent Republican Party presidential primary. It wasn’t because he’s a terrible candidate. Or because he is, as he was accused of being, a “RINO globalist.” A cursory review of DeSantis’ leadership of Florida as governor proves how ridiculous that claim is. 

The reason DeSantis took such a beating in the primary was primarily because, after the Democrats initiated their widespread legal campaign against former President Donald J. Trump, most Republican voters believed Trump was being unfairly targeted by a corrupt and politicized justice system, and they did not want to give any ground to the Democratic Party by ending their support for Trump.

What’s more, many Republican voters genuinely believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen. And anyone who dared to challenge the candidate that most Republican voters viewed as the only legitimate presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, was viewed with suspicion and widely disliked. 

Plus, DeSantis’ own personality quirks came to the forefront in his public outings, which hurt him significantly. He was both too unavailable to the public and, when he did avail himself, he came off as needing a personality transplant. 

But what comes next for DeSantis? 

Ron DeSantis in 2028?

Still, both Trump and DeSantis were consistently the most favored Republicans who ran for the nomination in 2024. Talk abounds that, at the end of his term in four years, DeSantis will make another go at the nomination—and his chances of victory will probably be higher than they were in the contentious 2024 GOP primary. 

But if DeSantis runs in four years for the Republican nomination, it’ll be in an open primary in which Trump’s vice-presidential pick from 2024 will likely be the MAGA heir apparent (unless Trump nominates a true GOP outsider, like Tulsi Gabbard as his vice-president). 

DeSantis would have a better time securing the nomination if he were simply the heir apparent by becoming Trump’s vice-presidential choice in 2024. Win or lose, DeSantis’ nomination by Trump to be his number two in the campaign against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would signal a unity and strength in the Republican Party that would most assuredly give the GOP a far greater chance of defeating the Democrats than they would have without the Trump-DeSantis tag team. 

Yes, these two men pummeled each other in the primary. And some of their more fanatical supporters will immediately shoot this suggestion down. But for those of us who remain rational and focused on defeating the Left, we can see that this is the best choice possible for a winning ticket in November.

After all, primaries are divisive. 

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis: Toward a Unity Ticket

Whoever wins that fight, though, is obligated to unite the party as best as they can. Remember the 1980 GOP Primary. Back then, upstart California Governor Ronald Reagan upset the establishment GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, former CIA director (the mere fact that someone in this position was up for president is disturbing, by the way) George H.W. Bush. 

There was no love lost between these two men. 

In fact, most reports indicated that Reagan and Bush during the 1980 primary loathed each other. Once Reagan had won the primary, to ensure his ascension to the nomination would go unchallenged by Bush, Reagan defied his advisers and choose Bush as his running-mate.

The coalescence of the two men made the GOP ticket in 1980 unstoppable. Similarly, should Trump decide to pick DeSantis as his number two, these two men would unite the party and charge to victory. Yes, Trump needs women. Failing that, he needs African-American votes. Or Latinos. Which is why names like Tulsi Gabbard or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio are all appealing to those within Trump’s circle. 

Yet, the likelihood Trump will ever get a sizable portion of the female vote is relatively low. As for the black and Hispanic votes, Trump has increased his support among these two groups over the last eight years on his own. 

So, putting a member of their ethnic group as his number two might be somewhat redundant. 

Ron DeSantis is a Great Pick

But the GOP itself remains divided after the brutal primary, notably between Trump and DeSantis. For all the talk about how awful DeSantis is from Trumpworld, the fact remains that DeSantis did the right thing. He stepped aside when it was clear he could not win (unlike the ungrateful Nikki Haley who refused to end her shambolic campaign until the bitter end). 

Not only did Ron DeSantis step aside, but he endorsed Trump, even after the attacks he and his family endured during the primary. What’s more, DeSantis has started fundraising for Trump. And anyone who paid attention to the 2024 GOP Primary knows fully that DeSantis is basically a walking ATM. 

So, he’s a huge asset for Trump as the Democrats continue employing their unconstitutional “lawfare” campaign against Trump, bleeding the Trump Campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) of precious resources. It might just be a one-off. Then again, it might be the beginning of an entente cordialewhich could define the closing half of the decade for the United States. 

Would a Trump-DeSantis Ticket Violate the Constitution? 

Now for the kicker. Under the twelfth amendment of the United States Constitution, nominees for the presidency and vice-presidency, who are domiciled in the same state, are disallowed from running on the same ticket together. That should be the end of the discussion. But it isn’t. Because the country has had politicians who’ve run on the same ticket from the same state. 

It’s actually a simple fix. 

All one of these two men would have to do would be to change their residencies from Florida to another state. 

This is precisely what Dick Cheney did when he was set to be named as George W. Bush’s vice-president. At that time, both Bush and Cheney were residents of Texas. So, Cheney simply moved his residency from Texas to his home in Wyoming. No muss, no fuss. A similar move could be made by either Trump or Ron DeSantis in the run-up to naming DeSantis as Trump’s running-mate. 

Which of these two men should change their residencies?

Who Should Change Residencies?

It’d be difficult for DeSantis to do that, seeing as he’s the current governor of Florida and would be ineligible to remain as governor if he changed his residency. Then again, if he were to run as Trump’s vice-presidential running-mate, Ron DeSantis would be unable to discharge his duties as governor and would have to hand those functions off to his lieutenant governor. So, DeSantis stepping down as governor, changing his residency status, and then becoming Trump’s VP wouldn’t be the end of the world. 

Then again, if we were to look at the Bush-Cheney dynamic, it was Cheney who changed his residency from Texas to Wyoming. That’s because Bush was still the governor of Texas. Cheney was wealthy (as was Bush) and untethered to government office at the time of his selection as Bush’s vice-president. Therefore, it was much easier for him to change residencies. 

Similarly, Trump is wealthy and has multiple properties around the country (and could buy more, if he wanted). Trump could name any of those other states as his primary residence, skirting the complications of naming DeSantis as his vice-president. He’d have to choose a Red State, though. And one in which there was no chance of him experiencing the weaponization of the state’s justice system against him as he has been made to endure in his former home state of New York. 

If the Trump and DeSantis wings can figure all these logistics out and get over their mutual resentments, the GOP would have a strong ticket in 2024—and will have set the stage for having a solid 2028 successor for Donald Trump. 

Ultimately, the choice belongs to Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone. He’s cracked the code for winning elections. He’ll make the right choice.

About the Author

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.