J.R. Lind has a brief item over at the Nashville Post about rumors swirling that U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn could be on the list of Donald Trump's potential running mates.
“Anybody would consider that offer,” Ms. Blackburn said. “I know it won’t be me. I’m not from a toss-up state or a purple state, but it is so nice when your colleagues and friends and people that you know say we think you would be worthy of consideration. That’s just nice to hear.”
This goes back to
what I said on Monday. We are deep in Republican-denial-land, where they think that, if they treat Trump like a normal candidate and if they keep ducking when he points at them, they can rope him into acting like a normal candidate and bring his voters back in line.
If Trump starts making considerations like "Ooo, I need someone from a toss-up state," then his candidacy is over. People are voting for him because he doesn't act like a regular politician. He starts acting like a regular politician, then what's the appeal?
And what the hell does Marsha Blackburn add to Trump's campaign? The only thing she adds is the suggestion that he's going to start behaving like a regular politician who can be easily absorbed back into the Republican party. We literally just went over why that's going to be a campaign killer for him.
Plus, Trump voters are a specific kind of traditionalist and Marsha Blackburn comes across as mean as a snake. Trump needs a kindly straight-man as his running mate (and a female straight-man would be an interesting choice). Someone to nod and wink to the parts of the crowd maybe a little uneasy about what's going on in that crowd to assure them that it's all in fun and that everything's okay. That's not Marsha Blackburn.
