Garner, Cleveland And Trump's Ultimate VP Pick

John Nance Garner  (left) called it "the worst thing that ever happened to me" and reportedly referred to it as not worth more than "a quart of warm spit." He was referring to the Vice Presidency of the United States. And he should know as her served in that position from 1933 till 1941.

Though Harry Truman was vice president he found himself woefully ill-prepared for the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945 saying that he felt like "the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me."  Richard Nixon bristled under the confines of the vice presidency and he must have cringed when President Eisenhower could not name a single thing that Nixon accomplished during his time in that office. Lyndon Johnson hated being vice president and the same could probably be said for Spiro Agnew who seemed to have so much time on his hands while serving under Nixon that he was able to accept kickback payments while in the White House. And Barack Obama apparently thought so little of Joe Biden as his vice president that when Biden considered running to succeed him, Obama discouraged him saying: "Joe, you don't have to do this." Today, with Biden finally in the job, we're stock with Vice President Kamala Harris. Need we say more?

Indeed, in the world of national politics the vice presidency has never been widely sought after and has always been viewed as a sort of consolation prize, if that. 

But this year may be different. Very different. That's because both Trump and Biden are able to serve only one more term. In Biden's case that means that in four years (or probably less, given what appears to be Biden's increasing senility) we will have President Kamala Harris. In the case of Trump, his pick will immediately be the likely Republican presidential candidate in 2028. And he or she will have a leg up on the top job.

Who will Trump pick?

Four criteria would seem to be paramount:

1) The choice must do no harm. The person must be thoroughly vetted and must bring virtually all positives and no negatives to the ticket.

2) The person must have Trump's complete trust and confidence. Trump must be comfortable with the person and confident that he or she is ready to assume the highest office in the land.

3) The selection should also bring a balanced compatibility to the ticket. So, someone relatively young and vigorous but also even-tempered would be ideal.

4) A woman and/or a minority group member would be an added plus.

Who will be the pick? Right now, speculation is centered around three names: Senator Tim Scott, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. But remember: Trump loves suspense and surprises. So he may be leading us to focus on these three, drawing out the story while having someone entirely different in mind.

No matter who the pick is, you can be sure of this: This time the vice presidential choice really is consequential in a way that it hasn't been in a long time. Because, given the widespread dissatisfaction with and lack of confidence in Harris, the right choice by Trump could send the 45th President of the United States sailing into the record books as the first and only person since Grover Cleveland (right) in 1893 to be voted out of office then come back four years later to win a second term. That would be historic!