What if Trump was GHW Bush's running mate in 1988?

TheGoodlife

Banned
Its a little known fact that George HW Bush had future president then young billionaire Donald Trump on his short list for VP.

In a long shot what if what would change if he had selected Trump instead of Quayle?
 
It's an old standby of American politics that the VP choice makes little difference electorally speaking, and I'm inclined to think that would hold in this alternate scenario as well.

That said, a ticket with Trump would definitely be seen as a novelty, and not in a good way. It MIGHT call into some question GHW's judgement.

Plus, I don't think Trump in '88 would have had the same conservative street cred that Quayle had, and which the alleged closet-liberal Bush needed to bolster his right-wing flank. With Bush already known to have been previously pro-choice, Trump's general aura of the Manhattan party circuit might not help matters.

Now, THAT said, novelty and NYC hedonism didn't hurt Trump at the front of the ticket in 2016, so I guess it's possible that they wouldn't have done much damage in '88 either. Though this time around, the ticket also had Pence on board to appeal to the Christianists. In '88, the ticket would be the guy who steadfastly refused to call himself "born again", along with a guy who would probably turn up in most people's mind's eye when asked to envision "coke fueled orgies in Manhattan discos".
 
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TheGoodlife

Banned
It's an old standby of American politics that the VP choice makes little difference electorally speaking, and I'm inclined to think that would hold in this alternate scenario as well.

That said, a ticket with Trump would definitely be seen as a novelty, and not in a good way. It MIGHT call into some question GHW's judgement.

Plus, I don't think Trump in '88 would have had the same conservative street cred that Quayle had, and which the alleged closet-liberal Bush needed to bolster his right-wing flank. With Bush already known to have been previously pro-choice, Trump's general aura of the Manhattan party circuit might not help matters.

Now, THAT said, novelty and NYC hedonism didn't hurt Trump at the front of the ticket in 2016, so I guess it's possible that they wouldn't have done much damage in '88 either. Though this time around, the ticket also had Pence on board to appeal to the Christianists. In '88, the ticket would be the guy who steadfastly refused to say call himself "born again", along with a guy who would probably turn up in most people's mind's eye when asked to envision "coke fueled orgies in Manhattan discos".
I also read that Clint Eastwood was another possibility
 
I also read that Clint Eastwood was another possibility

Yeah. But remember Clint's speech at the GOP convention in 2012?

(soaking up the prolonged applause at the beginning)...

"Save some for Mitt!"

Uh, yeah, Clint. That's what you do when you're opening for a candidate already being blasted for being out of touch and uncharismatic. Brag about how you're more popular than him.

(addressing the invisible Obama)

"So you supported going into Afghanistan after 9-11. Maybe you should have asked the Russians how THEY did!"

Followed by truncated applause, and shots of audience members sporting expressions somewhere between confused and affronted, having just heard Clint implicitly denounce a war beloved among the party faithful.

Suffice to say, it's hard to predict what he would have said or done in 1988, but I can't see him getting through the campaign without some major gaffes, and he would have a hard time making the apologies sound sincere.

Plus, his fabricated tough-guy image is gonna melt like butter against Lloyd Bentsen in the debates.
 
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