The Trump confidant and Republican operative, who cut his political teeth in President Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign, told RedState President Donald J. Trump’s selection of Ohio’s Republican Sen. J.D. Vance to be his 2024 running mate set up the possibility of a 12-year ticket while attending the 2024 Republican National Convention here.
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“It is going to take a lot of time to reform our country,” said Roger Stone, the host of “The Stone Zone” podcast.
“It’s going to be hard to do it in four years.”
Stone said two factors tell him Vance is up for the three-term reign, his background and his age.
“I don’t think he joined the ticket because he’s running for president. I think he joined the ticket because he wants to help Donald Trump clean up and make America great again,” he said.
“It was an excellent decision. He needed to choose somebody who was a MAGA Republican, who was an America first Republican,” he said.
“The good news is that J.D. Vance is not an establishment Republican,” he said. “He’s not a go-along-to-get-along Republican, and I think he’s exactly the right guy.”
Vance was not motivated by personal ambition when he agreed to join the ticket,” he said.
Stone said there are no guarantees.
“Yes, he’s going to be a strong look,” he said.
“In politics, a week is a lifetime,” Stone said. “A day is a lifetime, but overall, I think he’s got a great future. If the Trump Vance administration produces peace and prosperity as I believe they will, then he will be the odds-on favorite.”
Stone said Vance’s relative youth is an advantage, not a detriment—and if elected the senator would become vice president at 39, the same as his old boss, Nixon, when he was sworn in to serve with President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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The last 12-year ticket was the three-term run of President Ronald W. Reagan, winning in 1980 and 1984, followed by Vice President George H.W. Bush winning in 1988. Remarkably, Reagan and Bush won 133 states compared to 20 states won by the Democratic nominees.
The author of “The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution” said he also Trump’s Feb. 22, 2023, visit to East Palestine, Ohio, which was facilitated by Vance, with helping Trump reconnect his campaign with the regular Americans, who are his base.
The trip, two weeks after a freight train with 36 railcars, 11 with dangerous chemicals, derailed in that eastern Ohio community.
Stone said President Joseph R. Biden Jr. treated that community shabbily.
“I think it demonstrates Biden’s complete disregard for middle-class and working Americans and the American people,” he said.
“Joe Biden himself doesn’t even show up,” he said. “That’s unthinkable. Who goes? A former president goes. I think that is the beginning of this decline by the Democrats.”
Trump’s campaign momentum since then has been incredible, so much so that the president is building towards a landslide victory, he said.
“You already see states like Virginia, Maine and New Jersey now appearing to be within reach,” he said.
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“None of these were even thinkable in 2020, so it looks like we are looking at what could be a 1968 or 1932-type political realignment. I think that’s a very real possibility,” Stone said.
Once back in the White House, Stone said Trump’s next term will benefit from his experience.
“I think Donald Trump has a much clearer understanding of Washington and how it works,” he said. “He’s a much clearer understanding of the unelected, bureaucratic, elite forces that opposed his presidency from the very beginning.”
Four years out of office have also strengthened Trump’s resolve, he said.
“I think it gives him time to reflect, time to learn, time to understand it all,” he said.
“That’s why I think it’ll be so much more effective in a second term.”