A 20-year-old gunman was able to get to within 152 yards of President Trump with a rifle and get off about five shots before being killed by the Secret Service. One of those shots pierced Trump’s right ear, and any slight change in his position would have meant certain death—the closest we as a nation have come to such a tragedy since Ronald Reagan was shot in March of 1981.

No matter how you break it down, the near killing of President Trump was an epic and systemic failure of the Secret Service to protect the former President and soon-to-be official nominee of the Republican Party.

The investigations are coming from several directions, and we will soon know how local law enforcement failed and how communications broke down.

Today, he is here in Milwaukee, with an important decision to make.
 
This is the latest nightmare in the polarized national atmosphere.
 
It had already been an election year with so many depressing and frightening themes:
 
Lawfare against Trump, the lies about Joe Biden’s mental decline, and so much more.

But as we begin the Republican National Convention today, we had something relatively normal and even fun to look forward to: Trump’s running mate!
 
Finally, we were going to play the old-fashioned political chess game. We were going to focus on who the best choices were. Who would help or hurt Trump the most at the polls and how that choice would perform in front of the RNC crowd.

And then Saturday happened. 

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania has made this running mate choice more serious than ever.
 
Perhaps solemn is the better word now.
 
Now we all must think of Trump’s VP choice in two new contexts.

Who will be most ready to fill the presidency serving under a man under constant threat?

Who will be the running mate the anti-Trump maniacs will fear the most as president? 

We don’t know if the Trump team has reconsidered its VP choice based on the Saturday assassination attempt—but you would have to wonder after such a monumental event.

But if it has, let’s look at the names of a few of the people already reportedly on the short list. 

One of the people the anti-Trump forces and their allies in the political class already hate the most is Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. 

Vance has been extra busy since Saturday, rightfully asking hard questions about the Secret Service detail for Trump. 
 
He’s also been calling out those members of Congress who have incited this kind of anti-Trump violence. 
 
But that’s nothing new for Vance, who has made his opposition to the political class and The Swamp his brand from day one. 

Memo to the left: you do not want to tangle with J.D. Vance. 

He’s independently wealthy. He is a true populist. He doesn’t seem to care about what the D.C. “in crowd” says about him. 

But I suspect they know that already. 

Sounds a lot like Trump, right? 

Someone who doesn’t sound like Trump but is equally a threat to the left and the political class is current Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. 

His chances seem to have increased since the shooting too. 
Because he is a governor, he’s had to establish a record. And Youngkin is most famous nationally for taking on the leftist assault on our schools and school boards and defending the rights of parents—a novel concept for sure.

That terrifies the radical left wingers and the political class because they both believe they have a right to indoctrinate our kids. 

Remember, Youngkin is a businessman primarily. 
 
Just like Trump. 
 
And just like Trump, he’s already started to ignite a true grass roots conservative movement in this country. 
These school board fights over everything from boys in girls’ locker rooms to curriculums that teach kids to hate America can be a game changer. 
 
Also, Youngkin, like J.D. Vance, is a newcomer to politics. This makes him less corruptible, at least for now. 

That brings us to another potential outsider: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. 

Burgum leads America number two energy state, have you ever heard of the Bakken Shale? You should!
 
He’s also been a businessman for most of his life. 
 
He’s not as fiery as J.D. Vance and he doesn’t threaten core leftist plots like Glenn Youngkin but he’s starting to get a little feistier as he too took on the regime media last week. 
 
Burgum, Vance, and Youngkin don’t seem as easy to corrupt as career politicians, even if those career politicians are Republicans. 

The political class will think twice about supporting attempts to remove President Trump with any of those guys as his number two. 

With that in mind, you have to think the stock has recently gone down for people like Marco Rubio and South Tim Scott.
 
They’ve both been part of the D.C. establishment for 14 years now. 

Sure, Rubio and Scott have become super Trump supporters and Rubio should help land some Latino votes in key states like Pennsylvania while Scott may do something to deflect Democrat charges of racism against Trump, but don’t bet on that! 

However, we are in the midst of two massive problems emanating from D.C. 

There are now real problems for any Republican in Congress who hasn’t been ringing major alarm bells about our national leadership emergency from day one of the Biden presidency.

Rubio gets it now, of course. 
 
The problem is, not enough Republicans in D.C., including Rubio and Scott, have been saying exactly this until now. 

We all knew this and we’ve spoken up. Because here’s the reality we know:

The President of the United States is senile. That’s not a scandal, it’s an emergency. 

I’m sorry folks, but we needed more alarm and less “business as usual” from the GOP establishment about this. 

We haven’t gotten it. 

So, if Trump is more serious than ever about going after the political class that made him a very real target, he must favor people like Vance, Youngkin, and Burgum today. 
 
The Biden regime told us how much they care about this country by backing a disaster like Kamala Harris not once but twice.
 
I’m betting the Trump team will take the Vice Presidency much more seriously. 

Won’t you?