Front-runners Doug Burgum and J.D. Vance are both spectacularly unqualified.

Follow this authorJennifer Rubin's opinions

In keeping with the ultraconservatism of his state, Burgum signed a near-total abortion ban and an anti-critical race theory bill. In addition, “Mr. Burgum has signed into law, at least eight bills targeting transgender or gender-nonconforming people in recent months,” the New York Times reported. “That is more than almost any other state in what has been a record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation.”

Unsurprisingly for an energy-rich state, Burgum is devoted to the oil and gas industry. But he is also obsessed with the border — the Southern border, which is more than 1,700 miles from his state. Accordingly, he has deployed the state’s National Guard to offer “support” to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

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In short, hailing from a sparsely populated, largely rural state dependent on fossil fuels, he has no exposure to the lives and concerns of vast numbers of Americans and no familiarity with the plethora of issues that would land on his desk should he have to take over for Trump. While richer and better educated, Burgum would be very much in the Palin tradition, absent the lively personality.

By comparison, Vance makes Burgum seem like a solid choice. In only his second year in any political office, Vance has not a single significant accomplishment in public life. Worse, he might be the most egregiously dishonest MAGA figure on Trump’s short list. His willingness to embrace MAGA conspiracies and peddle dangerous schemes might be what endears him to Trump. (On the downside for Republicans, Vance, who at 39 years old is half Trump’s age, might accentuate just how elderly Trump is.)

Whether carrying water for Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the war in Ukraine, or minimizing the loathsomeness of antisemite Nick Fuentes, or embracing the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, or insisting that Trump deserves absolute immunity, Vance gives pandering a bad name. He has expressly stated that, unlike Pence, he would have thrown the election to Trump in 2020. It’s rare that a vice-presidential candidate so clearly renounces in advance the oath he would take.

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Vance’s track record in the culture wars includes “a measure to criminalize gender-affirming care for trans kids, a bill to ban federal mask mandates, a proposal to crack down on affirmative action policies at colleges and universities, and........

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