Martinez as Trump's VP?

Although far behind Trump in the delegate count, Cruz transparently tried to draw media attention his way and appeal to women voters by naming Carly Fiorina as a Vice Presidential running mate. The tactic by one whose acquisition of the 1,237 votes needed to be nominated is mathematically impossible smacks of desperation. Cruz is having a hard time drawing media away from Trump following Trump’s decisive victories in New York and five additional Northeastern states, which make him the putative nominee for the Republican Party. Cruz now clings to the unlikely role of a convention spoiler who will thwart the will of the electorate by overthrowing the candidate with the most votes.

That plan to contrive victory against the will of Republican voters offends the vast majority who expect their votes to be respected by the party. Although Cruz’s choice for vice-president is premature, it does beg the question who the putative nominee of the party will ultimately choose.

Donald Trump’s choice for Vice President may well be critical in this year’s general election. His best suited running mate is one who can help neutralize the female and minority bias that Hillary depends upon to win the election. While Hillary should be indicted for violations of the Espionage Act and public corruption before the Fall election, it will remain important for Donald Trump to eliminate false perceptions that the Democratic Party has a lock on women and minorities.

Consequently, it would help if Trump could choose as a running mate a person who can counter the perceived female and minority advantage. He must do so without aligning himself with a person opposed to his commitment to border security, a strong national defense, and tax cuts. No one fits that description better than Susana Martinez, the thirty-first Governor of the state of New Mexico.

Martinez is a tough and extremely popular governor with an approval rate of over 60%. An attorney, Martinez has been a strong advocate for removing the influence of the political class from her state. She barred state agencies from hiring lobbyists. She signed an executive order eliminating sanctuary status for illegals in her state. She sold the state’s luxury jet previously used by the governor, obtaining $2.51 million to add to the state’s coffers. She created a system to grade public schools on their performance and to ensure publication of those grades to the public. She vigorously opposed environmental measures that sacrifice jobs without any meaningful improvement in the environment. She opposed efforts to increase the minimum wage, explaining that the proposed increase would cause job losses in the state. She supported tax cuts to encourage business development in the state.

Of Mexican descent, she is the daughter of a father who was an American war hero and a Golden Gloves boxer. She is fiercely patriotic and a strong advocate of secure borders with Mexico. She utterly rejects race based and gender based politics. She opposes enactment of laws that advance the interests of people solely based on their gender or their race, advocating instead meritocracy without regard to race or gender and a free market.

Although rightly opposed to sexist and racist politics (she does not tout her Latina heritage or gender as qualifications for her office but, instead, asks voters to consider her record and policy positions), Martinez would effectively neutralize a number of superficial gender and race based positions advanced by Democrats. It would indeed be the case that she would be the first woman and the first Latina to serve as Vice President. That factor would draw the attention of those whose vote for Hillary is predicated solely on her gender or who favored her solely because of her avowed ties to minorities but who have held their noses because of Hillary’s legal troubles. In addition, Martinez’s presence on the Trump ticket would help nullify the substantively vacuous charge that Trump will disserve American women as president.

Perhaps most importantly, her presence on the ticket would help dispel arguments that an open border policy is advantageous. Governor Martinez knows first-hand why a secure border is essential, offering the best hope of stemming the risks of crime and terror from illegals crossing the border.

As the presumptive nominee in reach of the 1,237 votes needed to prevail on a first ballot, Trump should focus his attention increasingly on condemning Hillary Clinton’s failures as Secretary of State, including her failure to defend Americans during the Benghazi attack, her support for the ill-fated Gaddafi overthrow, her support for the disastrous Iran deal, and her anemic response to ISIS; her lies to the families of those lost in the Benghazi attack and to the American people (describing the attack as a spontaneous uprising in response to an anti-Islamic video which she then knew was in fact radical Islamic terror); her gross neglect of top secret information, including human intelligence, which, barring obstruction of justice, will cause her to be indicted under the Espionage Act; her abuse of the office of Secretary of State to favor the positions of certain individuals and states who gave large contributions to the Clinton Foundation; and her disrespect of the American military, including her own secret service detail while she was First Lady. There are enormous pitfalls in the Clinton record and no real achievements. She is the ideal opponent, ideally suited to lose if her failings are repeatedly exposed and she is compelled to answer for them.

In that movement to expose, confront and rebut Hillary, Governor Martinez will be a welcomed addition. She will provide an independent voice that will cut through the sexist and racist rhetoric upon which Hillary so heavily depends in her planned attacks against Donald Trump.