The Risks of Second-in-Command
(Originally published in the Western People on 2024-08-13)
August 6, 2024, Vice-president Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who wisecracked to a persistent Internet meme about JD Vance’s purported attraction to living-room furnishings. Photo-1723048742, The Washington Post/Getty Images
Vice-presidential nominees have “virtually no impact,” according to Donald Trump, when recently asked if J.D. Vance would be ready to take over "on day one, if he has to be." This clear snub of his running mate when speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists, had less to do with Trump’s thoughtful analysis of voters’ intentions during presidential elections and more to do with the fact that the twice-impeached and criminally convicted former president cannot abide sharing the limelight with anyone — not even where a supportive platitude would help their shared ticket and therefore his electoral chances.
In contrast, Kamala Harris’s selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate was welcomed by near-universal acclaim within the Democratic Party. His rousing acceptance speech, ending with a mic-drop moment calling on his opponent J.D. Vance to debate him, “if he's willing to get off the couch and show up,” seemed to justify the fervour (Google “couch” and “J.D. Vance” at your peril). Walz’s social credentials are impressive: he is a popular, rural politician who combines progressive policies with traditional family values, loves hunting and fishing, and is an experienced National Guard officer, much-loved teacher, and football coach. Yet, being an older working-class white male from the Midwest must equally be seen as a deciding factor in balancing out the Californian and former attorney Kamala Harris, of Indian and Black heritage. Walz clearly loves being out front and centre, expounding on his party’s policies and attacking their opponents, being the first to brand both Vance and Trump as “weird” — a label that has since caught on in the media.
A more shrewd politician might have ignored a loss of face by offering the VP nominee to his strident party rival Nikki Haley and attempting to co-opt her moderate supporters. However, Donald Trump instead treated the selection process of his own vice-presidential nominee as a public catwalk of fawning prospective candidates, who each outdid the other in prostrating themselves to curry his favour. The “competitors” were roundly mocked for wearing matching outfits similar to the former president's favourite attire during his recent trial (and subsequent conviction) on hush money charges to illegally influence the 2016 election. The ultimate nod of approval to J.D. Vance was seen less as a calculated move by Trump and more as an ego massage by a man who had become convinced of his impending victory over the aged Joe Biden. Vance also had the backing of his lifelong patron, billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, whose arch-conservative values and deep pockets could hardly be ignored by Trump.
While the Republican choice of running mate had more to do with internal power dynamics and appealing to Trump’s overwhelming narcissism, the Democratic choice was seemingly driven by a desire to build a diverse social and cultural “big tent” of wide support. This is augmented by a rejection of Walz’s “competitor,” Pennsylvanian Governor Josh Shapiro (a vocal supporter of Israel), and thus becoming an effective nod to the progressive wing of the party who condemns Biden’s effective support of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
The choice of a “second-in-command” by political leaders has always been a fraught process, with the danger of elevating a prospective challenger measured against the risk of alienating the supporters of an influential loyalist. The Gaelic kings of ancient Ireland had to negotiate the same minefields of political contingencies when building up their own power bases, none more evident than in a surviving ancient local tradition.
Few today know (or care!) that the diocese of Killala was originally delineated by the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111, several decades before the invasion of Ireland by the Normans and has remained intact since. The diocese was then confined to lands claimed by the ruling Ó Dubhda kings (anglicised O’Dowd) as their patrimony. Yet, in later centuries, the Mac Firbis historians of later O’Dowd chiefs claimed Kilgarvan (Bonniconlon), Attymass, and Toomore (Foxford) as O'Dowd country even though they were never part of the Killala diocese. While historians have frequently viewed all boundary changes in Gaelic kingdoms as a result of warfare, this post-diocese expansion by the O’Dowd rulers may have at least part-occurred through political manoeuvring, where choosing a “second-in-command” had serious consequences (and opportunities) for the O’Dowd kings. [1]
An account handed down by the Mac Firbis family as historians to the O’Dowd lords recorded an agreement between their patrons and a minor but important chief. A certain Aedh O’Dowd and his father negotiated an agreement with Diarmaid O'Caomhain to a “partition of territory and honours” in what appears to be a proto-“second-in-command” appointment to ensure an unopposed rule for Aedh.
In acceptance of the seniority of the O’Dowd line to the hereditary kingship, Diarmaid O'Caomhain was recognised as lord over the area from the Leaffony River to Toomour, among other lands. How effective this was in practice is another matter, but Diarmaid appears equally concerned with honour as with land. The threat of his influence to the O’Dowds may be gauged in the “small print” of their agreement, which included the following privileges: 1. Sitting down first in the ale-house, 2. Arranging the battle, 3. O'Dowd standing up before him when they meet, 4. O'Caomhain taking the first drink and bath, 5. Whoever takes his first arms in his territory shall take them from his descendants, and 6. O'Caomhain receiving the Luach leasa (a fine on marriage) of every king's daughter and the steed and battle dress of every inaugurated O’Dowd king thereafter. The desperation of Aedh to attain the throne is palpable in the honour he was willing to give away to Diarmaid O'Caomhain.[2]
There is probably not a universe in which Donald Trump would give away his battle-making prerogative, much less allow Vance the “first bath,” but Aedh O’Dowd and his father were clearly more strategic in their thinking when it came to appropriating the influence of their second-in-command. One wonders if Trump had shown the same tactical judiciousness and political aptitude as these Gaelic chiefs of old, would he now be the favourite to defeat Harris. Tim Walz enjoys considerable popularity in his home state of Minnesota, and Vice President Harris seems to have traded far less to co-opt his support than a modern-day O’Dowd king. It remains to be seen if it will be enough to see her attain the ultimate political position of American president.
[1] Thomas McDonnell, The Diocese of Killala, from its institution to the end of penal times (Ballina, 1976), pp 2–3.
[2] Hubert Thomas Knox, The history of the county of Mayo to the close of the sixteenth century (3rd edition, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 2000), pp 35, 40.