Headlines are now filled with names reported to be on Donald Trump’s “shortlist” of possible VP candidates.

These individuals, some of whom I know, indeed have serious qualifications and experience and are appropriate to be considered for the No. 2 position in the executive branch of the nation’s government.

This vetting process is, as they say, par for the course. It’s exactly what we expect the presidential candidate to be doing.

However, in my view, these are not “par for the course” times. The domestic and international challenges we face are without precedent.

Trump will not be running for reelection in 2028, and so whoever holds the vice presidency will almost certainly be on the shortlist to be the Republican candidate for the presidency then.

Given all of this, there is one name I have not seen among those that Trump is considering that I think would be a superb addition.

It is Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.

Cotton is young, 46 years old, but with a resume packed with experience, all on target and relevant to the kind of leadership that our country needs to restore our national vitality and international leadership.

At home, we are fiscally and culturally bankrupt.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting federal spending to continue to wastefully gush, mostly financed by borrowing. CBO shows debt held by the public reaching 116% of GDP by 2034, 139% by 2044 and 166% by 2054.

For this entire period, CBO shows real GDP growth less than 2%.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that our fertility rate — the rate at which we are bringing babies into the world — is at an all-time low.

The state of marriage, family, children — the pillars of a healthy society — are dismal.

Globally, the forces of evil — Iran, Russia, China — move forward with impunity.

Our country needs leadership that can change all this. We need leadership that has the strength and courage to turn our pathetic fiscal situation around and that can restore the USA to its appropriate role as leader of the free world.

With undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard, Cotton was elected to the Senate at age 37, already having had a distinguished military career.

Cotton served as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning a Bronze Star medal.

He is a fiscal and social conservative, ready to hold the line on our massive wasteful spending while bolstering our faltering defense budget, which is now dangerously hovering at a historical low as a percent of GDP.

Cotton has earned an A+ score from the pro-life Susan B. Anthony organization.

He pushed back on the Defense Department initiative to pay for women soldiers to travel to other states to get an abortion when they are stationed where abortion is not available.

Most timely now is Cotton’s bold, courageous and correct aggressive stand against the chaos that has taken over so many of our universities.

Cotton called for the immediate use of police force to stop the disruptions and has challenged the pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist, antisemitic rhetoric and tone of these demonstrations.

Cotton has been courageously clear that the First Amendment is there to protect freedom, not to protect antisemitism or the disruption of education and interference with the lives of those at universities to learn.

His zero tolerance for the prevailing moral chaos is the kind of leadership our country badly needs.

The unwavering stance of Cotton for American values — commitment to limited government, protection of property, recognizing the sanctity of life and clarity that national defense includes being engaged around the world — is exactly on target.

The vice presidency, a heartbeat from the presidency, is where this outstanding American belongs.

Cotton would be a great addition to the outstanding list Trump is already considering.

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