Utah is the new home of a man who could be the country's next vice president or secretary of state. Earlier this year, the name of Robert O’Brien — Trump's final national security adviser and once the highest ranking Latter-day Saint government official — was floated in The Washington Post by columnist and well-known radio personality Hugh Hewitt as a possible contender for vice president in a future Trump administration. O’Brien is an ideal running mate, Hewitt reiterated to me over the phone, because of his national security mastery and his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which could help former President Donald Trump with voters in Western swing states like Nevada and Arizona, where he struggled in 2020. Others with whom I spoke said O’Brien was one of the most likely picks for secretary of state under a second Trump administration, with one former ambassador saying he “is clearly the front-runner.” O’Brien had extensive access to former President Trump during his time in the West Wing. And, unlike many others in the Trump administration, O’Brien still appears to be in the former president’s good graces. O’Brien describes himself as a Reagan-era Republican. He was at the Republican National Committee when Reagan was running for reelection and served as an adviser to Sen. Mitt Romney on both of his presidential campaigns. But where some old guard Republicans became never-Trumpers, O’Brien saw a throughline from the GOP of Reagan to its current iteration and appreciated the party’s move to a blue-collar populist platform. With the GOP in flux, this faith that the Republican Party is — and always has been — the defender of peace through strength is one reason O’Brien’s star has risen in the party, but if he’s put on the Republican Party ticket in 2024, it may also be what helps keep the party from splintering apart. |