Yesterday, Donald Trump inexplicably appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead a task force to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Many observers were puzzled that Trump didn’t appoint an outside expert to coordinate the response to this potential pandemic.

Why Mike Pence? After all, when he was the governor of Indiana, the state’s Scott County experienced the largest HIV outbreak that Indiana had seen in decades — an outbreak public health experts said was preventable. Nearly 200 people using opioids got sick after people contracted the virus by sharing dirty needles because, under Pence, Indiana law made it illegal to possess a syringe without a prescription.

A steadfast conservative, Pence was morally opposed to needle exchanges on the grounds that they supported drug abuse. And since Pence considers homosexuality to be an abomination that violates God’s laws. And since those affected by the spread of AIDS were mostly homosexuals, no harm-no foul to straight, white, Christian citizens, right?

Under pressure from public health officials, Pence eventually lifted a ban on sterile needle exchange programs in the state. And now Trump has put him in charge of managing the outbreak of the coronavirus. He seems, at first glance, to be an odd choice for this role.

Anyway, despite predictions by health and disease experts in his own administration that the coronavirus is going to spread and turn into a serious health issue in the United States, Trump is claiming that it’s under control and we, the U.S. should be at zero cases within a few weeks and the threat of a pandemic will be over.

I don’t believe for a minute that Trump really believes that. I think he knows that the coronavirus is a real threat and it could take months or years to combat it. By appointing Pence to lead the charge against the coronavirus, Pence will have to focus all of his energies on combating the pandemic.

Hence, Trump is essentially sidelining Pence and will have an excuse to pull him from the ticket in 2020, leaving an opening for a new running mate for Vice President.

I predict that his new running mate will be none other than his daughter, Ivanka Trump. The Donald has made no secret of his desire to create a Trump dynasty with his offspring. Who better than his daughter to be his running mate this fall? It would help him with white female voter and with the superficial white male Trump supporters who have fantasies about screwing Ivanka.

If the Trump/Trump tickets wins in November, Ivanka will be the nation’s first female Vice President and could, in 2024, become the first female POTUS.

Let that sink in for a few minutes. And remember, you heard it here first!