Pick your VP early boss! That’s a key piece of advice for President Trump from my new book “Taking Back Trump’s America,” and the stakes in this decision are particularly high.

A feckless Joe Biden has placed this nation on a collision course with everything from an unprecedented stagflation crisis and collateral financial market meltdown to a border invasion and possible nuclear confrontations with China or Russia. Only Trump-style leadership and policies can save us from what may become an irreversible American decline, and the November 2024 election can’t come soon enough.

Accordingly, the Republican Party must avoid at all costs any of the internecine warfare that often populates presidential primaries – and wounds standard bearers for the general election. An uncontested primary would eliminate such bloodshed; and the best guarantee of that is an unassailable – and invincible – Trump ticket.

First, and foremost, Trump’s VP must be not just MAGA-sympatico but a true populist economic nationalist cut from the same cloth as Trump. Two who should lead a list of prospective VP picks are former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Pompeo weighs in with a heavy foreign policy advantage and clearly understands the existential threat that Communist China poses. DeSantis has shown courage and intelligence under pandemic fire. Of the two, DeSantis clearly wins the popularity contest with voters.

In the VP discussion, there is also talk of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. With no foreign policy experience, she might be far better suited at this stage in her career for a high-ranking cabinet secretary position.

As for those who definitely should not be in the VEEP sweepstakes, the boss has already and rightly ruled out Mike Pence—the et tu Brute RINO controlled by the Koch network, globalist, Party of Davos, Mitch McConnell, offshore our jobs, Wall Street wing of the Republican Party.

At the top of the rest of this no-fly zone list, there is the ever-dangerous Lean and Hungry Look Nikki “Cassius” Haley along with Ted Cruz, who may be a good “conservative” in the narrow sense but simply does not have MAGA in his DNA.

Likewise on the definitely not list should be the rising star of Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While Youngkin may sound intriguing, one look at his globalist resume and ties to Wall Street offshoring predators like the Carlyle Group and McKinsey make Youngkin a non-starter.

In between the Big Yes possibilities and Certain Nos, we will also hear talk of candidates from the U.S. Senate like Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton. Hawley likely took himself out of contention with his gratuitous, Mitch McConnell-coordinated hit on Missouri senatorial candidate Eric Greitens in March of 2022.

Tom Cotton is as pure a China Hawk as they come and largely in tune with the Trump agenda. Here, Cotton’s one big slam directed at Trump was a sniper shot at the Trump-sponsored First Step legislation, which has led to the early release of thousands of criminals in Federal prisons.

Cotton ridiculed First Step as “soft on crime,” but that attack may actually win Cotton points with Trump since that legislation was a Made in Jared Kushner fiasco — and the boss knows it. Yet, I would far prefer Cotton as secretary of defense and designated Pentagon cleanser as he may lack the charisma and charm to campaign effectively as a vice president.

Last take: If DeSantis were to agree to the VP slot prior to the primary season, this single action would likely clear the entire Republican field. And by the way, Trump-DeSantis 2024 would likely be unstoppable.

DeSantis should see the wisdom of accepting such an offer from Trump as it would similarly clear the field for DeSantis in 2028 and usher in what would likely be the beginning of an eight-year run of DeSantis as president through 2036.

Memo to Ron: patience is as patience does. Memo to the boss: lead with intelligence and not your chin on this one. A Trump-DeSantis ticket would indeed be a juggernaut.

Peter Navarro served as the Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy in the Trump administration and is the author of the forthcoming Taking Back Trump’s America (Bombardier).