I think he'd be very likely to be elected if Trump runs as VP on the same ticket and they both publicly state that it would be a 3rd Trump term in all but name.

I think he'd be very likely to be elected if Trump runs as VP on the same ticket and they both publicly state that it would be a 3rd Trump term in all but name. It's not even a new gambit. Putin did exactly this back in 2008 after doing two terms as president, swapping with his then-prime minister Medvedev for 4 years. Medvedev was also a nobody before becoming the prime minister, and there was absolutely no way he'd be elected if people didn't treat him as a figurehead for 4 more years of Putin's rule.