In 2016, I voted twice (legally) for Mr. Donald Trump, once in the Ohio primary and once in November. I also contributed to his campaign and met with him briefly to give him a copy of the last book I co-authored with the late Paul Weyrich, The Next Conservatism. In 2020, I again contributed to his campaign and voted for him. I anticipate doing both again if he wins the Republican nomination in 2024. I would be happy to see him back in the White House.

This time, I think President Trump would be wiser in selecting his advisors—no more John Boltons, without whom the permanent crisis in Korea might now be over. I hope he would have some people around him who could couple his instincts, which are usually right, with coherent strategies for turning them into national policies. As it was, despite massive sabotage by the Deep State, President Trump had some solid achievements. Most importantly, he kept us out of war. Because he recognized that Russia, like other countries, has legitimate security interests the U.S. should respect, I think we would not now be seeing a war in Ukraine if he were still in office. Instead, we must watch President Biden play with nuclear war with both Russia and China as if he were playing in the bathtub with toy boats.

In addition to keeping the peace, President Trump drove a combination of tax cuts and deregulation through the swamp. Those gave us a booming economy, one with disproportionate benefits for lower-income Americans. There is a reason why he got surprising support from black and Hispanic voters in 2020: Their incomes rose. Meanwhile, the Education Department turned away from inculcating cultural Marxism in schoolchildren and moved instead to let parents choose their children’s schools. The stock market boomed, inflation stayed low, and Operation Warp Speed gave us vaccines against Covid faster than anyone believed possible. It is a list any President could be proud of.

But there is an elephant in the room both parties are ignoring. His name is “Age.” President Biden is already 80. Mr. Trump turns 77 in June. Voters of both parties have told pollsters they do not want either Biden or Trump to be the nominees in 2024 because they are just too old.

This creates an opening the pros in both parties see and will move mountains to take advantage of: If either party runs someone young (with one exception) while the other party stays in the nursing home, they will win. The age factor will trump everything else.

The three years’ age difference between President Biden and President Trump is not sufficient. Mr. Trump does not show his age the way President Biden does. But three years are not enough to enter the lists riding a young white stallion. Like me, they are both boomers, and all non-boomers will see them as such.

I think there is a way to square this circle. Let the Republican ticket for 2024 be Governor Ron DeSantis for president and Eric Trump for vice president.

Neither Donald Trump Jr. nor Eric Trump has sufficient political background to be a presidential candidate. And Donald Jr. would be confused with his father by too many voters. But both seem to be quick learners and, as the current vice president has proven, there’s not much to the job beyond being there.

A DeSantis/Eric Trump ticket cuts more than one knot. For Trump voters, a Trump will be on the ballot. Many will not turn out otherwise. For President Trump, a victorious ticket that includes his son would be vindication. Any thoughts of running on a third party ticket or telling his voters to stay home would be set aside. On the contrary, he would campaign enthusiastically through his trademark rallies, not a setting Governor DeSantis would be entirely comfortable in.

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DeSantis would be at his strongest with constituencies Mr. Trump has trouble reaching. Establishment Republicans would see DeSantis as one of their own, a highly successful governor of an important state who just won reelection by a 20 point margin. Major Republican donors would feel they had a respectable candidate, one they could write checks for with no risk of social embarrassment. Independents could support him without qualms, as could suburban women; both turned out for him in Florida. He could even bring in Democrats appalled by Joe Biden’s obvious mental unfitness for office. If they didn’t vote for DeSantis, they could at least stay home.

Could the Democrats nullify the age issue by nominating someone younger than Biden? Only by turning to Vice President Harris, the exception to the age rule I noted above, whose legendary ability to draw votes would leave Alf Landon in the shade. But passing her over would mean denying the prize to a Woman of Color. The howls of the cultural Marxists would levitate California.

DeSantis/Eric Trump in ’24 is a winner. Can the stupid party do something smart?