I had high hopes for Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) when he chose to jump into the presidential race. While he certainly didn't have the notoriety of former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis or the former governor of his state Nikki Haley, he seemed to offer a refreshing change from today's GOP. That is Scott, as Jim Geraghty noted last March, went about his business as a happy warrior. And given he is a direct descendant of slaves as well as being the first black Senator to be elected in the South since Reconstruction, Scott possesses a compelling personal story. But because he's not a Democrat, such a noteworthy background is not touted by mainstream media outlets.
Unfortunately for Scott (and, IMO, America), he didn't gain much traction in his presidential bid. As such, his announcement Sunday that he is suspending his campaign shouldn't have come as a shock.
The South Carolina Republican senator made the announcement in a televised interview on Fox News with his longtime friend Trey Gowdy. The news came as a shock to his own staff. Multiple campaign staff members confirmed to POLITICO that they had no prior knowledge of Scott’s decision before he did so on live television.
“When I go back to Iowa it will not be as a presidential candidate,” Scott said to a seemingly surprised Gowdy, who raised his eyebrows. “The voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet … They’re telling me, ‘not now, Tim.’ I don’t think they’re saying, Trey, ‘no,’ but I do they’re saying, ‘not now.’”
Scott, who has been stuck in the low-single digits in polling, had announced that his campaign was going all-in on Iowa in a last-ditch effort to boost his chances in the Republican presidential contest. It’s unclear just how many of his staff members were drafted to move to Iowa after his campaign manager announced last month that staff would be relocating to the first-caucus state.
On a call with campaign staff immediately after his television interview, Scott acknowledged that the announcement “may have caught you by surprise,” and that he “tried to be as strategic as possible dealing with this.”
The good news is the thinning of the GOP herd is occuring much sooner than in 2016. Since it appeared Trump was the frontrunner from day one, a coalescence behind one non-Trump candidate needed to take place before the Iowa caucuses, where ten declared candidates received votes. But now that we're two months out from Iowa voting, the field consists mainly of Trump, Haley, DeSantis, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy. While there's no realistic path to the GOP nomination for the last two candidates I named, both seem intent on playing spoiler (Christie looking to undermine Trump; Ramaswamy essentially acting like a Trump surrogate).
Alas, I'm afraid we're looking at a repeat of '16 where the top two non-Trump contenders (then Ted Cruz & John Kasich; now DeSantis and Haley) have no interest in elevating the other to stop Trump. In fact, Haley has spent far more time and resources attacking DeSantis than she has Trump. Dunno if this is her way of angling for a position in a potential Trump administration, but what would she be doing differently if that were the case?
Bottom line is I hope we haven't seen the last of Sen. Scott when it comes to presidential aspirations. Our country is better off with him actively in the arena.
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