(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Looking desperately for 'anyone but Trump' some GOP Senators say nice things about Tim Scott [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-12-13
Common wisdom has it that Trump, his vice-like grip on the MAGA morons undiminished, will win the 2024 Republican presidential primaries and then lose the general election. Call it the GOP’s nightmare.
When Donald Trump made his monotonic announcement he was running again in 2024, no notable Republican politician was in the audience. The establishment GOP wishes Trump would go away. But cowering in their fear of the monster and his still iron hold on the base, they have avoided an official rejection of the one-and-done loser.
However, the party has not closed the door on other candidates. I am sure the party bosses and their billionaire backers are speculating who their new champion would be should the MAGA emperor fall out of favor with the crazies or drown in his legal sea of troubles.
The obvious candidate is Ron DeSantis. Except that this Florida Man has not engendered enthusiasm in the GOP. I doubt they are thrilled with the prospect of another leader from outside the Republican establishment.
DeSantis was a three-term US Representative, but he is not a party man. The Florida Governor’s political credibility rests solely on his laissez-faire approach to COVID, hateful school legislation, and a spectacular win in his reelection. Ironically, the man now regarded as Trump’s nemesis owes his presidential viability to the then-president’s embrace of him in 2018.
Back then, Trump — on top of his game — endorsed DeSantis for Governor over party favorite Adam Putnam, whom he subsequently beat in the primaries. After he squeaked out a win over Democrat Andrew Gillum, DeSantis hit all the right notes as he has become the dominant political force in Florida and a name on the lips of national political pundits — while also distancing himself from Trump. And in doing so, he has shown no deference to the DC GOP.
Which raises a question — if neither Trump nor his heir presumptive are the men of the GOP’s dreams, where do they turn? Who is the establishment Republican that will toe the party line? One candidate gaining some muttered approval is Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
For starters, he checks the skin color box conservatives celebrate to give cover to their core racism. Scott is a Black man firmly at home in the party of white supremacy. There are not many of his kind, but those few are accorded status on the right. Clarence Thomas and to a lesser degree, Ben Carson, Herschel Walker, Kanye West, and the late Herman Cain are members of that tribe.
Do not get me wrong. There is no reason that Blacks or other minorities should automatically pledge allegiance to the Democratic Party. And there are conservative policies that are beyond race. Reducing taxes on the wealthy, regulation-free corporatism, and a cynical embrace of “family values” are not — at least in theory — ‘white’ policies.
Also attractive to the overwhelmingly Christian right is that Scott, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, is also a man of profound faith (in the conservative God). Yet he is free of anti-Semitic blemish and does not express attention-seeking support for "white lives matter."
And he is well-regarded by his fellow Senators.
On Monday, Politico’s Marianne Levine quoted six of them praising Scott, writing :
Joni Ernst is “very excited” about a potential Tim Scott presidential run.
John Cornyn would “advise him to go for it.”
John Barrasso said it “doesn’t get any better than Tim Scott.”
Lindsey Graham said he would “bring something to the table on day one,” adding Scott has “one of the most compelling stories of any Republican out there.”
Thom Tillis said Scott “is increasing in national prominence and [within] the party.” Adding, “having somebody like Tim in the mix is positive for Republicans.”
Kevin Cramer said, “Tim is one of the more … endearing and interesting personalities in the Republican conference, and one of the most talented.”
The elephant in the room is the lifelong bachelorhood of the 57-year-old Senator and the resulting “he must be gay” conclusions. At the start of his political career in 1995, Scott religiously campaigned as a 30-year-old virgin saving himself for marriage. He would say, “The Bible’s right. You’re better off to wait.”
Later, a 46-year-old Scott implied he had strayed from his celibacy when a reporter from the National Journal asked how well he was sticking to his pledge of abstinence made 16 years previously. He replied, “Yeah… Not as well as I did then.”
One rumored relationship was in 2012 with Zee Patel, then the general manager of a Charleston lingerie store called Bits of Lace. He took her along for a three-day getaway to the exclusive Cloister Beach Club on the Georgia coast as part of a junket paid for by the American Enterprise Institute. How romantic.
However, Patel was not Scott's first choice — she only received an invite after his aunt could not go. And he claimed Miss Patel was merely a 'close family friend' (whom he had met two years earlier when she worked for his campaign) He added it was his mother's idea to bring her along. And the three shared the Senator’s suite — not the usual arrangement for a bit of “how’s your father.” And nothing has been heard of her since.
All of this should be irrelevant. But Scott and the GOP make it a legitimate issue with their sanctimony and vitriolic loathing of gay relationships. Scott should expect any primary opponent to allude to his, by Republican lights, sexual deviancy. And if Trump is in the race, we will probably hear the word “fag” for the first time in a national political debate.
I do not know Scott well. By all accounts, he is as decent a fellow as the right-wing can produce. He is a doctrinaire conservative. But he does not spew callous insensitivity whenever he opens his mouth. However, he is no saint.
His beliefs are mostly indistinguishable from the rest of the right wing. He did express his disapproval of Trump’s “good people on both sides” whitewash of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” riot. But Scott dropped the ball when after a meeting with Trump, he spouted the Evangelical fabulist soft soap of a contrite Trump. He told CBS ,
"[Trump] was very receptive to listening. That is a key to understanding", and that he had "obviously reflected on what he's said, on his intentions and the perceptions of those comments" which were "not exactly what he intended"
Scott is so eager to believe in the power of his God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit he will lie to himself to keep buried the evidence that his Divine Trinity is powerless in the face of evil.
Scott’s religious delusion and paranoia run deep. He once stated , "the greatest minority under assault today are Christians. No doubt about it." Leaving aside the self-pitying fantasy that Christians are being persecuted, by what measure does Scott think Christians are a minority?
Christians are still a majority of the population. And they represent almost monolithic majorities in the national and state governments.
What conservatives, including Scott, mean when they say “Christians are being persecuted” is that other religions and atheists still have a right to speak in America — which is an unacceptable state of affairs for the dreamers of a Christian Theocracy spreading from sea to shining sea.
In fairness, Scott did block the nominations of two racist Federal Judge candidates, Ryan Bounds and Thomas A. Farr . And he has lobbied for police reform as the racism and brutality of law enforcement has become more evident. But other than that, he is a typical conservative.
He is anti-choice, anti-gay marriage, anti-assisted suicide, and against embryonic stem cell research. He is an opponent of Obamacare. He believes America has the best medical system because foreigners attend American medical schools. And he thinks the best way to reduce healthcare costs is not by negotiating the price of prescription drugs but by capping non-economic damages in medical tort suits.
Scott is anti-immigrant and thinks the US should make English America's official language. He wants to penalize striking workers by denying them food stamps. He is pro-global warming and for fossil fuels.
Pre-2016, he would have been a viable Republican candidate. Now the base distrusts candidates favored by the GOP Senate. And it is hard to see in Scott the charisma and china-smashing the Republican primary voter looks for in a nominee.
I do not see his path to the presidency.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/13/2141449/-Looking-desperately-for-anyone-but-Trump-some-GOP-Senators-say-nice-things-about-Tim-Scott
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
