We Hope Tim Scott’s Not Really Running For President Because That Would Be Embarrassing
Probably better if he’s just scamming donors.
Tim Scott launched his shameless presidential campaign in May, and he’s done nothing but lose ever since. His current polling average of just two percent places him consistently behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and most laughably Vivek Ramaswamy.
Scott’s supporters, who we assume exist, have expressed disappointment with his steaming pile of a candidacy. Former South Carolina Governor and Appalachian Trail explorer Mark Sanford, whom Donald Trump helped run out of Congress, was one of the likely tens of people who attended Scott’s campaign launch event, and he claims that “in talking to people here at home, what they have told me is that it’s unfortunate that the Tim that they know in South Carolina is not the Tim that people may be perceiving in Iowa and New Hampshire and other states.”
The Tim Scott who’s the junior senator from South Carolina seems just as craven and pathetic as the Tim Scott who cozies up to retirees in Iowa and New Hampshire. Maybe Sanford knows an entirely different, far more compelling Tim Scott. He might’ve even met Scott’s very nice, Christian girlfriend.
Politico interviews several friend and colleagues who have all but given up on Scott’s candidacy. He just needs his Sixth Sense “epiphany” so he can move on and stop haunting the primary electorate, who can’t see him anyway.
Sen. John Cornyn from Texas held up Scott as an ideal “spokesman” for the “Reagan, hopeful, optimistic message.” Reagan’s message was that government sucked and was run by idiots, which is neither hopeful nor optimistic. He also had a personality.
“I’m disappointed,” Cornyn lamented, “because he’s such a terrific guy and has got a great message.”
Tim Scott is a terrible person whose “message” is superficially benign MAGA rhetoric. ABC’s Jon Karl called Scott out Sunday for repeating the vile slander that Joe Biden bears responsibility for the Hamas terrorist attack.
“Multiple Scott allies,” according to Politico, pinpoint a specific moment when Scott’s campaign derailed, though I’d argue it was never on the tracks in the first place. During the first presidential primary debate, Scott did so little he could’ve been arrested for loitering. He was seemingly unprepared for “the dynamics of the debate stage.” This is yet another way of saying that Scott is duller than dishwater.
The DeSantis flop might’ve legitimately caught some desperate anti-Trump Republicans off guard, but Scott’s candidacy always seemed like a big waste of time. He lacked edge, charisma, and any real defining principles. Nonetheless, the big check writers couldn’t stop giving him money. While DeSantis had some brief polling highs before voters got to know him, Scott never polled better than single digits. Yet, he raised a hell of a lot of money. It was a lucrative enterprise.
Scott entered the race with $22 million and raised another $5.8 million from April to June. He blew through $6.6 million during that period, with no measurable impact on his pathetic polling. The New York Times reported in July that his spending couldn’t be traced to any actual vendor.
Instead, roughly $5.3 million went to two shadowy entities: newly formed limited liability companies with no online presence and no record of other federal election work, whose addresses are Staples stores in suburban strip malls. Their minimal business records show they were set up by the same person in the months before Mr. Scott entered the race.
Presumably, more funds were directed to suburban Staples stores, because Scott’s campaign announced earlier this month that his political committees raised another $5.92 million between July and September. His campaign itself brought in $4.6 million. However, he’s still burning through cash — despite lecturing Democrats about fiscal conservatism.
He ended the quarter with $13.3 million in cash but is now starting to cut costs directly related to the campaign. He cancelled all his TV/radio ad spending in New Hampshire for October 25 through November 28, a key early state. He’s supposedly focusing on Iowa, where he’d once boasted double-digit poll numbers. He’s cratered since then, and sinking a fortune into the state just a few months (God help us) before the caucus isn’t going to help.
If Scott were simply running for vice president, he should just end this sad charade and fully endorse Donald Trump. That’s perhaps a more efficient route to Trump’s short list than falling flat on his face. Trump probably enjoys someone’s public humiliation better when he’s personally inflicted it.
[Politico]
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"Appalachian Trail explorer Mark Sanford"
Remember when this was what passed for crazy Republican behavior? Oh, those happier, innocent times.
SER in punching bag mode is the best SER.