Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., appears to be on the brink of announcing a presidential run. Weeks after he launched a presidential exploratory committee, he’s saying he expects to make a “major announcement” in North Charleston on May 22.
Scott’s chances of clinching the Republican presidential nomination, to put it lightly, are not good. He has respectable fundraising skills and is a proficient orator, but he has no buzz, he’s among the least known of the serious presidential contenders, and it doesn’t look like he’s staking out a unique policy lane. At this point the Republican race is effectively a two-man race between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and in that contest Trump is becoming more dominant by the day.
Scott could be a Mike Pence 2.0: attractive to evangelicals without Pence’s baggage from the first Trump presidency
But Scott may still have something to gain from running. There’s an argument to be made that if he resonates with voters through retail politics and in debates, he could boost his public profile and position himself as a formidable vice presidential candidate. Scott could be a Mike Pence 2.0: attractive to evangelicals without Pence’s baggage from the first Trump presidency — with the added bonus that he can talk about race in a way that no other major Republican can.
There are few signs in Scott’s video announcing his exploratory committee that he offers a substantial break from the MAGA worldview. He attributes America’s economic woes to China, champions cops, pledges to defend the borders and provokes fear about crime. None of that suggests Scott is looking to be an alternative to Trump’s right-wing populism.
But within the scheme of the Trumpian worldview, Scott demonstrates some stand-out qualities that could make him attractive as Trump’s running mate. Scott’s first and most emphatic policy promise in the video is to “defend the Judeo-Christian foundation our nation is built…
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