By Kurt Schlichter | Townhall.com
AP Photo/Mic Smith
The rap on Tim Scott is that he is too nice to be a modern Republican, but that’s wrong – he’s too weak to be a modern Republican. The man consistently defaults to submission to the woke left, but the times call for a warrior and his brand is soft surrender. Yeah, it would be nice to live in an era where we have the luxury of a president who dodged the draft in the culture wars, but we do not live in that time. Tim Scott needs to stay right where he is, an affable but unaccomplished senator firmly within the tradition of the political puffballs that South Carolina’s GOP inexplicably turns out. Let him be nice somewhere where his alleged niceness won’t shaft us again.
It could have been different, but that would require a different man than Tim Scott. There are moments that define a candidate, moments where they have a choice and the choice they make makes or breaks them. Kamala Harris decided to take what is essentially a footnote within the Florida history standards and contort it into some sort of lie about how Ron DeSantis loves slavery. It’s one of those issues where the claim is so facially ludicrous that you have to wonder if Kamala is stupid or cynical – and come to the conclusion that she is probably both. But she went with it and DeSantis pushed back and we were moving on when someone in the regime media asked Tim Scott about it.
This was his decision point. It was an opportunity to show who he is. And Tim Scott whiffed.
He could have said this: “The idea that Ron DeSantis is some sort of slavery advocate is silly and cynical and I refuse to play Kamala Harris’s divisive race-baiting game. I intend to beat the governor in this race, but I will do it on policy, not on lies. Next question.”
Holy cow, that would have crushed it. He would have been a hero – including to those of us like me who prefer other candidates. It would have been based and gracious, all in one sharp response. It would have rejected both the lie and the idea that he could be co-opted to do the left’s bidding. And that response has the benefit of being true. The idea that Ron DeSantis somehow drafted some sort of pro-slavery provision in the standards – there are no pro-slavery provisions, of course – is just as dumb as the idea that DeSantis approves of slavery. It’s an almost insultingly stupid accusation, making the pushback a no-brainer. It was an easy win.
But Tim Scott chose to be a loser in what should be the defining moment of his campaign. He made the other choice. He chose to accept the premise of our enemy, the lying, borderline clinical moron Kamala, and use it to try to achieve a cheap momentary advantage over his rival for second place in the primary race.
To do so, he unforgivably accepted the premise of Kamala and her regime media lackeys, and the headlines reflected it. NBC crowed: “Tim Scott rebukes Ron DeSantis over Florida Black history standards about slavery - The GOP presidential candidate [Guess who!] told reporters that, despite new language in Florida public schools, ‘there is no silver lining’ in slavery.”
Great work, Tim. “Here you go, libs, my silver lining comment is exactly what you wanted right on a silver platter!”
Does Tim Scott actually believe that Ron DeSantis approves of, tolerates, or excuses the Democrat-led institution of slavery? Of course not. To think that, Scott would have to be a blithering idiot, and he’s not a fool. He knows that Ron DeSantis is not some sort of slavery apologist, and he probably further knows that what the Florida standards say – which is what the College Board says and what a bunch of other sources also say – is not what Kamala claimed it says.
So then, because Tim Scott is too smart to actually believe the slander Kamala set and he spiked, he is a liar. He purposefully and intentionally lied about Ron DeSantis for personal advantage. He knowingly made a false statement about a fellow Republican’s character to get ahead for himself.
Nice guy? If that was his selling point, his shameful prevarication just defeated it. Nice guys do not tell horrible lies about other people, particularly about people (allegedly) on their own side for the benefit of the enemy. He failed the character test, and the lack of any apology as of this writing confirms his character deficit issue.
So, what we have is nice guy Tim Scott having demonstrated that he’s not actually very nice at all. Nice guys don’t help spread lies about other people. And the absence of niceness leaves absolutely no reason to support him. His selling point was that he will not upset the voters turned off by conflict and harsh rhetoric and mean tweets and a never ending blizzard of bullSchiff. His best quality was that he seemed to be the kind of guy you could call up and he’d help you move. But his disgraceful coordination with Kamala showed he’s not even that.
But then, this is not the first time he’s sided with the left. During the riots he could be relied on to embrace the left’s views. Because he’s intermittently useful, the regime media largely holds off on him. And his “I hope the alligators eat me last” strategy will work right up until the moment he becomes a real threat to the Dems in the 2024 election – admittedly an unlikely scenario. But if it ever happened, he’d suddenly replace Larry Elder as the black face of white supremacy. All his craven submission and his immolation of his reputation will have been for nothing.
We deserve and demand a candidate who will stand up to the left and have our backs, but when DeSantis’s back was exposed Tim Scott helped the left shove in the knife. Do you imagine that he will stand up to the left for you or me? Tim Scott’s ugly betrayal showed exactly who he is – like Mitt Romney, his nice guy act is a fraud and he will turn on us the second he sees it is to his advantage.
And to think that if he had made a different choice, if he had stood up for honesty against the left, he would be a hero right now. But that is not who he is. And he is not who we Republicans are looking for.
