Republican candidates: Tim Scott

It’s been amusing to listen to the swoons within the media about Tim Scott’s declaration of his candidacy. “Optimistic.” “Counter to the MAGA philosophy.” “Nice to hear a Republican discuss policy.” “Even Democrats in the Senate love him.”

We haven’t heard the media swoon over a Republican’s ideas so much since Paul Ryan developed an unearned reputation as a wonky policy guy because he used viewgraphs and big words. Scott talks about “opportunity” and the media falls in love again.

In fact, Scott is just another Republican candidate. He’s had nothing to say as Republicans plot to steal elections and increasingly court dictators abroad and white supremacists at home. In fact, he’s worse than most, since he serves as an alibi for the rest of the party.

In short, Scott is the favorite candidate of Republicans who believe

  • … that police wouldn’t kill black males if those males were just more polite and said “yes sir;”

  • … that the school problem would be solved if every black student in an inner city school system was given a voucher to attend the nearby Christian academy

  • … that food stamps and other federal assistance actually prevent people from getting ahead

  • … that if we take away benefits it will encourage poor people to get off their couch and get a job

  • that the most radical anti-abortion legislation imaginable is hunky dory with him

  • … that our southern borders are being overrun with drug smugglers sent from China to flood the country with fentanyl and criminals from Latin America who want to replace you.

In other words, his views are pretty much indistinguishable from the drunken fool with the MAGA ballcap at the other end of the bar. Replacement theory. The trouble with people is they don’t want to work. They’d rather stay home and get those huge federal benefits from Biden. The Democrats want open borders. Crime wave at the southern border. There wouldn’t be a police problem if black teenagers showed more respect. Stop teaching critical race theory. Not all that much different from the bigoted ravings of Tommy Tuberville.

Except there’s a vast difference. Nobody expects anything but bigoted ravings from Tuberville. But a black man saying “there’s no racism here” or “food stamps are the problem.” That’s political cover the whole party can use.

At its core, the basic logic of his campaign is “I got ahead, so anyone who works hard can get ahead. The only thing stopping them is food stamps, liberal teachers, and social workers.”

From a Republican viewpoint, it’s great to have a candidate like Tim Scott – or, before him, Ben Carson – around for a little while in the primaries. Hey, I’m not a racist, why, I think that [name black candidate] is a real smart guy and so well-spoken, why he’s a real credit to his race. How can you say the party supports white supremacists when we have Tim Scott running for president?

There’s something odd about anyone who stays loyal to the increasingly’ isolated and angry Republican party in this toxic political climate. But the phenomenon of the Black Republican is very weird. It takes a world class dose of obliviousness for a conservative black man to admit that he’s been pulled over and hassled by police for no reason yet simultaneously to assert that “America isn’t a racist country.”

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