Add another one to the Republican clown car

| 9:00 pm EST February 25, 2023
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Shortly after Nikki Haley announced her presidential bid for 2024, Senator Tim Scott began going through the motions of someone running for president with an appearance in Des Moines – somewhere that you usually only go if you’re planning to run for president and you’re also somewhat serious about it. The problem with Scott, the US senator from South Carolina, another state that’s pivotal to the early days of presidential primaries, is that he’s only somewhat serious about running for president.

During his appearance, Scott talked of a “new American sunrise,” which is really just a lame knockoff of when President Reagan campaigned around Morning in America – and talked about our need for new leaders – the closest he came to saying anything bad about the former guy whose specter still looms over the GOP.

Haley had similar vague themes when she ran – although she already managed to cross the line by turning her attack on President Biden’s age into an attack on the elderly in general. It’s a question on how long before Scott manages to embarrass himself in a similar fashion if he’s really going to try this. While the former guy is a candidate in the race and a liability, they’re going to have to attack him directly if they plan on building up any support.

At the same time, they risk alienating the base by directly attacking Donald Trump – and of course, there’s the dreaded scenario that he’ll go after him as bad as he’s currently going after Ron DeSantis. As much as the media likes to portray Republicans as ruthless, they’re simply not living up to that narrative at all – and the current crop of 2024 candidates is basically just an audition for who will be the former guy’s running mate – something made even worse if the former guy is no longer the candidate.