Tangle - Tim Scott is running for president.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

Starting point is 00:00:19 Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, an independent, nonpartisan, and subscriber-supported politics podcast where we summarize the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day, and then my take. I am your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about Senator Tim Scott and his announcement that he is running for president.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Before we do, though, as always, we'll start off with some quick hits. First up, in a deal to protect the Colorado River, Arizona, California and Nevada agreed to cut their water usage by 3 million acre-feet through 2026 in exchange for $1.2 billion in federal payments. Number two, Senator Tom Carper, the Democrat from Delaware, announced that he will not seek re-election in 2024. Number three, an AI-generated image of an explosion at the Pentagon went viral yesterday, briefly causing a dip in the stock market before users realized it was fake. Number four, TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana over its new law banning the app. Number five, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican,

Starting point is 00:02:02 signed a bill that implements a 12-week abortion ban, a prohibition on gender surgeries for transgender people under the age of 19, and restricts the use of hormone treatment and puberty blockers for minors. This morning, there's new competition headed Donald Trump's way in the race for the GOP nomination. The newest presidential candidate, the Senate's only black Republican, South Carolina's Tim Scott, kicking off his 2024 White House bid in his hometown of North Charleston today. Scott, the Senate's only black Republican filed paperwork today with the Federal Election Commission. He joins five other Republicans in the race, including former President Donald Trump. Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking

Starting point is 00:02:57 every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb. And that's why I'm announcing today that I'm running for president of the United States of America. On Monday, South Carolina Republican Tim Scott officially announced his bid for president in 2024. Scott, a 57-year-old who joined the Senate in 2013, was first elected to Congress as a member of the House in 2011. Prior to that, he worked as an insurance agent and financial advisor. Scott is one of the most prominent Republicans in the Senate, and he quickly earned an endorsement from Senator John Thune, the Republican from South Dakota, the number two-ranking Senate Republican.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Scott is the lone Black Republican in the Senate and the first African-American to have ever served in both chambers of Congress. Scott, who enters the race with significant campaign cash on hand, is the latest GOP leader to declare their candidacy for the Republican nomination, joining former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his bid this week, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence are also expected to announce sometime next month.

Starting point is 00:04:24 and former Vice President Mike Pence are also expected to announce sometime next month. Scott, whose political campaigning has centered on his faith and personal story, often emphasizes a more optimistic and positive message about the United States being the land of opportunity. Every single one of us are here because of an American journey where there were obstacles that became opportunities, Scott said at his campaign kickoff event. But unfortunately, under President Biden, our nation is retreating away from patriotism and faith. Scott has $22 million on hand from his last Senate campaign and has already spent $5.5 million of that on

Starting point is 00:04:57 ad buys in Iowa and New Hampshire. He enjoys top ratings from the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America organization, as well as the National Rifle Association. While Scott has avoided using race as a central theme of his political campaigning, he often references his race while accusing the left of hypocrisy in the way they treat and speak about him. I'm the candidate that the far left fears most, Scott said at his first event. When I cut your taxes, they call me a prop. When I refunded the police, they called me a token. When I pushed back on President Biden, they even called me the N-word. I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disrupts their lies. Scott has promised to push the most pro-life legislation he can get through Congress,

Starting point is 00:05:41 though he stumbled on the campaign trail when asked about how he would regulate abortion nationally. Former President Trump, the current Republican frontrunner, welcomed Scott to the race, saying he was, quote, a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable. Today, we're going to examine some arguments from the left and the right on Scott's candidacy, and then my take. First up, we'll start with what the left is saying. Many on the left criticize Scott, saying he designs his messaging to make Republicans feel righteous. Some predict he will have a brief moment of popularity before fading. Others say he has transformed into a Trumper. In New York Magazine, Ed Kilgore said Scott is making his autobiography central to his campaign. Scott argues that the truth of my life disproves their liberal lies, particularly any claim that America needs to deal with racism

Starting point is 00:06:45 or the legacy of racism. According to Scott, America always has been and remains a land of opportunity rather than oppression. We just need to abandon liberalism in all its forms to allow people like him to flourish via hard work and personal responsibility grounded in patriotism and Christian faith, Kilgore wrote. This is a message perfectly designed for MAGA audiences who view Scott as an unimpeachable witness for the defense of their own righteousness. Scott has refined his talking points. Biden and his lefty pals have open-wired the borders, demonized police, persecuted religious folk, wrecked the economy, and trapped kids in failing schools run by union bosses.

Starting point is 00:07:31 But Scott's own agenda is a retro Reagan-Bush messaging mix with the conservative flavor of the month proposals. Use the military to destroy drug cartels, shut down the border, tax incentives for inner city investment and private school vouchers. There's not much in Scott's electoral history to suggest any particular appeal to Democrats in general or Black voters specifically, and it's not clear whether swing voters will discern anything original in his extremely shopworn policy agenda, Kilgore said. In the New Republic, Walter Shapiro said Scott is sure to rise and sure to fade. Scott does have one underappreciated factor going for him, which is that despite the Republican Party's dismal record on civil rights, GOP primary voters have a proven, if fleeting, affinity for Black conservatives running for president. According to Scott, despite the Republican record of rolling back voting rights protections, opposing affirmative action, and slashing programs for the impoverished, despite a recent Republican president who trafficked in code words and hate-mongering, it is the Democrats who weaponize race. And the virtue in embracing Scott's candidacy is that he alone among the 2024 Republicans upends these Democratic talking points. Scott speaks to the prejudice-free purity of Republican hearts, or so they believe,

Starting point is 00:08:40 when he says to camera, I know America is a land of opportunity, not oppression. That message may be appealing for GOP voters, at least before any voter makes a binding choice for president in a caucus or primary. In Esquire, Charles P. Pierce said Scott is now a Trumper through and through. The reason why we heard so little about what Scott will do as president, rather than who he will be as president is probably summed up best by item 53 on Politico's list of 55 things you need to know about Tim Scott. Policy differences with Trump? Probably not very many at all, Scott said in February to Sean Hannity.

Starting point is 00:09:19 I am so thankful we had President Trump in office. Scott swore allegiance to Trump's wall and pledged to use the U.S. military to attack Mexican drug cartels. Scott never strayed far from the policy preferences of the Tea Party, including many which have become more deeply unpopular, like gerrymandered legislatures and renegade judicial nominees. Scott has endorsed a national abortion ban at 20 weeks and has dishonestly accused Democrats of advocating for abortion up to the moment of birth. His anti-choice rhetoric has been comically mendacious at times, as when he told supporters that Democrats would grant abortions up to 52 weeks, 12 weeks longer than pregnancy lasts. All right, that is it for the leftist saying, which brings us to what the right is saying.

Starting point is 00:10:17 The right is mixed on Scott, though many welcome him into the fray. Some are skeptical that his more optimistic message will land with voters. Others argue that Republicans should be careful not to waste resources trying to win over Black voters. In The Spectator, Ben Dominick said Tim Scott is appealing to a GOP of the past. He's the kind of candidate white Republicans like to vote for, a Black conservative who directly undermines the left's claims about the United States and the GOP's innate racism. But Scott is likely to have a ceiling to his own tribe for the presidency. He is a throwback to the George W. Bush era of evangelistic conservative candidates whose faith was front and center, coming off a period when Republican Party embraced secularism in order to win. How high that ceiling is could be a test of how religious the GOP

Starting point is 00:11:02 remains and how much it wants a sunny, uplifting message instead of one animated by doomsaying. Scott's problem, much like fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, is that his appeal is out of step with the fire and brimstone talk of the current moment. Are Republican primary voters really interested in feel-good talk about the country, or are they more inclined toward messages in line with the constant toxicity of the culture wars, Dominic asked? Do they want someone with a winning personality or someone who promises to crush their political enemies? Unfortunately for the country, the latter seems a lot more popular these days. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal

Starting point is 00:11:54 web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. National Review's editors said, welcome Tim Scott. Scott is an admirable figure with a proper understanding of what America represents, the editors wrote. His aim in running for president, he said this morning, is to counter the lie that our country is evil, to declare that America is not a racist country, and to celebrate the goodness of our nation. His views are not mere abstractions, as he was raised by a poor single mother, and his grandfather was an uneducated cotton picker who grew up under Jim Crow. As a teenager, he almost failed out of high school. Indeed, as Scott says, he is living proof

Starting point is 00:12:40 America is the land of opportunity. He is popular with his colleagues in the Senate. He presents conservatism well in a manner that is likely to attract converts. He has a friendly, honest, and open affect, which helps him discuss the thorniest issues in America in an unusually constructive way. In a word, he is an optimist. Historically, Republicans have done well when they have run optimist, the editors added. However, with underdeveloped policy positions, no public executive experience, and electorate driven by anger and near despair, he is still a long shot. In the National Populist Newsletter, Ryan James Gerduski said donors' hopes are going to be dashed again. Within a few hours of the announcement that Tim Scott was running for president, I received calls from two donors, Gerduski said. This could be it. Tim Scott could break through to Black voters and

Starting point is 00:13:29 destroy the Democrats' coalition, said one. Another told me if Tim Scott is either president or vice president, he can get 20 to 25 percent of the Black vote and Democrats will never win another presidency. These are very well-meaning people who only have the best intentions, but they're entirely wrong and frankly made me want to scream until I had no voice left. Trying to win a presidential race by pulling black voters from Democrats is like trying to suck the oceans dry by using a paper straw. It's an absolute waste of time that will never work and most importantly, has never worked, he said. Despite being reasonably conservative on

Starting point is 00:14:05 several issues, the Black vote is inelastic and older Black voters are tied to the Democratic Party like they're connected to their church. It's an immovable population. Republicans should focus on winning over Asian and Hispanic voters in states like Florida and Nevada, and still focus on non-college-educated white voters in the Rust Belt. Alright, that is it for the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So, you'll be hearing this a lot over the next year and a half, I'm sure, but unlike many other news outlets, we do not endorse candidates, entangle, and we never will. So I will say what I can. I like Tim Scott. I think that the core of his campaign style is a breath of fresh air. When I watched his announcement speech

Starting point is 00:14:57 yesterday, I thought there were several moving notes, and the tenor of it obviously stuck out compared to many of his rivals in the Republican primary. Of course, he's entering a presidential race, so there were elements of the essential Tim Scott-ness that he seemed to be leaving behind, like when he suggested he was the candidate the left fears most. I don't love the idea of a presidential candidate running on a platform of pick me because I'm the guy half the country hates, but I suppose that is part and parcel of the moment we are in. Scott's story is unambiguously remarkable, and his go-to line that his family went from cotton to Congress in a generation captures both the beauty and the horror of our country in a single sentence. If you are a Republican voter with conservative bona fides,

Starting point is 00:15:42 Scott is the real deal. He doesn't waffle much on his views, and he is not a member of Congress who changes his ideology depending on his audience. There are members of Congress, like Senator Lindsey Graham, who have reputations for being snakes and regularly flip-flop on their views when it's convenient. Then there are members like Scott, who are well-liked across Congress and regularly at the center of bipartisan negotiations. He doesn't sacrifice his values, but is capable of being productive in a room with people who don't share them. Given how increasingly rare that is, I applaud the way he's carried himself to this point and the body of work that proves he can work across the aisle.

Starting point is 00:16:20 Does he have a shot? That is a different question. When you're running for president, you need to take stances on issues bigger than those that just impact your state. How would he approach China, Ukraine, trade, the intelligence agencies, military spending? Maybe those issues won't matter much in a 2024 race that's likely to be decided on culture wars, but in order to be in the race, at the end, he'll have to flesh them out. I happen to think Scott is in a better position than most people believe. He has a cash surplus, and he is going to get a lot of media attention. His favorables are strong.

Starting point is 00:16:53 He's managed to keep Trump on his side. He is beloved by the Republican establishment. He's already been endorsed by the number two Republican in the Senate. And his record of compromise is strong enough. He might just be able to win over some moderates. Plus, the third state in the GOP primary is South Carolina, and he's already investing heavily in Iowa. His biggest obstacle is obviously Trump, but it's also what the Republican Party has done to make it easier for Trump to win. In 2019, some state parties canceled their primaries to clear the path for Trump,

Starting point is 00:17:24 and the GOP essentially stayed out of his way. How will they act in 2024? Where the establishment throws its support and how it decides to navigate Trump's candidacy will have a major impact on Scott's odds. We're a long way from the first primary vote of the 2024 election, certainly too far out to dismiss Scott's candidacy. Naturally, his biggest test will be how he approaches Trump and how he could possibly beat him without the Republican base. I don't have a

Starting point is 00:17:51 good answer to that problem, but aside from Trump, I think Scott's odds are as good as anyone else's. All right, that is it for my take, which brings us to your questions answered. This one is from Rich in Seattle, Washington. Rich said, sometimes I wonder whether pundits and politicians on both the right and the left have thoroughly thought through their opinions, whether they simply have knee-jerk reactions as the opposite of the opposition. For instance, when Biden said no F-16s to Ukraine, did the right just jump to oppose? And if he had agreed to F-16s, would they have applauded or claimed we were escalating and getting tangled in yet another foreign war? So I think the knee-jerk reaction is very common.

Starting point is 00:18:38 To be honest, Trump probably illuminated this better than anyone else. He was so loathed by so many liberal pundits that sometimes he would propose things that drew seething rage from the left, and then you realize that a lefty icon like Barack Obama had actually proposed the very same thing. One of my favorite reporters who basically covers this exact beat for a living is Drew Holden, who tweets out comparisons of how the media covers Democrats versus Republicans. Holden looks at it through a conservative lens, but the knee-jerk reactions are obvious. Of course, the reverse is also true. Trump was a great litmus test for the right. He did so many things conservatives typically

Starting point is 00:19:17 oppose, but for the most part, right-wing pundits and elected Republicans ended up backing him until the end of his presidency. However, it can be difficult to tell precisely why those positions change the way they do. An example, Trump was very big on Made in America, and that push was all about bringing jobs home, and he was often criticized for it by the left. But now Joe Biden is basically mimicking those policies, and he faces almost zero pushback. Why? I'm sure it is in part because it's easier for folks on the left to support such a policy proposal coming from Biden. But maybe some have genuinely changed their mind. Maybe Democrats have realized the proposal is

Starting point is 00:19:56 popular and so their own position has changed to match the electorate. It might not be quite as simple as it's good when Biden says it and bad when Trump says it. So yes, I think a good chunk of the punditry is made up of knee-jerk opposition to politicians people don't like. Calling that hypocrisy out is definitely important. But a change in position is not always as simple as who the messenger is. All right, that is it for your questions answered, which brings us to our under the radar section. Since the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, more than 1,700 gun-related bills have been introduced in state legislatures. 93 were signed into law. However, 56% of those bills expanded access to

Starting point is 00:20:43 firearms or benefit the gun manufacturing industry, according to Axios. In 17 states, only bills that loosened gun restrictions were passed. In 14 of those 17 states, Republicans controlled both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office, while in three of those states, there were GOP-controlled legislatures and Democratic governors. Axios has the data on how gun laws have changed, and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The percentage of GOP primary voters who support

Starting point is 00:21:18 Tim Scott is just 2%, according to the latest Morning Consult poll. The percentage of GOP primary voters who reported hearing nothing about Scott in the days before his announcement was 71%. The current polling tie between Biden and Trump in a hypothetical 2024 head-to-head is 42-42, according to a Morning Consult poll. The percentage of potential GOP primary voters who said they would vote for Trump if the primary were held in their state today is 58%. The percentage of GOP primary voters who said they would vote for DeSantis was 20%. The percentage of GOP primary voters who said DeSantis would be their second choice was 48%. All right, that is it for our numbers section. And last but not least, our have a nice day story. Ted Wetzler, an Ohio voter, realized he needed a new method of agreeing to disagree after getting into a fight with his friends about politics. So he created, quote unquote, dinner and a fight

Starting point is 00:22:18 with the word fight crossed out and replaced with the word dialogue. He's now hosted over 11 meetings inside a Greek Orthodox church in Akron, Ohio, with people who disagree about politics. They sit down for a buffet style dinner before Wetzler introduces a divisive topic to discuss. People get to take a microphone and share their opinions, and then after the dialogue, everyone rejoins their table for dessert to chat some more and discuss the various opinions that were shared. Good News Network has a story about how Ted is breaking down some barriers, and there is a link to it in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's podcast. A quick reminder, we now have tickets on sale for our live event. We now have a YouTube channel that's up and churning content. We need you to go check out both. Like and

Starting point is 00:23:10 subscribe to the YouTube channel. And please be sure to go check out the ticket page for our live event, August 3rd in Philadelphia, and buy a ticket. We got to sell this baby out. All right, we'll be right back here. Same time tomorrow. Have a good one. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited by John Long. Our script is edited by Ari Weitzman, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bokova, who's also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. For more on Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.

Starting point is 00:24:25 We'll see you next time. Lee becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+.

Tangle - Tim Scott is running for president.

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