A Lesson From Pence: Why Tim Scott Makes Sense as Trump's Running Mate
Informed anticipation concerning Donald Trump’s selection of a running mate for 2024 requires an open-minded consideration of the decision he made eight years ago to elevate Mike Pence.
Despite their differences over the president’s handling of the Capitol riots on January 6th, and Pence’s refusal to go along with the stolen election narrative so fiercely cherished by the other members of Team Trump, the two men worked well together during most of the term they shared and campaigned as an effective team in both 2016 and 2020.
No one, however, believes it would be either possible or profitable to reassemble the old team, given charges of disloyalty against Pence, and the former Vice President’s outspoken criticism of his bombastic boss. But that doesn’t mean that Trump should or could ignore the indisputable assets that the genial and easy-going Hoosier brought to their ticket.
In fact, the most likely choice for Mr. Trump this year would be the prospective candidate who could most plausibly replicate the Pence performance: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.
When it comes to unifying the GOP, taking the angry edge off the current “retribution” campaign, and broadening the base beyond currently committed Republicans, Scott’s presence on the ticket is far more likely to help than to hinder the party’s progress.
To place Pence’s contributions into perspective, it’s worth considering his skillful acceptance speech to the GOP convention in Cleveland (July 20, 2016), where he mixed fulsome praise for Trump (inevitably) with some deft, self-deprecating humor about their differences. “You know,” he told the cheering crowd about their choice as standard bearer, “he’s a man known for a larger personality, a colorful style and lots of charisma. And so I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket.”
In that contest, the candidates on the other side lacked any such balance—with Hillary Clinton selecting Tim Kaine, a fellow “mainstream Democrat” and political insider (Mayor of Richmond, Governor of Virginia, US Senator) who, like Clinton herself, often evoked dismissive adjectives like “drab” and “bland.” If Trump anoints Tim Scott, on the other hand, the prospective vice president’s ebullient personality, unfailingly cheerful demeanor and infectious smile would bring new energy to the ticket, not just a dim echo of a controversial, pugilistic standard bearer.
What’s more, Scott would offer a situational advantage that makes him unique among all the nearly one hundred candidates who have preceded him as major party nominees for national office. A 58-year-old lifelong bachelor, he announced his engagement at the same point his own presidential campaign drew to its disappointing close in January. At the conclusion of the last Republican TV debate in which he participated, he brought his fetching fiancé’ on stage to introduce her to the public. Her name is Mindy Noce, and she’s a Charleston-area interior designer with three children from a prior marriage. They met in church and bonded over Bible study. Scott commented over this unexpected development that “It’s the most exciting thing I’ll do with my life besides making Jesus my Lord.”
This factor doesn’t assure Tim Scott of bringing more happily married Christians to the Trump cause any more than his Black heritage guarantees a new surge of support from people of color. But it does make the potential Vice President more relatable to the members of a party that has long promoted itself as a defender of “family values.” In the same way that Mike Pence’s outspoken commitment to Christianity and unblushing devotion to his wife Karen and their three children helped to humanize him for religious conservatives across the country, Scott’s late blooming love for the devout Mindy makes him seem more vulnerable and sympathetic than your ordinary big shot politico.
As far as Scott’s race is concerned, it won’t automatically draw new Black voters, especially when his opponent for the Vice Presidency (Kamala Harris, almost certainly) also identifies as Black. But it will naturally help to melt that obnoxious, long-frozen assumption that the Republican Party is a refuge exclusively for privileged, golf-playing white guys beyond middle age.
There’s one more element in Senator Scott’s makeup that seems likely to push Trump in his direction, especially in a race when both the likely nominees for president seem determined to frighten the public in order to turn out votes. President Biden argues that he must win, or the MAGA thugs (yes, he has used the word) will put an end to Democracy. Meanwhile, the former President insists that another term of Biden’s rule would mean farewell to American greatness, prosperity and security. Both candidates sound distinctively gloomy and grumpy. In a political system that has long honored “happy warriors” for their infectious energy and optimism (Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and others) our politics now seem populated by cranky warriors—ill-tempered, apocalyptic, determined to emphasize complaining over confidence.
Tim Scott offers a different mood and a better message—promoting the notion that in a nation which makes his own story possible (from slavery to the Senate in three generations), every sort of redemptive miracle is possible.
This concept may not coincide with Trump’s emphasis on “American carnage”, or national gloom and doom, but as long as Tim Scott maintains his adoring, worshipful attitude to his potential running mate, such attitudinal differences should be easy to overcome.
In one recent campaign event in South Carolina, Trump put Scott in an uncomfortable position. Taking note of the fact that the Senator had been appointed to his post by Governor Nikki Haley, but now unabashedly backed Trump, the former president blithely observed: “You must really hate her.”
Scott, standing just steps behind the presidential candidate, stepped forward and took the microphone. “I just love you,” he smilingly declared, and provoked thunderous applause.