by Frank Holmes, reporter
A once-prominent Republican candidate has touched off a whirlwind of speculation that another 2024 presidential campaign is about to close up shop.
Political vultures are circling around South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, whose campaign canceled all its plans to buy political ads this fall… and let his donors know in the bluntest possible language.
“We aren’t going to waste our money,” said Trust In the Mission PAC (TIM PAC) in a memo to donors.
The move “would be obvious in the business world but will mystify politicos,” wrote the super PAC’s co-chair, Rob Collins.
The problem, he says, is the Republican Party isn’t interested in looking at any candidate beside former President Donald Trump.
“This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting,” the memo concluded.
That’s a hard pill to swallow for Scott, whom Politico points out “was once seen by high-dollar GOP donors and some Republican consultants as one of the top alternatives to Trump, should DeSantis’ momentum fizzle out.”
Scott raised just $4.6 million in the third quarter, behind self-funding businessman Perry Johnson. Scott hasn’t even qualified for the third Republican primary debate, held by NBC News next month.
Perry Johnson out-raising Tim Scott and Mike Pence should be a sign for them to drop out. https://t.co/OpjOpGfnWS
— Benjamin Rothove (@BenjaminRothove) October 16, 2023
It’s tougher medicine yet when Scott is expected to take campaign advice from a proven presidential failure: 2012 Republican presidential loser and soon-to-be Senate retiree Mitt Romney.
The GOP started to put the squeeze on Scott’s campaign shortly after Romney and his former running mate, onetime Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, met with deep-pocketed GOP donors in an effort to get behind one alternative to Trump.
The event at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah, urged NeverTrumpers to unify around one candidate — and force the rest of the non-Trump candidates out of the race.
Since the meeting, the media has been abuzz about a supposed surge of support for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Shortly after the closed-doors event, The Washington Post’s conservative columnist and Trump foe George F. Will wrote a column titled: “Tim Scott, please drop out, urge others to follow and unite behind Haley.”
Will, who says Scott has no chance of persuading voters to support him, “could transform the nation’s political mood” by telling everyone except Haley to call it quits. Haley’s nomination could convince Democrats to dump Biden, and America wold be spared two old white men, said Will.
“Why Will is so hostile to Trump is a mystery to me,” said former Justice Department official and conservative analyst Jeff Clark on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Maybe it’s that Trump has not and never will be an intellectual weenie like Will who only talks and never acts and instead Trump is a man in the arena.”
The column has a fascinating disclaimer: “The columnist’s wife, Mari Will, an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), disagrees with this column.”
Helluva disclosure from George Will, who's just called on Tim Scott to drop out of the race: https://t.co/8gDXuKPCjf pic.twitter.com/hfReClrmfX
— Samuel Benson (@sambbenson) October 10, 2023
Right now, Scott appears to agree more with George Will’s wife than George Will.
Scott announced he will kick off a “Good News Bus Tour” of Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation caucus, on Friday. Scott promised to bring his “positive, optimistic message to caucus-goers across the Hawkeye State,” because “Iowans are ready to end the Biden retreat, stand loyal with our allies, and protect the American dream for the next generation.”
Scott also came out swinging against Haley, although not by name. Since Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel, Haley has said America might take in Palestinian Muslim refugees from the Gaza Strip.
“There are so many of these people who want to be free from this terrorist rule. They want to be free from all of that. America’s always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists. And that’s what we have to do,” she told CNN.
“Not on my watch. Our nation is just too important for me to make bad decisions under pressure because I want to be popular,” said Scott at a media event in Washington, D.C. “Not having any of the refugees come into our country is the right decision.”
“Iran has lots of room” for refugees from Gaza, said Scott.
JUST IN: Nikki Haley endorses plan to house up to 1,000,000 Palestinians from Gaza.
“There are so many of these people who want to be free from this terrorist rule. They want to be free from all of that.”
THOUGHTS?
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) October 17, 2023
Not on my watch.
No refugees in from Gaza, period. pic.twitter.com/iC2F2JXRNY
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) October 17, 2023
Scott’s also attacking Nikki Haley’s base of support by siding hard with Israel. Scott proposed for the federal government to cut off government grants and student aid to universities that supported pro-terrorist messages.
Scott’s “Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses” Act will “hit them where it hurts,” said Scott.
But out-hawking Haley will hit her where it hurts, too: Israel is one of her signature issues.
Tim Scott is currently pulling just five percent support in Iowa. That ranks him fifth in the state, behind Trump, Ron DeSantis, Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, according to an Iowa State University/Civiqs poll released last week. A second poll from CBS News/YouGov showed Scott with six percent, tying Mike Pence for fourth place.
“I’ll be surprised if Pence and Scott are in the primary after January,” wrote Karen Townsend at Hot Air.
When (not if) Scott bows out, he won’t be the first Republican to take his hat out of the ring: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez gave up in late August and former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, quit earlier this month.
“I look for Asa Hutchinson to drop out around Thanksgiving, the deadline he set for himself. He’s gone nowhere,” said Townsend.
And, no matter what Romney and his donors want, neither has Haley. It’s Trump or DeSantis in 2024.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”