Tim Scott’s presidential committee got off to a 'weird' and 'grossly dishonest' start: conservative

On Wednesday, April 12, Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) announced that he had launched a presidential exploratory committee. Scott's admirers welcomed the announcement; they see him as a conservative Republican with a positive vision and a less divisive, less combative figure than former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (who appears to be gearing up for a presidential run).

But Never Trump conservative Amanda Carpenter has a very different view of the South Carolina Republican. In a biting article published by The Bulwark on April 13, Carpenter argues that Scott is much more MAGA than his cheerleaders would have us believe.

"South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, one of those affable Republicans often touted as 'the future' of an optimistic, inclusive GOP, carefully selected the timing and location for the announcement of his exploratory committee for his party's 2024 presidential nomination," Carpenter explains. "Scott declared his ambition to seek the highest office in the land on Wednesday, April 12, with an ad filmed at Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War rang out 161 years earlier to the day. He wanted people to pay attention to that fateful anniversary. Because the way Scott sees it, America is on the verge of another civil war."

READ MORE: 'Treasonous': Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted over Presidents Day call for a 'national divorce'

The Never Trump conservative continues, "And if you think Scott is talking about the threat posed by Donald Trump's insurrectionist mob, well, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Wrongo! Scott, that winsome, uplifting, inspiring, rising star of the GOP, is launching his presidential exploratory bid on the notion that it's Joe Biden who is leading a new confederacy that threatens to tear the country apart."

Announcing his exploratory committee, Scott implied that Democrats are trying to push the United States into another civil war.

The South Carolina Republican said, "Our country is once again being tested…. Once again, our divisions run deep, and the threat to our future is real…. Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness…. I know America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression. I know it because I've lived it. That's why it pains my soul to see the Biden liberals attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb."

Such rhetoric, Carpenter argues, is highly disingenuous in light of Trump's influence on the GOP.

READ MORE: Bill Maher: Trump’s allies are 'playing with the kind of fire' that 'made Northern Ireland a living hell'

"Scott's reframing of Joe Biden as a soul-sucking Jefferson Davis is weird, willfully blind, and grossly dishonest," Carpenter observes. “The only radicals talking about a national divorce nowadays are members of the party to which himself Scott belongs. He knows this. They attacked his place of work on January 6th. But Scott has no outrage to spare for them."

READ MORE: 'Spectacularly obtuse white supremacy': Charlie Kirk lambasted for asking if 'white people' get reparations

Read Amanda Carpenter’s full article for The Bulwark at this link.