Feehery: How Tim Scott can win the anti-Trump primary

Is there a pathway for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to win the Republican nomination? 

Many of his Senate colleagues, including Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), think so.   

Scott, who had earlier announced that this would be his last term in the Senate, announced Monday that he was throwing his hat in the ring and running for president.  

He will be the first Republican senator to enter the race and, as such, he will have access to a sizable war chest, which already has more than $20 million.   

Scott is a political survivor who always goes into tough races as the underdog but always seems to come out on top.   

If there is a true anti-Donald Trump in the field, it is Scott.   

Where Trump is brash, Scott is measured. Where Trump is rich, Scott was raised in poverty. Where Trump has a flair for the dramatic, Scott is mundane. Trump has been married three times, while Scott is single. Where Trump likes heated rhetoric, Scott’s words are a salve for the bitter soul of America.  

Before Scott can take on Trump, though, he must win the anti-Trump primary.  

That requires him beating Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who appointed Scott to the Senate in the first place. Talk about being awkward. At times, Haley seems to be auditioning to be Trump’s vice presidential candidate. She has made a point of attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also expected to announce a White House bid this week.   

It also requires him to beat former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and perhaps former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both of whom seem to take special relish in attacking Trump.  

Scott’s special sauce is not in taking on Trump. He will leave the attacks to attack dogs like Christie, who will be happy to chime in whether or not he enters the race. Scott doesn’t have to get into the mud pit with the former president. That’s not his style anyway. Leave the insults to guys who excel at insulting. Guys like Christie.   

In many ways, Tim Scott is a conventional conservative. He is pro-life, pro-faith, anti-tax and anti-regulation. He is a defender of small business, and he promotes his own brand of anti-government populism. And he supports a robust military and America’s strong hand in the international order.   

Unlike other Black Republicans who have run for president in the last two elections, businessman Herman Cain and physician Ben Carson, Scott has a rich record of legislative and political accomplishment. He knows how to build coalitions. He knows how to shepherd complex tax policy. 

And he knows how to win tough political races. You don’t beat scions of the Campbell and Thurmond families in South Carolina without knowing how to win elections.   

Conservatives are ready and willing to elect a Black man to the White House. It just has to be somebody who shares their values and their vision of a Judeo-Christian and free-market republic. 

Scott is not perfect. He has made some enemies over the years. The hard right doesn’t necessarily trust him. His attack on Ryan Bounds, who was President Trump’s nominee to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from Oregon, was unfair and regrettable.   

Right now, pretty much everybody assumes that one of the top two contenders, Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis, will get the nomination. But what should happen if those two so badly damage each other with attacks and recriminations that the voters look somewhere else to find peace and quiet competence?   

Tim Scott is betting that he could be that alternative. It is not as much of a long shot as you might think. 

Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).