Thursday, December 12, 2024

Opinion | Tim Scott is already frozen out of contention

Opinion | Tim Scott is already frozen out of contention


Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) shouldn’t need George F. Will’s encouragement to drop out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination [“This is not a drill. Stop, drop out and let Haley roll.,” op-ed, Oct. 11]. Mr. Scott’s poll numbers have been Siberian from the start of his campaign. To say his candidacy has been lackluster, uninspiring and unimaginative would be an understatement. He might as well have been absent at the first debate. When pressed on certain issues, such as abortion and racism, he equivocates.

It took him months after the fact to admit that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen.

More disturbing, of late, the senator, known for his congeniality, has taken the low road by placing blame for the horrific events in Israel on President Biden.

Mr. Scott has never seemed comfortable with his candidacy, and for good reason. It’s no mean feat to traffic in today’s GOP and still present yourself as an amiable alternative to the repugnant status quo.

Mr. Scott is an intelligent man. He sees the writing on the wall. Perhaps his initial foray into the presidential arena will be a learning experience. A primer for the next rodeo. At any rate, his ship has passed, and the noble thing for him to do is step aside. Now.

Stuart V. Perry, Mount Rainier

In his Oct. 11 op-ed, George F. Will, with whom I frequently strongly disagree, wrote a thought-provoking sentence: “Trump is so deeply shallow that many might still underestimate his potential destructiveness, of which fresh evidence constantly accumulates.”

Despite what some consider the unenlightened nature of former president Donald Trump’s outlook, expressed in what appears on the surface to be forethought-free commentary, he resonates with a surprisingly large number — indeed, millions of people.

Though pundits debate what is behind this phenomenon, we are quickly approaching the one-year-out mark for the 2024 presidential election. The important point here is not so much the reason or reasons for his popularity as the fact that, for all his supposed shallowness — his four criminal indictments and the growing, though still tepid, appeal of Nikki Haley notwithstanding — Mr. Trump’s sick compulsion to prove that he is not a loser is very much on schedule and making excellent progress.

Benjamin Sloan, Charlottesville

George F. Will’s appeal to Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and other Republican candidates to withdraw from the race and support former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, though laudable, is also naive. Power-hungry egomaniacs do not give up voluntarily. The only way to get them to withdraw is for their major funders to redirect their support to Haley.

Malcolm O’Hagan, Chevy Chase



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