RUTHFULLY YOURS

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in Charleston, S.C. yesterday. (See Andrea Widburg’s first-person account of the event here.)  Later that evening, he appeared live for an interview with former S.C. Rep. Trey Gowdy, who is hosting the 8 PM ET hour on the FOX News channel this week.

Scott has served as the junior U.S. Senator representing South Carolina since 2013.  He is what used to be called a Dark Horse in the race (no pun intended). He is a youthful looking 57, and represented his state in local and state politics before being appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2013 by Gov. Nikki Haley, who is herself a candidate for next year’s Republican presidential nomination. Scott has won re-election three times to the U.S. Senate.

Scott’s interesting and impressive background and career are reasonably and fairly objectively documented at his Wikipedia bio. The lengthy page and the references it cites are a compelling read. My impression of Scott over the years, confirmed by the chronology and highlights of his career, is that he is a man of deep conviction who is extremely articulate in expressing his conservative viewpoint.

And so it was when he appeared on the FOX News channel Monday evening (video here). Needless to say, he received a cordial reception from his former Republican colleague in the Congress, Trey Gowdy, who was guest hosting the hour on FOX for the first of five nights from New York City.  On Sunday nights for the past year, Gowdy has hosted Sunday Night in America from Charleston, S.C., on FOX at 7 PM ET, sometimes repeated later in the evening.

Gowdy, an attorney and former prosecutor, is a skillful interviewer, and the transcript of his conversation with Scott, provided by FOX News, is an interesting read. In particular, Scott is capable of taking excellent advantage of the brief time that is allotted to most guests on the cable news channels. And so it was yesterday evening.

(VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb.

And that’s why I’m announcing today that I’m running for president of the United States of America!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

SCOTT:  I’m America!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  That was Tim Scott earlier today.

Tim Scott did not grow up like most presidential candidates. He shared a room, not a house, a room, with his mother and his brother. He nearly failed out of school. His grandfather could not read or write, because, when others tell you the ceiling for your life is picking cotton, why bother?

But through education and hard work and opportunity and an unwavering faith in what this country can allow you to become, this grandson of a man who picked cotton eventually picked out a seat in Congress and then the Senate. And, today, he announced his candidacy to lead the country.