Another contender is entering the GOP primary race for president. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has filed the paperwork to run with the Federal Election Commission, and will make the formal announcement on Monday.

If you are keeping track, this now means the Republican primary race now includes Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Larry Elder, and Asa Hutchison, with Donald Trump leading the entire pack. And you can clearly tell whom the media considers threatening by whom they snark on and attack. Tim Scott is a bigger threat than the rest of the current contenders save Trump, so naturally the New York Times (with a co-byline by Trump’s favorite NYT reporter Maggie Haberman) was happy to start sharpening their knives on Scott’s biography yet again.

Mr. Scott, the most influential elected Black conservative in America, has a compelling life story around which he is expected to build his campaign. He portrays his rise from poverty to become the first Black senator from South Carolina and the only Black Republican in the Senate as an embodiment of the American dream.”

The life story of Senator Tim Scott is one that shows what hard work and determination can do – which is why the press have had it out for him. How DARE he be a black Republican! The attacks from the left and the press (but I repeat myself) were both ugly and predictable. How dare a black man not be a Democrat! How dare a black man propose police reform without defunding the police! How dare Tim Scott be a happy warrior!

Mr. Scott rarely criticizes Mr. Trump directly, but his message could not be more different from the former president’s. While Mr. Trump talks ominously of “retribution” — his promise to gut the civil service and law enforcement agencies that he pejoratively calls the “deep state” — Mr. Scott prefers the sunny language of Ronald Reagan.”

“Americans are losing one of the most inspirational truths we have, which is hope — hope that things can and will get better, hope that education and hard work can equal prosperity, hope that we remain a city on a hill, a shining example of what can be when free people decide to join hands in self-governance,” Mr. Scott said in a speech last year at the Reagan Library on the future of the Republican Party.”

“America stands at a crossroads,” he said, “with the potential for a great resetting, a renewal, even a rebirth — where we get to choose how we will meet the potential of today and the promise of tomorrow.”

OH NO, TIM SCOTT IS OPTIMISTIC, the NYT wails. The press wants their preferred Republicans to be angry and loud, not happy and confident. That undercuts their whole plan of portraying Joe Biden as the kindly old grandpa (which he is not) against a mean and nasty Republican.

This filing by Scott comes as no surprise. He announced an exploratory committee back in April, and at the time released a video that was pretty much an announcement. This was not a quick video filmed on an iPhone – this is a slick piece of video production that explains much of Tim Scott’s philosophy.

Tim Scott also holds a distinct advantage over every single other current Republican contender, including Donald Trump. He is the only one currently holding elected office. Everyone else is either out of office, or has never held elected office. Now, that could change very rapidly, as the rumors are swirling that Ron DeSantis will be jumping into the race as early as next week himself. If you can’t tell, I like and respect Tim Scott enormously. In a year without Donald Trump in the field, he would automatically become a serious contender for the nomination.

But this isn’t that year, or that cycle. Tim Scott is 57 years old, and just won re-election to the Senate last year. There may still be a presidential future ahead of him. Scott, according to the New York Times, has around $22 million campaign cash on hand. Ron DeSantis reportedly has a PAC with an operating budget of $100 million ready to go. When DeSantis enters the race, the oxygen for the rest of the candidates will literally get sucked out of the rest of the room, and it may well instantly become a two-man race.

And the media is already anticipating DeSantis’s entry into the race, by starting dumb attacks on Casey DeSantis. You know the media is full of cowards who know what’s coming when the hit piece on a prospective candidate’s WIFE appears.

This is such a deranged and catty piece from @michaelkruse I can only assume she once rejected him or something. His evidence she plays too prominent role? DeSantis’ most rabid opponents don’t like her and campaign mailers also picture HER. LOL. https://t.co/PSlzQ5Zp61

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 19, 2023

Tim Scott is a valuable voice within the Republican Party. He has great ideas and a winning personal message. However, the 2024 Republican primary revolves around Donald Trump, and if any one candidate can unseat him in a primary. At the moment, there’s only one potential candidate that has a shot of doing that – and it isn’t Tim Scott, or anyone else who has currently declared they are running. (I’m still trying to figure out who told Asa Hutchison that he had a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting more than 5% in a primary, and that’s probably being too generous.) The stage is still being set for 2024. Tim Scott might end up on a debate stage, but I am highly doubtful that he will be the last candidate standing against Donald Trump in a primary.

Featured image: Senator Tim Scott, official portrait, cropped, public domain