Tucker Carlson ruined many Presidential candidates this weekend. It was a delightful beat of hard-hitting journalism, something that we don’t see much in modern American media. In Great Britain, they have Andrew Neil, who skewers liberals and conservatives for answers. In the United States, most reporters are talking, talking, left-wing propagandists pushing regime talking points or hoping to score their next gig at a bigger station.
Thank you, Tucker Carlson, for your hard-edged questions. He is a serious reporter, a rigorous interrogator, someone not afraid to admit when he misses it, and someone who respects the people 's questions, even when showing them up for contradictions in their answers and actions to his questions.
I would love to analyze what Tucker did to former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and I will write later on my thoughts about Mike “Not my concern” Pence.
Today, I want to focus on Tucker’s first interview: US Senator Tim Scott.
I like Tim Scott. He’s the best federal representative for South Carolina, aside from Congressman Joe “You Lie” Wilson, who had the guts to call out President Barack Obama, when he lied that illegal aliens would not get access to Obamacare. Rep. Ralph Norman is good, too, since he joined a hard-core team of conservatives to slow up Speaker McCarthy’s election.
But Tim Scott is a good guy. He is gregarious, principled. He’s definitely more conservative than Lindsey Graham!
I really commended his appearance on The View last month, blasting the Day Time Karens who make a living out of trafficking racialized hatred and denigrating conservatives into modern-day political discourse. US Senator Scott took great exception to Sunny Hostin’s contention that the United States is systematically racist. He praised the United States, and his experience affirmed his convictions. He is a hard worker, not a diversity hire.
Still, US Senator Tim Scott is not an outstanding US Senator, and ultimately, he is not presidential material.
He has dabbled in the racialism game, himself. He sounded off on the George Floyd crisis by claiming that the four police officers needed to be arrested. He goes along with the diversity moral panic when the going gets tough. He was also a big cheerleader for the “First Step Act,” and he was pushed into this position in part so that the Republicans in Washington could say “Look! We care about black people. We are not racist! We want to get them out of prison!” The First Step Act has led to more repeat felonies in our country, and has undermined law and order. Not good.
Even during his otherwise stellar interview on The View, he showed that he wants to play the diversity game. He went out of his way to declare: “I am the only US Senator who has hired all women for my staff.” I thought we were supposed to be employed based on merit, character, and skill, not sex or skin color.
All of this points to another problem with Scott: he is a safe choice for wimpy Republicans who just want to look ‘cool,’ so that they can boast: “See? I think that black people are awesome! The Republican Party does not have a race problem!” That kind of posturing never wins. The Left will always call you racist, because they have nothing else. Republicans have to turn their racism taunts back on the Left, not try to disprove them. Diversity will emerge on its own when freedom, character, and merit win out, whether in elections or hiring practices or college admissions.
Scott wants to play the “I am the Diversity Republican” part well. And he also wanted to play up the “I am the safe Evangelical choice,” too. Nothing exposed this more about Scott than his performance (yes, performance) on The FAMiLY Leader-BlazeTV Summit in Iowa this past weekend.
He came out acting like a preacher. He came out saying “Isn’t it good to Praise the Lord?” Well, of course it is. But voters should not be looking for a pastor. We are looking for a President. Those are two very different roles, requiring two very different mindsets. The Pastor wants to save souls. The President wants to maintain public order and protect the people’s rights.
Look: I am an evangelical voter. I care about God’s Word, and I care about the state of our churches and pulpits very much. However, I am not looking for a President to play pastor. I am looking for a President to … be a president! US Senator Tim Scott played a preacher at the Iowa Family Forum, hosted by BlazeTV. The whole scene made me cringe. He even copped a black Southern accent (a la Aunt Madea). Give me a break!
Evangelical voters need to hold politicians to a higher standard than we have been doing for the last few election cycles. I don’t care how many times Tim Scott stood up to make a point, or how many times he waved his hands in the air. It was clearly a performance, nothing like his measured and meaningful deliberation on The View. Perhaps he should have faced off against a more hostile journalist than Tucker Carlson, and we would have seen more leadership and attention to policy details.
Sure, Scott can quote Scripture. Sure, he can connect with a crowd. Sure, he can play church. But I remind US Senator Tim Scott (and all evangelical voters) of an important direction from Christ Jesus Himself: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)
Now more than ever, voters need results, and I pray that evangelical voters (the ones who helped Trump get elected in 2016) expect to see fruit from their Presidential contenders. Don’t tell me how much you love Jesus. Show me how much you will reflect His life and character in your service to this country.
Tim Scott is a good guy, a decent Senator, and an able communicator when he focuses. But President? No thanks.