Is 2024 Election Denialism a Trump VP Litmus Test?

Typically, vice-presidential nominees complement the presidential nominee in some crucial respect; that was true for Donald Trump in 2016, when Mike Pence offered reassurance to the movement conservatives and conservative Evangelicals uneasy with the then-mogul and his unorthodox persona and outlook. But Pence, of course, by refusing to help Trump reverse the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021, also taught Trump the value of absolutely loyalty to the Boss. So it goes without saying that his next running-mate will be closely examined for any signs of incipient independence. That’s why the only 2024 Trump primary rival who is on his VP shortlist is Tim Scott. The South Carolina senator was careful not to criticize Trump as an active candidate and then endorsed him over Nikki Haley, the woman who appointed him to the U.S. Senate. Indeed, Scott’s situation provides a good measuring stick for the outer bounds of Trump’s tolerance for any risk of a recurrence of the Pence problem.

Since 2020 election denialism is a central feature of Trump’s 2024 message, criticism of Trump’s (or his “patriot” friends’) conduct on January 6 could be a real problem for a prospective veep. Tim Scott provides a real borderline case: While expressing displeasure about the assault on the Capitol, and worse yet, voting to confirm Joe Biden’s election, he went out of his way to absolve Trump himself of any misconduct soon thereafter.

“The president is simply not guilty,” Scott said on Fox News. “I was in the chamber when the rioters were coming over. I was taking my jacket off, my tie off, rolling my sleeves up, just in case I had to fight. The chances of me understanding and appreciating the severity of the situation is 100 percent. The one person I don’t blame is President Trump.”

That’s pretty good from a MAGA perspective, though Scott may need to learn some respect for the “J6 hostages” if he wants to speak at Trump rallies this fall. January 6 revisionism aside, however, there’s a prospective topic where any equivocation could be really damaging to the team: leaving open the possibility of 2024 election denialism. And Scott faced and met an acid test over this last weekend as a guest on Meet the Press, as The Hill reported:

In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” anchor Kristen Welker pressed Scott on Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the 2024 election results and then asked Scott whether he would commit to accepting the results.

Scott repeatedly avoided answering the question — even when pressed at least three times for “just yes or no” on accepting the results of the election — and said, “at the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.”

Welker followed up, asking, “Wait, wait, senator. Yes or no. Yes or no? Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter who wins?”

“That is my statement,” Scott replied, later adding, “The American people will make the decision, and the decision will be for President Trump.”

Scott could have emulated Trump himself and responded to the question with a long, incoherent word salad that would have made it difficult for Welker to repeat the question and try to pin him down. But by clamming up once he’d predicted Trump’s ultimate triumph, the South Carolinian did what he had to do.

Unfortunately for other veep prospects, Scott’s very conspicuous refusal to make a statement of trust in the electoral system that would have been entirely routine for any presidential or vice-presidential candidate prior to 2016 will guarantee they will face the same question sooner or later. And there’s really no acceptable answer other than “it depends,” which of course raises other questions that aren’t easy to answer. Perhaps the best VP prospect would be someone who never for a moment challenged Trump’s 2020 election denialism and is down for another round of it today. There aren’t a lot of those since nearly all Republican elected officials either admitted in an unguarded moment that Biden had won the election, or at the time found the events of January 6 stressful or grotesque. So those who want to see their names on a bumper sticker with Donald Trump this year had better be extra careful about foreclosing any election-stealing gambit by the former president between Election Day and next January 20.