What Went Down On Night 1 Of The RNC

Apart from Haley, Scott is one of the only other prominent non-Trumpian Republicans speaking at the convention, and they’re stacking them both in the same night. The programming on the other three nights is likely to be even Trumpier, in other words.

Scott said last year that the 2022 Senate election would be his last. It’s interesting to me then that the RNC wanted him to speak. On the one hand, as the only Black GOP senator in the party right now, I understand why Trump wanted Scott to speak tonight, as part of the GOP’s argument tonight is focused on diversity in the party and how their embrace of diversity is different than Democrats. But on the other hand, the fact that he’s already so publicly started to distance himself from the GOP makes him an at least somewhat odd choice to represent the party.

Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, takes the podium. (The only Black Republican in the House is Rep. Will Hurd and he is retiring in January.)