NO, MAGGIE, TRUMP WON'T PICK TIM SCOTT AS HIS RUNNING MATE

So I'm over at New York magazine and I'm reading Jonathan Chait on Donald Trump's view of people who aren't white:

One of the important phenomena of this current era that has been weirdly hiding in plain sight is Donald Trump’s habit of saying racist things in public....

The latest example is his social-media rant against Mitch McConnell. “He has a DEATH WISH. Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”

Then I click over to Margaret Hartmann, who runs through several possible explanations for the nickname Trump recently gave New York State's African-American attorney general, Letitia James: "Peekaboo."

The first theory is:

It’s an intentional allusion to a racist term.

The most popular explanation among Twitter and Reddit users is that Trump wanted to call James a racist insult that rhymes with “peekaboo” and starts with a “J.”

Which seems like the only possible explanation.

And then I leave New York and click over to this story:

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman shared who former President Donald Trump is likely to choose for a running mate if he enters the race in 2024.

During an appearance on “The View” co-host Ana Navarro asked Haberman who she believes Trump would look at as a possible running mate.

“There are a couple of people whose names get mentioned and the one who gets mentioned the most by people close to him is Tim Scott from South Carolina, the senator....” Haberman replied.

Do I need to tell you that I'm skeptical?

Trump is a racist. Sure, he hung out with Kanye West and endorsed Herschel Walker, but West and Walker are Black people whose main accomplishments took place in "their lane." West is an entertainer. Walker was an athlete. Sports and entertainment are what Black people are supposed to do, in the view of racists like Trump.

Tim Scott has never been a professional athlete or entertainer. He earned a degree in political science and went on to become an insurance agent and financial adviser while pursuing elective office. We know what Trump thinks of Black men who do financial work:

A [1991] book by John O’Donnell, former president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, quoted Trump’s criticism of a Black accountant: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. ... I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” Trump later said in a 1997 Playboy interview that “the stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”

It's possible that what Haberman says is true as far as it goes -- that people around Trump mention Scott frequently. But that's no reason to believe that Trump would ever agree with them.

Haberman also mentions Sarah Huckabee Sanders. That's more plausible -- he hired her once, and she was an effective attack dog for him, without ever seeming as if she wanted to steal his spotlight. But I think he's more likely to pick a dull white male (dull because he doesn't want anyone else with star power around him, white and male because "straight out of central casting" means a white male VP). I'm not sure who fits the bill -- maybe Glenn Youngkin?

I could certainly see Ron DeSantis picking Scott as a running mate, because he knows it would play well. But no, Maggie, not the very racist Trump.