Senator Batboy

One would think that after Rick Scott’s company got the largest fine in the history of Medicare for fraud that Republicans would know that there is no low too low for this self-serving fiend: he’s now stealing from them!  The nerve!

Florida Sen. Rick Scott has been publicly dressed down by Republican leader Mitch McConnell, privately rebuked by his colleagues and repeatedly accused of running the National Republican Senatorial Committee in a way that benefits his own future over the candidates he was hired to get elected.

He has directed a sizable share of his fundraising as NRSC chair to his own accounts, while shifting digital revenue away from Senate campaigns and buying ads promoting himself that look all but identical to spots he does for the national committee.

You may also recall that Scott dropped a bomb on the Republicans a few weeks back, in which he proposed a poor tax, sunsetting Medicare and Social Security and gave the finger to troops overseas by banning voting outside of the United States.

So what gives? What’s Rick Scott’s angle here running a con on the preeminent con artists?

Ambitious Senate campaign committee chiefs have used their position as a launchpad before. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) led the charge to retake the Senate in 1994, and he ran for president in 1996. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) won the Senate back in 2002 and became majority leader weeks later. But no one has created this sort of controversy in the job. Advisers say they see any battle with McConnell as good for him outside Washington, and they do not privately rule out Scott running for president. McConnell allies say the Kentucky Republican typically has cultivated a strong relationship with NRSC staff — but this cycle is far more distant.

Welcome Rick Scott —a dark goat— to the 2024 Goat Rodeo!