What happened: Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign on Monday.
What it means: Scott is a historic candidate. He would be the first black president in American history, and the first president of color whose ancestors were brought to the United States as slaves.
• The senator's backstory is probably the most inspiring of any U.S. politician. Raised in poverty by a single mother who worked 16-hour days to support her family, Scott achieved political success in a former Confederate state before becoming the first black politician to represent a southern state in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
Context: Barack Obama, the Netflix producer and former president of the United States, was born to a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. He was the first mixed-race president in American history.
• Obama has also been described as America's "first gay president."
Party of inclusion: Scott's entry into the race means that two-thirds of the declared candidates in the 2024 Republican primary are people of color. Scott is one of three GOP candidates of color under the age of 60.
• The Democratic primary, by contrast, will feature three white people with an average age of 73.
Why it matters: There are few things mainstream journalists and other partisan Democrats hate more than a black person who disagrees with their cloistered worldview.
• In April 2021, days before Scott was scheduled to deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden's first congressional address, the Washington Post published a "fact check" attempting to cast doubt on Scott's account of his own family's history.
• Professional fact-checker Glenn Kessler interviewed a handful of university professors (who happened to be Democratic donors) for the article, which implies that Scott's grandfather, who grew up in South Carolina during the Great Depression, was actually a child of privilege.
• Days later, liberal commentators reacted to Scott's speech by hurling racially charged invective at the historic senator. Democratic analyst Jason Nichols denounced Scott as a "clown" whose "ancestors are ashamed of him." At least one left-wing media personality was forced to apologize after invoking the racist "Uncle Tom" trope to attack Scott, while the phrase "Uncle Tim" trended on Twitter.
What they're saying: "Tim Scott is the real deal, and he will make a great president of the United States," said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) while introducing (and endorsing) the candidate in South Carolina.
"Today, I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression," Scott told supporters at his campaign launch.
Bottom line: Tim Scott represents everything good about America. His critics are the absolute worst.