‘We haven’t beaten this’: Rick Scott sounds virus alarm

Image via AP.

U.S. Senator Rick Scott issued on Thursday one of his periodic reminders that the coronavirus is still a pressing concern, using a phrase that he has employed many times since March.

“We must remember that we haven’t beaten this,” Scott tweeted, before touting his “American-Made Protection for Healthcare Workers & First Responders Act to boost our stockpile.”

While that bill likely will be a matter for the new Congress, Scott’s decision to highlight virus messaging as other Republicans blast ongoing vote counts in a number of too-close-to-call states again underscores a key divergence from President Donald Trump‘s approach to pandemic messaging.

The President, who famously survived COVID-19 and completed the 2020 campaign at a breakneck pace, has flouted safety precautions at times, including with numerous in-person events where people crowded and did not wear masks.

Scott was absent for all but one of those rallies, spending much of the campaign working to shore up shaky positions for Republican Senate candidates.

“I’m busting my butt to raise money to keep the Republican Senate,” he said late last month on the Fox News Channel.

Meanwhile, he has made his differences with the President known, including when Trump teased getting rid of coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The President, in response to a “Fire Fauci” chant at his rally in Opa-locka Sunday night, hinted at an imminent dismissal of the federal government’s infectious disease specialist.

“Don’t tell anybody,” the President said to the South Florida crowd, “but let me wait until a little bit after  the election.”

Scott took pains to distance himself from that position.

“I have a very good working relationship with Dr. Fauci,” Scott told CNN. “I know he’s been working hard.”

Fauci elicited the President’s ire anew last week, when he made public his differences with the President’s approach to coronavirus mitigation.

“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Fauci told The Washington Post on Friday. “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”

For Scott, a common-sense approach to the virus is nothing new. While he has advocated for reopening the economy, he has also been consistent about calls to “wear a mask” and “social distance.”

While the President’s electoral fate is uncertain at this writing, what’s not uncertain is that 2024 is already approaching for Florida’s junior Senator, who just days ago gave a non-answer when asked about a potential bid for the White House.

“I’m not focused on it,” Scott said on CNN Sunday. “I like my job as U.S. Senator and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”

While Scott has benefitted in some respects from proximity to the current President, the Senator thrives best in situations where he can contrast to opponents, and there is a case to be made that a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris presidency with Scott prominent in a GOP-controlled Senate could offer some compelling optics.

His three General Election campaigns were slugfests, with Scott invariably throwing the heavier gloves.

Late in his second term, the Governor toured off-the-beaten-track markets to hector crowds into pressuring their representatives to back Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida, two incentive programs that have proven controversial since their inception.

With nothing to gain from Joe Biden’s presidency but talking points, were he to be elected ultimately, expect Senator Scott to find opportunities to create them.