GOP Senator Tim Scott now favorite for Trump VP pick after Noem implodes

By Brett Arends

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is now the clear betting favorite to become Donald Trump's vice presidential pick, after rival Kristi Noem shot her campaign dead along with her puppy.

Scott is being given a 21% chance of getting the nod from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee by gamblers at online-betting site PredictIt. That matches the odds being offered by big international bookmakers.

New York's young, Trumpy congresswoman Elise Stefanik comes second in the betting with a 14% chance, followed by J.D. Vance, the Ohio senator and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," on 11%. Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard is on 10%.

International bookies are offering odds on a wide range of other candidates. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is at 12/1 (equivalent to a roughly 8% chance), former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is at 16/1 (about 6%), and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin is at 25/1 (about 4%).

Incredibly, some gamblers at PredictIt are still willing to bet on South Dakota Gov. Noem, though they've slashed her chances from 18% to 5% in recent days.

I'd take the under, even at 5%. This weekend, I was trying to work out if I could think of a single other instance, ever, when a politician had so completely destroyed their entire career and reputation in a single moment as she just did.

George Romney saying he'd been brainwashed in Vietnam? Gerald Ford announcing that Eastern Europe wasn't under Soviet domination? Dan Quayle bringing up JFK against Lloyd Bentsen?

All classics. But none come close to telling people you once shot and killed a puppy.

Paging John Wick!

The only person who doesn't know Kristi Noem is politically a dead woman walking is apparently Kristi Noem, who's still to be heard doubling down and trying to defend herself.

Maybe they do things differently in South Dakota, but I'd be surprised if she could win a race to get on her local school board. Maybe the only thing crazier than shooting a puppy is writing about it in your autobiography.

As a colleague put it: Donald Trump might think he could shoot a person on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. But even he doesn't think he could shoot a dog.

-Brett Arends

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05-01-24 1318ET

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