How Trump’s quiet SC visit could mean Gov. McMaster is missing out

When President Donald Trump arrives in South Carolina on Monday, a gaggle of media perched on a flatbed truck will get the first look – and one of few the public is likely to get while the most powerful leader in the world visits the Palmetto State.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to meet Trump on the tarmac at Greenville-Spartanburg airport, about an hour before Trump will make remarks at a fundraiser for McMaster’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

Trump is not making any public speeches during his brief visit. And McMaster’s reception is closed to media, according to a Sunday press advisory from the White House, meaning McMaster will miss out on the heavy, national spotlight that typically trains on the president and the crowd-inducing rallies he’s known for.

However, having a private event with the president – as opposed to a rally in an arena – could work in the governor’s favor, said Greenville GOP consultant Chip Felkel.

“The fact that Trump comes in and does just an event for Henry, and doesn’t make it all about Trump, probably helps Henry,” Felkel said.

At a Trump rally, “Trump could do or say just about anything – and then you spend the rest of the time talking about what he said instead of your candidacy,” he said.

(Most recently, Trump waded into a U.S. Senate race in Alabama, endorsing the incumbent Sen. Luther Strange who lost to Roy Moore, a challenger who was backed by Trump’s former White House adviser Steve Bannon.)

Trump’s visit to the Palmetto State to help McMaster campaign has long been expected as a way for the president to thank McMaster. The Richland Republican, as lieutenant governor, was the first statewide elected official in the nation to endorse Trump ahead of the state’s first-in-the-South primary last year.

The fundraiser also comes just days after the Richland Republican’s top rival – attorney Catherine Templeton of Mount Pleasant – reported raising more money than McMaster from July through September.

The fundraising reception – open to donors who give at least $250 – can house up to 1,200 people, according to media reports, meaning McMaster could raise at least $250,000 if 1,000 people buy tickets.

McMaster’s campaign also may be hoping Trump’s support for McMaster rubs off on S.C. Republicans who voted for the president.

But it’s unclear whether that happens, some say. The June primary is a long way away, said Scott Buchanan, a political scientist at The Citadel.

“Most voters, Trump supporters or not, I don’t think they’re paying a lot of attention right now.”