Is Henry McMaster Slowing Down?

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South Carolina governor Henry McMaster has never been the sharpest tool in the shed. The status quo caricature – whom I christened “Foghorn Guvnah” for his uncanny resemblance to the guffawing, anthropomorphized rooster of Looney Tunes fame – has never toted a full load of bricks.

Years ago – when FITSNews compiled a list of the 100 most influential Palmetto State politicos – we inserted a picture of a box of rocks in lieu of the obligatory mug shot of McMaster. In retrospect, that was probably far too complimentary an assessment of his faculties.

McMaster’s father, the late John Gregg McMaster, was a man of towering intellect. Unfortunately for South Carolina, his second son’s elevator does not ascend much past the mezzanine.

Were it not for his eleventh hour endorsement of Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 ‘First in the South’ presidential primary – which the former/future president mistakenly attributed as indispensable to his Palmetto State victory – McMaster probably would have faded into GOP establishment irrelevancy.

Instead, he has parleyed his Trump connection into lasting influence in his home state… although what his home state has gained as a result of that influence is very much up for debate.

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Trump has continued to reward McMaster, though, gifting him the governor’s office via his 2017 appointment of former governor Nikki Haley to his cabinet – and then making sure McMaster held onto the office by endorsing him twice for reelection.

My beef with McMaster has never been personal… it’s just business. He’s a fiscally liberal crony capitalist, and I’m a fiscal conservative who believes in the free market. Simple as that. In seeking to allow our audience to make up their own minds as to which ideology is better, we’ve repeatedly extended our open microphone to McMaster – but the state’s shadow governor, Trey Walker, has always put the kibosh on that.

As McMaster enters the final two years of his second full term as governor, the 77-year-old Columbia, S.C. native is battling persistent rumors about his mental acuity. Several sources who have interacted with McMaster over the duration of his tenure in office – which began in January 2017 – have told us with increasing regularity that he is “slipping.”

To be clear: None of the people we spoke with said McMaster’s alleged cognitive issues were in the vicinity of those evidenced by outgoing president Joe Biden (although Biden appeared more spry and cogent following Trump’s victory than we have seen him in weeks). Nor are they saying McMaster is struggling with cognition to the same extent as his wife, S.C. first lady Peggy McMaster.

According to our sources, it’s just a noticeable “slowdown.”

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“The governor is appreciably slower on the draw than he once was,” a source who attended a recent meeting with McMaster told us. “He drifts in conversation more often, loses his bearings faster and more frequently (and) seems as though he is being handled more than usual.”

The source, a longtime McMaster ally and donor to his campaigns, is hardly a hostile witness. In fact, they have repeatedly chided this author in the past for joking about the governor’s baseline lack of intellectual gravitas.

“This sort of criticism is beneath you,” the donor wrote in a text message to me several years ago during one of my ‘Foghorn Guvnah’ social media barrages.

Others were more blunt in offering dim assessments of McMaster’s compos mentis.

“He’s fading,” one politico told us, adding the governor “is never on television or doing media anymore.”

Another strategist who has personally observed McMaster’s alleged “slowdown” said they were also “hearing about it from multiple people who have known him and Peggy for years.”

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McMaster is constitutionally limited and cannot seek another term as governor after his current one – which is set to expire in January 2027. There is no indication he is seeking another elected office at the statewide level, although there has been some speculation Trump might be considering him for an appointment in his second administration. There has also been speculation McMaster might appoint himself to the U.S. Senate in the event there was a vacancy from South Carolina.

With at least one U.S. senator clearly staying put, though, those rumors have dampened in recent days…

Previously, McMaster said the governorship was the only job he wanted – and that following his “ten-year reign” he would be ready to retire.

To reiterate: No one is suggesting McMaster – who has been a ‘glide path governor’ from the beginning – is incapable of discharging the duties of his office. Nor are they suggesting he has some sort of debilitating cognitive issue that is in any way, shape or form impairing his judgment.

They are simply suggesting he is slowing down – and that a growing number of people close to him are noticing it.

_{^{BANNER: Travis Bell Columbia SC Photographers}}

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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