Mark Sanford, the former governor and congressman who weathered scandal only to be undone by Trump, will release his memoir Aug. 24.
Sanford’s political career spanned four presidents and played out in three acts, from an initial election to Congress, to serving as South Carolina governor, to an improbable second stint in the U.S. House. The memoir charts each winding phase, fittingly affixed with the 17-word title, Two Roads Diverged: A Second Chance for the Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, the Nation — and Ourselves.
The book promises Sanford’s side of “the complex story of his all-too-public personal life while making a plea for conservatives to return to the Party of Lincoln and abandoning the Cult of Trump,” according to a press release.
Sanford was once poised to lead the national conservative movement as governor during the early Obama administration, until a 2009 overseas love affair put his name in tabloid-esque headlines and triggered a laborious forgiveness campaign. After finishing his term in office, Sanford mounted a comeback with a quirky 2013 congressional campaign to retake his former seat in Congress. But when Donald Trump endorsed Republican Katie Arrington, then a state representative, Sanford lost the primary and was back on the sidelines.
Scott English, Sanford’s longtime aide in Columbia and Washington, said despite his old boss’ continued “owning” of his misdeeds, the book still doesn’t quite connect to the reason why it might be difficult for it to find an audience.
“I don’t think he’s really put it to rest. That continues to make him a problematic messenger,” he told the City Paper. “There was no human element to it.”
“It goes back to the Mark Sanford standard that he set for me and he should set for himself: Your ideas are only as good as your ability to get people to follow you,” he said. “My question is: Who’s following him?”
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