Sen. Tim Scott Criticizes Democrats For Speaking To ‘The Lowest Common Denominator’ By Accusing Trump Of Racism
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) defended President Donald Trump on Monday and slammed Democrats for persistently accusing Republicans of racism because the party’s own policies are so unpopular.
“What you do smell — not hear, but smell — is fear. What you smell is fear on the Left,” Scott said while appearing on Fox New’s “Ingraham Angle.” “They have been consistently using the race card. Every single time there’s a presidential run, you’ll hear John McCain — racist. Mitt Romney — racist. Ronald Reagan — racist. George Bush — racist. [George] W. [Bush] — racist.”
“Why do they continue to find that narrative? Because they understand that the lowest common denominator in politics is fear and division,” he continued.
Democrats have long maintained that the president is racist, but ramped up their accusations in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
Following the massacres, Trump addressed the nation and called for all Americans to denounce white supremacist and racist ideologies. Regardless, Democrats, including the leading presidential candidates, continued to declare that the president was a white supremacist.
“Well, there’s no doubt that President Trump is not a racist and the facts are very simple – that the same folks that voted for me [also] voted for President Trump because President Trump made promises to the voters and he’s keeping the promises,” Scott said. “So without any question, if you look at his legacy, it will be his accomplishments in office, frankly helping, in many, many ways African Americans.”
The South Carolina senator contended that racists would never do for the African-American community what Trump has done, such as passing criminal justice reform, providing additional funding and resources for Sickle-cell anemia research, reducing the African-American unemployment rate to record lows, and investing in “opportunity zones” to help economic development in minority communities.
“President Trump has been able to deliver policies that have promoted, encouraged, and inspired growth in the African American community, economically in a way that no president has done in the last 40 years,” Scott said. “This president is not a racist.”
He further agreed with Trump’s contention that Democrats “throw out the race word” when they do not want to talk about policy since the Democratic platform is so unpopular.
“Look, if you were running on the left, would you run on the Green New Deal? Would you run on the 70% new income tax? Would you run on a 4% wealth tax? Would you run on a financial transaction tax? No,” Scott said. “What else would you run on? Well, you’d run on some tired narrative that the president, because he’s a Republican, has to be somehow a racist.”
“It is inconsistent with reality,” he continued. “It’s a different dimension that I don’t understand and frankly, the more you use the concept of racism, the more we grow –ism fatigue in this country and that is a terrible place for us to be.”
“The greatest threat by overusing racism is that when there is an actual challenge, you’ve cried wolf in the wilderness one time too many,” Scott added.
