South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was confronted on Sunday over his past remarks opposing “victimhood” and “grievance” in a speech he gave while launching his presidential campaign, as those remarks are at odds with his recent endorsement of Donald Trump.
Scott, a Republican who entered the GOP primary presidential race in May 2023, later announced in November that he would be suspending his campaign during an appearance on Fox News. On Friday night, Scott gave his official endorsement to Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential race during a rally in Concord, New Hampshire. His endorsement, meanwhile, has been criticized by some, including presidential GOP candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
While appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, the senator was pressed by host Dana Bash on why he endorsed Trump given his previous remarks in his presidential campaign launch speech in which he called for his supporters to reject ideas of “victimhood” and “grievance,” words Bash said sounds like Trump’s rhetoric.
Trump faces a wave of indictments at both the state and federal levels, including special counsel Jack Smith’s and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into his alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that led to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has maintained his innocence in all cases and has said that they’re politically motivated and a “witch hunt.”
Newsweek has reached out to Scott’s office via email for comment.
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“Senator, you ran a very positive, very hopeful campaign, but ‘victimhood’ and ‘grievance’ that you were describing in your launch speech that we played some of right there sounds like Donald Trump. Did you change your mind?” Bash asked.
Scott then responded by stating that he was actually referring to President Joe Biden’s leadership in his speech.
“No, listen. We absolutely, positively, unequivocally need an America that’s not filled with victims. I’m actually talking about how Joe Biden has destroyed our economy and made victims out of people waiting for the government to show up. I’m talking about having a president who’s weaponizing the DOJ [Department of Justice] against political adversaries. We need Lady Justice wearing a blindfold. I want America, every single American in every corridor of this nation to have confidence in their DOJ, not a Biden-led DOJ.”
However, when pressed further if he sees any “grievance” in Trump’s campaign, the senator seemed to deflect by speaking about how the DOJ is being “weaponized” against the former president.
Trump and other Republicans have portrayed the DOJ under the Biden administration as being politically motivated and have accused the agency of weaponizing the government against Biden’s conservative rivals. Trump has previously blasted the DOJ for charging him in the election inference case and the case related to his mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort residence, while House Republicans launched the Weaponization of the Federal Government Committee last year.
Continuing to press Scott, Bash noted how the senator offered his endorsement by stating Trump will “restore law and order,” but asked how that can be as Trump is facing multiple criminal trials.
“Trump tried to overturn a legitimate election. He called January 6 rioters hostages and promised to pardon them. He is charged with keeping classified documents and obstructing attempts to get them back, and on the campaign now he’s now arguing that presidents should have total immunity, even if they ‘cross the line.’ How is that ‘law and order?'” Bash asked.
In response, Scott took aim at Biden saying, “When you look around the cities, when you grow up in poor communities like I did and you watch the crime rapidly ravishing your communities, you ask yourself what president has allowed that to happen, it’s Joe Biden.”
Scott’s endorsement comes after Trump won the Iowa Republican caucus on Monday, with 51 percent of the vote, well ahead of Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis in second place with 21 percent, and Haley in third with 19 percent.
In addition, Haley, who criticized Scott over his endorsement of Trump, faces an uphill battle in her home state. According to RealClearPolitics polling averages, Haley is trailing Trump by an average of 52 percent to her 21.8 percent. DeSantis lags behind in South Carolina at an average of 11 percent, according to RCP.
The South Carolina GOP primary will be held on February 24.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.