Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Sunday denounced as “insulting” recent ads by President Biden’s campaign that target black voters while touting former President Trump’s work with the black community.
Asked about his reaction to the ad on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Scott said: “All I can say is we’ve been better off under Donald Trump.”
“There are two things that are going to bring the Black vote back to Donald Trump: jobs and justice. Number one, under Donald Trump, our wages were rising. Now, equity is declining,” he continued.
The Biden campaign ad launched a series of attacks on Trump and his treatment of the Black community.
“Donald Trump’s disrespect for black people is nothing new. That’s why he’s sided with violent white supremacists, warned of a bloodbath if he loses the next election, and vowed that if he becomes president again he’ll be a dictator who wants revenge on his enemies,” the narrator says in the ad.
Scott on Sunday pointed to Biden’s past controversial comments in an attempt to discredit Biden’s record with the black community.
“But if we’re really concerned about racial justice in America, we have to remember that Joe Biden is a man who has talked about a racial jungle as a result of desegregation,” Scott said. Obvious references This was a response to comments made by Biden in 1977, in which he said that “orderly” racial integration policies would cause his children to “grow up in a racial jungle.”
“Let’s not forget the fact that Joe Biden is a president who said, ‘You can’t be black if you don’t vote for me.’ An old white man telling you you can’t be black if you don’t vote for him? This president said, ‘The Republican Party wants to put you back in chains,'” he added.
The South Carolina Republican appeared to be referring to comments Biden made ahead of the 2020 election, when he told radio host Charlaman Tha God, “If you support Trump, you’re not black.”
Scott then accused Biden, without providing evidence, of supporting educational segregation.
“The only thing that’s holding black people back economically is Joe Biden’s economy, so I think it’s pretty insulting to suggest that Joe Biden doesn’t have serious concerns when his vice president, Kamala Harris, is saying he supports racism,” he said.
CNN host Dana Bash pressed Scott on whether he was “going a bit too far” in claiming Biden supports segregation, with Scott arguing that the Biden administration has “stifled the growth of charter schools that offer more diversity and opportunity.”
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that operate as schools of choice and receive federal funding through the Charter School Program. Received an allocation of $440 millionThis is the same as what we have been receiving since 2019 under the Trump administration.
There’s ongoing debate about whether charter schools create diversity or increase segregation, and in a study out of Stanford University and the University of South Carolina earlier this year, researchers found that contrary to Scott’s suggestion, segregation is “creeping back” in part because of the rise of charter schools.
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
The Biden campaign’s appeal to black voters comes amid recent polls showing the incumbent president losing support from this key demographic.
A New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll released earlier this month found Biden leading former President Trump among black voters, 63% to 23%, a sharp drop from the 87% of black voters who voted for Biden in 2020.
Scott has since dropped his Republican presidential bid, but has emerged as one of Trump’s potential running mates. He has made campaign appearances with the former president in recent months, Expected He is scheduled to appear at an event next month with several major political donors.
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