Republican presidential candidate Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks to guests during a town hall meeting at Barley’s Bar and Grill on June 2, 2023, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. | Source: Scott Olson / Getty
I‘ve said it before and I’ll say it again: South Carolina senator and Republican great wannabe white hype Tim Scott is boring. He’s just so basic. He’s the generic version of the Black conservative brand. He’s not as cartoonishly obnoxious as Jason Whitlock or Candace Owens. He’s not a modern-day Amos n’ Andy the way Diamond and Silk were. He’s not as fiendishly grim as Justice Clarence Thomas or even as comically ignorant as Herschel Walker.
Tim Scott is a Milk Dud of a presidential candidate who appears to be aware that, as a Black conservative, his value to MAGA America lies in his unwavering will to repeat as often as possible that “America is not a racist country.” It appears to be about 90% of his platform and he argues this dead white nationalist horse of a non-argument with the most generic, Bargain Basement white conservative talking points one could think of.
On Monday, Scott made an appearance on The View and got into a heated exchange with hosts Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg.
To be fair, Golberg actually jumped to Scott’s defense when The View‘s audience began to boo Scott for going out of his way to defend his presidential opponent and white nationalist bosom buddy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been beefing with Disney since the entertainment company publicly opposed his “education” bill that banned teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
“Disney and Ron have been in a combat zone for a number of months over what I thought was the right issue as it relates to our young kids and what they’re being indoctrinated with,” Scott said … because he’s apparently really worried about kids being “indoctrinated” into *checks notes* being aware and accepting of different sexualities and gender identities.
But it was Scott’s comments on systemic racism in America that left social media split between (mainly white) people who think he absolutely owned the women on The View by saying all the things that make Caucasians want to pat him on the head and toss him a white nationalist lap-doggy treat, and [mainly Black] people who are just good and tired of Scott’s Dollar Store shuck and jive shtick.
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“I am actually happy that you’re here. We have some things in common,” Hostin said to Scott during Monday’s episode. “You grew up in a single-family household, a single-mother household. I grew up with both of my parents, but raised in the Bronx projects amidst a lot of poverty and violence.”
She went on to note that Scott is “the first black senator elected in the South since the Reconstruction,” but, while she argued that his life story is “the exception” and “not the rule,” Scott seemed to argue that his success in politics is proof that systemic racism doesn’t exist in America. (*yawn*)
“And so when it comes to racial inequality, it persists,” Hostin said. “And five core aspects of life in the US: economics, education, health care, criminal justice and housing. At nearly every turn, these achievements were fought, threatened and erased, most often by white violence. You have indicated that you don’t believe in systemic racism. What is your definition of systemic racism?”
“Let me answer the question that you’ve asked,” he replied.
“Or does it even exist in your mind?” she added
“Let me answer the question this way,” Scott went on. “One of the things I think about and one of the reasons why I’m on the show is because of the comments that were made, frankly, on this show, that the only way for a young African American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule.
“That is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today, that the only way to succeed is by being the exception. I will tell you that if my life is the exception.”
“But it is, it’s been 114 years,” Hostin interjected.
“But it’s not, actually,” Scott responded. “So, the fact of the matter is, we’ve had an African American president, African American vice president. We’ve had two African Americans be secretaries of state. In my home city, the police chief is an African American who’s now running for mayor. The head of the highway patrol for South Carolina is an African American.”
I mean, seriously, it has been the better part of a decade since President Barack Obama occupied the Oval Office, and conservatives with the critical thinking capacity of soiled catnip are still arguing that his presidency proves racism in America is over.
Nevermind the fact that the strong majority of white voters didn’t vote for Obama in either of his elections or the fact that Obama was the first president who was made to spend his entire two terms defending his legitimacy as president against birthers, bigots, Islamaphobes (despite the fact that he’s not Muslim, not that it should matter) and other assorted racists. The fact that 45 out of the 46 U.S. presidents have been white men is literally evidence of systemic racism, not evidence of its non-existence. The fact that Scott is the only Black Republican in the Senate and the first Black senator South Carolina has ever had also is not the indication of the post-racial America that he thinks it is.
At any rate, Black people’s ability to succeed in spite of systemic racism doesn’t race all the statistical evidence that America is, in fact, a racist country. It doesn’t change the fact that Black people with the same credit history as their white counterparts are more likely to be denied a mortgage or an auto loan. It doesn’t change the fact that, regardless of overall economic conditions, the Black unemployment rate has been at least double that of the white unemployment rate for several decades. Tim Scott becoming SC’s first Black senator doesn’t negate redlining in Black communities, the racial wealth gap, or how disproportionately we are profiled, harassed, brutalized and killed by police officers.
Basically, all Scott did during his time on The View was be anecdotal during a discussion on systemic issues. And the MAGA whites loved it—which was really the only point.
SEE ALSO:
Tim Scott Compares Anti-Black Racism To Treatment Of ‘Second-Class Citizen’ Republicans
