President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has been called out multiple times for the deceptive tactics in going after former and potentially future President Donald Trump. The Trump campaign and allies have plenty to counteract. One of the latest examples was referenced during CNN's "State of the Union," when Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a potential running mate for Trump, appeared on the program.
At one point, the segment made mention of a Biden ad with a narrator claiming that "Donald Trump disrespecting black folk is nothing new. It's why Trump stood with violent white supremacists, warned of a bloodbath if he loses the next election, and, if he's president again, vowed to be a dictator who wants revenge on his enemies."
The ad contains plenty of narratives where the facts are just not on the Biden campaign's side. When it comes to "violent white supremacists," Trump supposedly "stood with" regarding the Charlottesville rally in August of 2017, he made it clear "I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally..."
More recently, in his remarks from March, Trump was clearly talking about "a bloodbath" in the economic sense, specifically to do with the U.S. auto industry.
Those remarks abut how he "vowed to be a dictator" were clearly made in jest, as he himself confirmed. If anyone "wants revenge on his enemies," that would be Biden, championing the criminal trials against Trump as a form of election interference.
That the Biden campaign would target black voters specifically with such an ad is interesting. Do they think that black voters are not informed enough to see through the lies?
As the clip aired for CNN viewers, Scott was specifically asked "what do you say to black Americans, black voters who watch that ad and share those concerns about Donald Trump?" He's been a fitting campaign surrogate for Trump since he endorsed him for president ahead of the New Hampshire Primary in January, despite himself running for president, though he dropped out last November. This includes assisting with getting Trump support from black voters.
"Well, here's what I can tell you, is that under Donald Trump, we were better off," Scott offered. "There are two things that are driving black votes back to Donald Trump, jobs and justice. Number one, under Donald Trump, our wages were going up. Right now, fairness is going down. But if you're really concerned about racial justice in America, let's not forget, Joe Biden is the guy that talked about racial jungles as a result of desegregation."
Speaking of a more recent example, Scott also brought up how Biden told Charlemagne tha God in May 2020 that "if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black," with regards to voters that Democrats have been taking for granted. "Let's not forget the fact that Joe Biden is the president who said, if you don't vote for me, you can't be black, an old white dude telling me I can't be black if I don't vote for him, Scott reminded, also bringing up an example from 2012, when he and then President Barack Obama were running for reelection. "This is the president who said that if -- that the Republican Party wants to put you back in chains."
Biden's support among key demographics--like black voters--has gone down, while Trump is seeing a rise in such support.
Scott brought up race further by using Vice President Kamala Harris' own words against her. He's said he'd like to debate her in July during the vice presidential debate.
"The only person I have seen restraining black folks economically is the Joe Biden economy. So, I find it quite insulting to suggest that Joe Biden does not have serious concerns, when his own vice president, Kamala Harris, said he supported segregation. And if you look in cities like Chicago today, the elimination of charter schools under Joe Biden resegregates schools in America," Scott continued.
"We need four more years of common sense under Donald Trump, and not four more years of segregation under Joe Biden," he went on to say, adding in between host Dana Bash trying to cut in there that this included Biden's "approach to allowing poor black kids to go to any school in their own cities."
Bash, being a particularly Democrat-friendly host, tried to claim at one point "isn't that a little too far?"
"Let me say clearly, the schools in our largest cities are being resegregated," Scott went on to clarify, due to the issue of school choice. "Joe Biden's Department of Education has halted the growth of charter schools that provides greater diversity and opportunities. In the city of Chicago today, poor black kids are not allowed to go to public schools in their own city."
The teachers unions have been particularly ruthless in Chicago. "The president of the United States refuses to stand up to the teachers unions. And, as a result, the future of these kids will be lower and devastated, because the closest thing to magic in America is a good education. And the place where you can't find that is in blue cities dominated by a monopoly on their city councils, where they refuse, refuse to allow poor kids, typically black, to go to other schools within their own cities," Scott continued.
Bash segued into talking about the dishonest Biden ad by bringing up the Bronx rally that Trump held last Thursday.
Scott had brought up the rally earlier, when asked about how Trump was booed at the Libertarian Convention on Saturday, though he also received cheers for his bold and amusing remarks. As Scott reminded, Trump had also been to the Bronx.
"He's also doing rallies in Bronx. He's doing something, what I consider a 50-state strategy. He doesn't just want to win the votes of the American people. He's trying to win the hearts of the American people, unite our country, and start steering us towards the strongest, most powerful, prosperous future we could have," Scott reminded.
The Trump campaign has indeed been hopeful about states not necessarily expected to be in play for Republicans, like Virginia and Minnesota. There's also talk about New York and New Jersey, bright blue states where Trump recently held rallies.
"So I give him a lot of credit and going to places where Republicans have not gone before. If we're going to win this election cycle, we must go where we're not invited. And to see the former president take that seriously is, in my opinion, a strong sign and one of the reasons why, Dana, we are seeing the poll numbers moving in his direction," Scott added. "It's pretty exciting to see the kind of response he's getting across the country."
Trump became the first Republican nominee to campaign in the Bronx since Ronald Reagan.
Donald J. Trump knows we must win the hearts of the American people, unite our country, and steer us toward a more prosperous future. It's working, and that's why we're going to WIN in November. pic.twitter.com/phNkcsSYMn
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) May 26, 2024