Tim Scott condemns "terrible" video shared by Trump showing supporter yelling "white power"
Washington — South Carolina Senator Tim Scott denounced a since-removed video shared by President Trump on Twitter on Sunday morning in which a man can be heard yelling "white power," with Scott calling the clip "terrible" and "inappropriate."
"The truth of the matter is when you hear things like that racist chant towards white power, we should have the same response with the same type of energy that we have for those folks we know have been disadvantaged for so long," Scott, a Republican, said on "Face the Nation" when asked about Mr. Trump's tweet. "We should stand up and say that's not right. And I'm saying the exact same thing now.
Scott said he watched the full video shared by the president, and called it "terrible."
The video in question showed competing protesters yelling at one another in The Villages, a large retirement community in Florida. In the opening seconds of the video, a man driving a golf cart with a Trump 2020 sign and Trump flag is heard yelling "white power."
The president retweeted the video and wrote, "thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!"
Scott said the video is "inappropriate" and "should be taken down."
The tweet ultimately was deleted, and White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Mr. Trump "did not hear the one statement made on the video."
"What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters," he said.
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, also denounced Mr. Trump's tweet and said the president has demonstrated through his posts his views on white supremacist ideologies.
"This is really not about the president taking it down. This is about the judgment of the president in putting it up," she said on "Face the Nation." "It is about what the president believes. And it is time for this country to really face that."
The president's tweet comes against the backdrop of the nationwide conversation on policing and racial injustice that has exploded following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. In addition to protests, the White House and Congress have crafted proposals aimed at reforming policing.
Scott, the only black GOP senator, spearheaded the legislative effort for Republicans in the Senate. His measure requires increased reporting of use of force by law enforcement, provides funding for police for body cameras and requires departments to maintain and disclose officer disciplinary records.
On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled Senate sought to move forward with Scott's proposal, but Democrats blocked the effort to begin debate on the legislation. A Democrat-led bill also focusing on police reforms passed the House on Thursday.
Scott said he believes the bill stalled in the Senate because of "presidential politics and choosing a vice president."
"We could do so much together for those folks in the streets today," he said, referencing the thousands of protesters. "We missed a golden opportunity."