Sen. Tim Scott Says President Biden's Voting Rights Speech Is "Misleading," Ignoring His Own Party's Role In the Matter

While Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is not looking to help advance the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis voting rights bills, he is making a video series. According to the Associated Press, the South Carolina Republican will realize a half-dozen videos between this week and the end of February’s Black History Month. They are described “as listening sessions that hit on many hard-pressed topics he knows first-hand.”

Scott states they are “a positive response to partisan rhetoric on race that he’s best-positioned to rebut.” Topics would include things like building generational wealth and spurring economic growth. But speaking about his series, Sen. Scott had some thoughts about President Biden’s speech on voting rights in Georgia last week:

From AP News:

“To compare or conflate people who oppose his positions as being racists and traitors to the country is not only insulting and infuriating, it’s dead wrong,” Scott told the AP last week. “All you have to do is know the facts, and you realize that the president wasn’t misleading us only, he was actually fibbing to us, in order to amass political power — basically lying to us.”

Let’s discuss this statement for a second–it is a fact that currently, no Senate Republicans support any of the voting rights legislation being debated in the chambers. That includes high and mighty Sen. Scott. In the attempt of Democrats trying to do something in a bipartisan manner, it’s also a fact that Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the only one to cross the line to help.

Scott went on to talk about MLK Jr.’s legacy and what he hopes to do with his series of videos:

“Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, and the celebration of his life, and the contributions of African Americans to this country, is a very important time for us to highlight the progress that we’ve made and also some of the issues that stand in the way of even more progress,” Scott said. “I decided that the best way to do that is not just to hear from me but to actually listen to other folks throughout the community.”

I feel that it’s both good to acknowledge while there has been some progress made in the daily lives of Black people, we still have WAY more to do–still way too many “firsts” and generational problems which still hinder today. However, in one of these videos, I hope Sen. Scott acknowledges his role in holding this back. If you remember, Sen. Scott was supposed to team up with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to work on policing legislation. Talks broke down to which the police called out Sen. Scott for misleading statements.

He is the only Black Senate Republican within a collection of colleagues who have no interest in strengthening rights for the people he claims to serve. When Sen. Scott sits down with Black people in his state, I hope he can explain why he continues to choose to impede advancements for his people.