Ahead of Tim Scott’s MAGA veepstakes fundraising audition tomorrow, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Just like Donald Trump, Tim Scott is focused on his billionaire buddies while leaving hardworking Americans high and dry. Scott has consistently supported Trump’s extreme, expensive, and special interest-backed MAGAnomics agenda, calling for the end of Social Security and Medicare as we know them and even defending junk fees that boost the profits of big banks while nickel-and-diming working people. Trump is turning his MAGA veepstakes into a fundraising competition that puts the ultra-wealthy ahead of American families, and voters will reject their pay-to-play politics at the ballot box in November.”

VP contender Tim Scott is cozying up to billionaire donors as he desperately vies to be Donald Trump’s running mate.

Bloomberg: “Tim Scott Leverages Billionaires to Boost Vice-Presidential Bid”

“Few politicians know how to win over a billionaire like Tim Scott does. An event Wednesday in Washington will test whether he can leverage that clout to become Donald Trump’s running mate. … As the veepstakes heats up, his best shot at winning Trump’s approval may come from his ability to charm billionaires.”

New York Times: “A financial show of force for [Tim] Scott’s group could lift his chances of being selected by Mr. Trump, who has spoken to advisers at Mar-a-Lago about which potential running mates could help the campaign raise money.”

Fox News: “Senator’s fundraising skill could be winning ticket for Trump’s veepstakes”

Scott has long supported Trump’s failed MAGAnomics agenda – he was an architect of Trump’s tax scam, and his Opportunity Zones initiative gave tax breaks to wealthy real estate developers while largely leaving out to dry the small businesses and low-income communities it was supposed to help. 

Scott: “We make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts permanent.”

Scott: “I was one of the lead authors for the Republican tax reform bill. … That was just one bill. Imagine what we could do with an entire agenda.”

Scott: “We also reduced the corporate tax from 35 to 21 percent. We need more of the same. … We need to recalibrate our [corporate] taxes to take them a little lower from our perspective. Maybe down to about 16 percent.”

Scott: “I would simply eliminate the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act… I would start the process of gutting that legislation.”

PBS Newshour: “Trump-era Opportunity Zones meant to help low-income communities exploited by investors” 

New York Times: “A new tax break that President Trump frequently touts as a boon to black Americans and hard-hit communities is spurring relatively little job creation while disproportionately helping high-profit real estate projects and not small businesses, an extensive new study by the Urban Institute has found.”

Forbes: “Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”

Scott doesn’t think that the American people are opposed to junk fees and has railed against President Biden’s actions that are lowering costs for hardworking families.  

Scott: “If you say the word junk fees, you assume that those junk fees are just unnecessary. I’m not sure that the average business person and/or the consumer would see the late fees, the overdraft fees, and non-sufficient fund fees as junk fees.”

Bloomberg: “Trump Ally Tim Scott Seeks to Block Biden Credit Card Late Fee Cap”

“A key Donald Trump ally is seeking a Senate vote to block a new Biden administration rule capping credit card late fees, targeting a high-profile initiative in the president’s campaign to crack down on unpopular ‘junk fees.’ Senator Tim Scott, a potential Trump vice presidential pick and the top Republican on the Banking Committee, said Tuesday he would push the Senate to take action to block the new regulation, to be announced Tuesday at a meeting of the White House Competition Council.”

Scott has also called to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them.

Scott: “The long-term challenges that we have in our entitlement programs — there’s no doubt that we have to wrestle this beast to the ground.”

Scott: “We also have to look at the overall entitlement state of our nation.… In order for us to tame the tiger, we’re going to have to take a serious look at the overall entitlement state that we have.”

Scott on Social Security and Medicare: “We’re going to have to come to the table and have that conversation, and start making very difficult choices.” 

Washington Post: “Other potential entrants in the Republican primary, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, also voted for Ryan’s budget when they were in Congress.

Trump’s VP contenders are cozying up to ultra-wealthy donors as Trump continues to make his MAGA veepstakes a fundraising competition that puts billionaires ahead of hardworking Americans.

Fox News: “VP hopefuls dueling for dollars as they show off their fundraising clout for Trump”

“As they audition for the role of Donald Trump’s running mate, potential vice presidential nominees are showing off their ability to help the former president raise much-needed campaign cash. Closed-door fundraisers with top-dollar Republican donors appear to be the latest screen test venue for those vying to land on the GOP ticket alongside Trump, joining a list that includes teaming up with the former president at his rallies and showing up at his criminal trial in New York City in support of Trump.”

Politico: “Trump’s vice presidential contenders have been taking aggressive steps to distinguish themselves, such as doing interviews with national news outlets, fundraising for the former president and attending his hush money trial in New York.”

Axios: “Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a top possible VP pick for former President Trump, has spent the past six months lobbying some of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley to back Trump.”

Trump’s VP contenders have lined up behind his MAGAnomics tax scam.

Doug Burgum: “I believe in these economic policies, I believe the tax bill is a great thing.”

Marco Rubio: “Overall, the Republican tax-cut bill has been good for Americans. That is why I voted for it.”

Tom Cotton: “Trump’s tax cuts helped deliver the strongest economy in recent history.”

CNBC: “Ben Carson leads prayer for tax cuts at Trump Cabinet meeting”

KOTA: “Republicans are calling President Trump’s tax plan the biggest tax overhaul in history. … Representative Kris[ti] Noem was a big part in pushing this bill.”

Fox Business: “Trump’s tax policies have worked out for all of America: Rep. Byron Donalds”

Vivek Ramaswamy on a suggestion to make permanent or expand the Trump tax cuts: “I’d go a little further, Larry, than that, to be honest with you.”

Alabama Political Reporter: “Katie Britt on Monday released a memo with her policy positions … [including] a bill to make permanent the individual tax cuts and extend the expanded standard deduction contained in President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. … a pro-growth tax reform bill reducing business tax rates, repealing the Death Tax, and making the expensing of capital assets permanent. … a bill to repeal the state and local tax deduction.”

Wesley Hunt: “I supported the 2017 Tax Reform bill.”

Trump has already sold out hardworking Americans for wealthy Big Oil and Gas donors.

Rolling Stone: “Oil Industry Licks Its Chops for Potential Trump Win”

Politico: “‘A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign”

Washington Post: “Trump rails against wind energy in fundraising pitch to oil executives”

“‘I hate wind,’ Trump told the executives over a meal of chopped steak at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort in Florida.”

“Trump’s comments reveal how he is wooing potential donors with his long-standing hostility to wind farms and pledges to halt this form of renewable energy if he returns to office. His stance poses a potential threat to one of the linchpins of America’s clean-energy transition, according to more than a dozen Trump allies, energy experts and offshore wind industry officials.”

Bloomberg: “Donald Trump is the oil and gas industry’s undisputed top pick for the Republican presidential nomination as energy sector donors shower his candidacy with nearly 10 times the amount of money as they gave his challenger Nikki Haley.”

Washington Post: “Trump turns to oil barons to boost his White House bid”