Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes: Tim Scott Needs to Answer for His MAGA Extremism

This week, Fox and Friends is desperately trying to cover for Donald Trump’s out-of-touch, far-right VP contenders who are as toxic to voters as the extreme MAGA agenda they’re all backing. 

With Tim Scott set to appear on Fox and Friends this morning, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Tim Scott is trying to cozy up to Donald Trump and out-MAGA his fellow veepstakes contenders – but he can’t answer for his own dangerous extremism. Scott is everything the American voters don’t want in the White House – a far-right anti-choice extremist who has pushed to ban abortion nationwide and rip away IVF access, threatened our democracy, and will join in Trump’s plot to rig the economy for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. Scott can’t hide from his own words, even if he can’t answer for them – voters know he will always put loyalty to Trump and his toxic MAGA agenda ahead of the American people.”

Here are a few questions Tim Scott should answer – but that he won’t be asked:

  1. Why won’t you commit to accepting this November’s election results and stop whitewashing January 6?

Washington Post: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was pressed at least six times in a TV interview Sunday on whether he would accept this November’s results. He repeatedly declined to do so… He continued to evade the question even as the interviewer, NBC News’s Kristen Welker, reminded him that a ‘hallmark of our democracy is that both candidates agree to a peaceful transfer of power.’”

NBC News: “Sen. Tim Scott dodges on whether he would accept 2024 election results”

The Hill: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) repeatedly dodged questions in a Sunday interview on whether he would commit to accepting the 2024 election results, no matter who wins.”

CNN: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a potential vice presidential pick for Donald Trump, refused to commit to saying he would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election.”

Mediaite: “Tim Scott Yet Again Gives Dodgy Answer When Asked if He’ll Certify the 2024 Election”

Scott: “99 percent of the people who showed up [on January 6] were there to exercise their First Amendment rights. What I said then is what I’ll say now. I don’t hold those people at harm.”

CNN: “Sen. Tim Scott declines to say whether he would’ve certified 2020 election results if he were vice president”

HuffPost: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday dodged CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s question on whether he would have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win over Donald Trump had he been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021.”

  1. Do you stand by your support for the most extreme national abortion ban possible, your endorsement of South Carolina’s cruel abortion ban that you called “good news,” and your opposition earlier this month to protecting access to contraception and IVF?

2021, 2019, 2017, 2016: Scott co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, a national abortion ban that threatens IVF access.

Scott: “If I were president of the United States, I would literally sign the most conservative pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.”

Scott: “I am 100% pro-life. When I am president of the United States, I will sign the most pro-life legislation the House and Senate can put on my desk. We should begin with a 15-week national limit.” 

Scott on whether he would sign Lindsey Graham’s 15-week ban: “Every day, I would sign that bill into law. I would sign the most conservative pro-life legislation you can bring to my desk.”

Scott: “We have to have a federal limit on how far we can go, and that is something that we have to discuss.”

Scott on South Carolina MAGA Republicans banning abortion before many women know they’re pregnant and threatening doctors and nurses with jail time: “The state is trying to protect the culture of life and that’s good news. I mean, the heartbeat bill is a step in the direction of that.”

2024: Scott voted against a woman’s right to contraception and said “it’s a shame Democrats are trying to politicize this issue.”

2024: Scott voted against protecting IVF nationwide.

  1. Can you explain why you want to put Social Security and Medicare “on the chopping block” and repeal the Affordable Care Act?

Scott: “We need a long term strategy that reforms our entitlement programs. To address this, next month, we will introduce our 2012 budget – that is where the real fight in Congress will be, and where we will make our stand, with 100% of federal spending on the chopping block.”

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.”

New York Times: Tim Scott voted for all three major Republican-led proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

Scott: “I will continue to work towards the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.”

  1. Why are you pushing for another round of tax handouts for billionaires after Trump’s MAGAnomics scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of America’s middle class?

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.”

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.”

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.”

  1. Why can’t you admit that the American people are opposed to junk fees and support 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.”