Tim Scott Did So Badly At The Debate That He Should Throw In His Red MAGA Hat

Or Maybe He Should Take Up Singing About Truth

If Trump was a Black preacher, desperately trying to stay in the closet, he’d sound like Tim Scott’s lying screed in the debate clip below. Before the debate, despite all his years of religionist posing, Scott already had a poor record for truth-telling. The public statement’s checked by PolitiFact:

• True- 11%

• Mostly True- 11%

• Half True- 22%

• Mostly False- 11%

• False- 44%

In May, PolitiFact noted that Scott claimed that, under Biden, “millions” have left “the workforce entirely” and “the share of working age men choosing to work” is at its “lowest.” But both the civilian labor force level and the male labor force participation rate have increased. He also left the false impression that preventing illegal immigration would “stop fentanyl from crossing our border.” Most drug seizures at the border occur during traffic stops at legal ports of entry. And in talking about the southern border, Scott said “hundreds of people on our terrorist watchlist are crossing our borders.” Since fiscal 2021, 209 people on the watchlist have been stopped trying to cross illegally on the southern border. But hundreds more have been stopped at legal ports on the northern border. He also said Biden “wants to make waitresses and mechanics pay for the student loans of lawyers and doctors making six figures.” While some doctors and lawyers earning over $100,000 would be eligible for loan cancellation under Biden’s plan, the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that about two-thirds of the benefits would accrue to households making $88,000 or less.

Some of his lies during the debate:

• “We keep seeing not only the weaponization of the Department of Justice against political opponents but also against parents who show up at school board meetings. They are called, under this DOJ, ‘domestic terrorists.’”

ABC News: “That’s false. In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to address violent threats against school board members. The memo never called concerned parents ‘domestic terrorists’ and maintained that ‘spirited debate’ surrounding school policy is protected by the U.S. Constitution. A lawsuit against Garland also found that parents’ rights had not been violated.”

• “Bidenomics has led to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family.”

Jim Tanksersley: “Economists largely agree that President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan in 2021 contributed to the highest inflation rate in decades. But they do not attribute the bulk of the inflation increase to that spending alone; instead, they spread the blame to stimulus passed under President Donald J. Trump and monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, along with disruptions to supply chains caused by Covid-19.”

A Morning Consult poll didn’t show much movement after the debate for any of the candidates. Ramaswamy and Christie went up by a point each. Asa Hutchinson slipped from 1% to zero. Tim Scott stayed at 3%. The poll Reuters released yesterday for Ipsos shows that Scott had slipped down to 1%, tied with Christie and Will Hurd. Maya King and Shane Goldmacher called Scott’s debate the moment that wasn’t. It deflated his balloon, immediately obvious when he arrived in New Hamshire for a campaign tour.

Buying into the nonsense hype about Scott, The Times reporters wrote that “Scott had entered Wednesday’s debate seemingly primed for the first real moment of consequence for his campaign. He and his allies had flooded the airwaves in Iowa with the most advertising of any Republican. He had inched upward in the polls. The candidate he was most closely chasing, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, had slipped. And major donors were giving him fresh consideration.”

Note that none of that actually means anything: he “inched,” he spent money, he was chasing— but not catching— DeSantis and rich people were giving him “consideration.” That and a subway token…

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But voters on Friday at three New Hampshire events in the capital city of Concord and the town of Hooksett said he had not yet set himself apart from the pack, even as they praised the senator’s positive message and likability. Several Republicans and independents open to supporting him expressed disappointment that Scott was not even visible enough to render a judgment.

…Early indicators have pointed to lagging enthusiasm for his debate performance.

A Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos survey of Republicans after the debate showed that only 4 percent believed Scott had won, placing him toward the back of the pack. And of the eight candidates onstage, along with Trump, Scott’s name was tied for last for the share of Google searches in the week leading up to and after the debate, according to the company’s search trend data. The day after the debate, he garnered only 3 percent of the candidate searches, which can be a metric of voter interest.

… As DeSantis has dipped, the search for other possible Trump alternatives has intensified. In the area where Republican National Committee members were meeting in Milwaukee, one person named a wireless hot spot “Glenn Youngkin Needs to Run,” a reference to the Republican governor of Virginia.

…For months, Scott, who favors contrasting alliterations like “victory and victimhood” and “grievance and greatness,” has tried to beat back questions about his toughness. When asked about his messaging strategy at a donor retreat this spring, Scott assured supporters that he would be able to push back if challenged.

Toward the end of Wednesday’s debate, moderators asked Scott a question— about a president’s role in restoring religious faith in the country— that seemed aligned with his campaign message. Yet Scott’s response was surprisingly brief. The country, he said, “was founded on the Judeo-Christian values,” and then he quoted Scripture.

“Our responsibility should be to model the behavior we want others to follow,” he said. He then quickly added a point about education reform, vowing to “break the backs of the teachers’ unions.”

A poll by Data for Progress last week showed that voters react very negatively towards the idea of "breaking the backs of the teachers’ unions." Only 28% of voters support that. Most Republicans like the idea but normal Americans actually hate it. It was a blunder that Scott chose to inflict on himself for no reason. He'll come to regret it.