South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott condemned a video shared by President Donald Trump on Twitter on Sunday, in which a man can be heard yelling “white power,” with the Senator labeling the clip “terrible” and “inappropriate,” CBS News reported.
“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,” said Scott when asked about Trump’s tweet. “We should stand up and say that’s not right. And I’m saying the exact same thing now.”
He also added that he watched the full video shared by Trump, and called it “terrible.”
The video that was shared by Trump 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.”
Trump 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 called the video “inappropriate” and pointed out that it “should be taken down.”
The video was taken down and the tweet was ultimately deleted. White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Trump “did not hear the one statement made on the video.”
“What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters,” Deere explained.
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, also denounced 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.”
Trump’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. Additionally, the White House and Congress have crafted proposals aimed at reforming policing, CBS News added.
Scott, the only black GOP senator, is the driving force behind 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.
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