Donald Trump took yet another swing at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he welcomed South Carolina Senator Tim Scott to the Republican presidential race.
“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race,” the former president wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning. “It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable. I got Opportunity Zones done with Tim, a big deal that has been highly successful. Good luck Tim!”
Mr Scott’s Senate website states that the Opportunity Zones is “a bipartisan initiative authored by Senator Tim Scott and enacted through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” which “empowered the governors of each state to designate economically-distressed communities that were ripe for investment and tie them to a brand new federal tax incentive to drive private investment into our nation’s most distressed zip codes”.
The South Carolina senator, the only Black member of the GOP in the chamber, announced his campaign on Monday in his hometown of North Charleston. He spoke about his family’s humble past, mentioning his grandfather working in the cotton fields in the state.
“My family went from cotton to Congress in his lifetime. And it was possible because my grandfather had stubborn faith,” he said.
Mr Scott, who joined the Senate a decade ago, is stepping into a growing field of candidates, including Mr Trump, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
As governor, Ms Haley appointed Mr Scott to the Senate in 2013 after Senator Jim DeMint left the chamber.
Mr DeSantis has yet to announce his candidacy but is expected to do so.
On Monday, Mr Scott slammed the Biden administration and other Democrats for their stances on law enforcement.
“And in Biden’s America, crime is on the rise and law enforcement is in retreat,” he said. “The far left is ending cash bail. They’re demonizing, demoralizing, and de-funding the police. I grew up in neighborhoods alongside people who ended up incarcerated or in a cemetery. We needed more public safety, not less!”
“America is not a nation in decline. But under Joe Biden, we have become a nation in retreat,” Mr Scott added.
Lawyer Ron Filipkowski tweeted that Mr Trump “wants as many people in as possible to carve up the anti-Trump vote. He also knows Tim Scott is unlikely to criticize him in any significant way. Scott joins the running-mate race”.
Mr Scott said during his announcement: “We live in the land where it is possible for a kid raised in poverty by a single mother in a small apartment to one day serve in the People’s House and maybe even the White House”.
“Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” he added. “And that is why I’m announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America!”
