Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “it’s never, ever OK to be a racist” when asked about former President Donald Trump’s comments about former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “I have to ask you about what appears to be a threat by former President Trump against your colleague, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Trump said, quote, ‘He has a death wish for supporting Democratic-sponsored bills.’ He also mocked McConnell’s wife and his own former transportation secretary as, quote, ‘China loving wife, Coco Chow.’ You’re a member of Senate GOP leadership. Are you okay with this?”
Scott said, “Well, I can never talk about, respond to why anybody says what they say. The way I looked at it, I think what the president is saying is there’s been a lot of money spent over the last two years. We’ve got to make sure we don’t keep caving to Democrats, causing unbelievable inflation and more and more debt. As you know, the president likes to give people nicknames. You can ask him how he came up with the nickname. I’m sure he has a nickname for me. Here is what I know, we’ve got to watch how we spend our money. We’ve got to stop this inflation and I don’t condone violence. I hope no one else condones violence.”
Bash said, “Nicknames are one thing, but this appears racist. Is that OK?”
Scott said, “It’s never, ever OK to be a racist. I think you always have to be careful if you’re in the public eye with how you say things. You want to make sure you’re inclusive. You want to make sure – yesterday the neighborhood I was in, we had people probably from ten countries that lived there. That’s what’s great about this country. I know what I try to do is make everybody – everybody, especially all their kids believe they have hope and live the dream of this country. I hope no one is racist. I hope no one says anything that’s inappropriate.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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