Friday, on FNC’s “Your World,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) followed up on his back-and-forth with fellow South Carolinian and 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley at the presidential debate in California earlier this week.
Scott, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Haley in 2012 to replace retiring then-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), criticized Haley as someone who couldn’t really be trusted.
“Nikki Haley pointed the guys like you, who have been in the Senate a while, the fact that it’s happened where we haven’t seen a budget, well, four times out of last 40 years, and that you’re part of that institution that created this sort of frozen activity,” FNC host Neil Cavuto said. “What do you say?
“Well — I mean, I like Nikki,” Scott replied. “I wish she was the same kind of candidate as she was as a person. But now she’s kind of flipped the tune a little bit. You really just can’t trust her. She offered a tax increase to the South Carolinians, hundreds of millions of dollars of additional taxes for gas. Number two, she had almost a 40 percent increase in spending while she was governor. Number three, she’s backing away on one of the fundamental issues, the issue of life. She will not join myself. And Ron DeSantis joined me on the debate stage for a 15-week national limit on national — on saving life. She won’t do that.”
“So, having her talk about topics is something that is interesting, but it’s so inconsistent,” he added.
“Because what happened there, Senator?” Cavuto responded. “Because you didn’t go at each other like you did in this latest debate. I’m wondering. You’re two South Carolinians. It may be that. And you wanted to clarify the one surviving South Carolinian. I don’t know what it is. But it was there for world to see. Do you think you overdid it? Do you think she overdid it?”
“Well, I will just quote the great philosopher John Rambo,” Scott said. “She drew first blood. I did not do that. She did. She started off by making it personal. I, frankly, did not have a negative comment about her as — until I was responding to what she said. But it is a target-rich environment. And I’m happy to have a contrast about my record versus her record.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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