Tim Scott challenges Left to question his ‘blackness’ in Iowa speech as he reflects on 2024 race

Sen. Tim Scott officially kicked off his Faith in America ‘listening tour’ on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, when the South Carolina Republican challenged liberals to challenge his ‘blackness’.

Scott, who is considering a run for the White House, spoke of his own family’s story of “cotton to Congress” and called his own story “living proof” of the American Dream.

“I’m here because my family chose faith over anger, responsibility over resentment and patriotism over pity,” the senator told a crowd of about 60 at Drake University.

The speech was filled with metaphors detailing cultural grievances and stories of social decline. He it was peppered with a focus on issues of education and school choice and what Scott sees as an ‘assault’ on faith.

‘I am living proof that our founders were geniuses who should be celebrated, not cancelled. That we are a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression,’ he said.

‘For those of you on the left, you can call me support, you can call me a symbol, you can call me the ‘N’ word, you can question my blackness, you can even call me Uncle Tim. Just understand: your words are no match for my evidence. His pessimism is no match for my story,” the senator said.

“Parents, you don’t pay property taxes so adults with agendas can tell their kids there are 100 genders but only one ideology,” Scott said.

Scott noted that “just 10 percent” of Americans believe the state of the union is “strong” and nearly three-quarters of Americans believe the nation is not on the right track.

Fentanyl is not the only poison that floods our countries. Politicians and culture are hooking communities, hooked on the drug of victimhood and the narcotic of despair. They are addictive and deadly,” Scott said.

“People see themselves as victims with no hope, no responsibility and no skin in the game. How did this happen? For two and a half centuries, the rest of the world marveled at the confidence and ambition of the American people.

Scott put forth a hypothesis in which “America’s greatest enemy” was devising a plan to “destroy America.”

“It would amplify the attention seekers who say America is an evil country: It would make it easier to get rich and famous by feeding the empty calories of anger to people who are starving for hope.”

Scott then touched on critical race theory and gender education in schools.

“You would make elementary schools teach worse math, science and English, but start sex ed in kindergarten,” he said.

‘A year ago, children were taught that the color of their skin defined them. If you wanted to ruin America, you would bring that back: teach white kids that they are oppressors, teach black and brown kids their grievances, not greatness.

‘If a football coach prays with high school students, you get fired. But if teachers tell young children they can choose their gender, they would be promoted. You would let the big bosses trap poor kids in the worst schools with no choice and no say.’

He praised Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ school choice bill signed last summer that allows Iowa families to use up to $7,598 a year in an ‘education savings account’ for school tuition. private.

Scott continued, “You spend people’s money hiring IRS agents instead of border patrol agents and if anyone questions you, just call them fanatics.”

Scott then referred back to his African-American background, stating that progressives “are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb.”

‘I was the poor African-American kid they claim to be protecting. So I want the left to hear me clearly: Your soft policy on crime is killing us,” he said.

“I was the teenager whose spirit would have been crushed by a culture obsessed with identity politics and racial conflict. We were the family with a fragile budget that Democratic inflation would have destroyed.’

He recounted how he was raised by a single mother from the Jim Crow South and nearly flunked out of high school, while criticizing Democrats for selling “abortion without limit.”

“You better believe it’s personal when liberals suggest that people like my mom, a poor young black woman, would have a better and more dignified life if I had never been born.”

Scott continued: ‘I was the teenager whose spirit would have been crushed by a culture obsessed with identity politics and racial conflict. We were the family with a fragile budget that Democratic inflation would have destroyed.’

The speech was well received by audience members, who largely said the Republican primary would benefit from Scott joining the race, but were still unconvinced who had their vote.

Preacher Byron Foxx drove from Virginia to hear Scott speak, a senator whom he has “admired for a long time.”

“I think it hit it out of the park,” Foxx said. “I’m not convinced he’s the right one, but I’m certainly convinced he puts the hat on.”

“He was energetic, very passionate,” said Haley Ledford, a Drake University law student. “It is a big problem, the choice of school and that parents become more involved in their children’s education.”

Scott and former UN ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley have been following each other across the map, both spoke to voters in the first South Carolina state primary earlier this week, both traveled to Iowa , the site of the first meeting of the Republican Party. national assemblies.

Haley held two town halls this week after announcing her candidacy in Charleston, SC last week.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is also believed to be considering a possible run, visited Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last week.

Former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the current frontrunners in a potential matchup, have no trips to Iowa on the books yet.

Trump is currently in East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the catastrophic Norfolk Southern train derailment that resulted in a toxic chemical spill.

Instead of Iowa, Desantis made appearances in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago on Monday, where he accused the cities’ liberal lawmakers of trying to “wake each other up” in part of what his team describes as a tour. in favor of the police.