Failed presidential candidate Tim Scott and some of his Black Republican pals in Congress have launched a media venture to own the libs in (one supposes) an effort to attract Black voters to vote for Donald Trump.
And if you’re a fan of anti-Biden schlock set to a soundtrack of royalty-free hip-hop and funk music, you will love it. But if not, you may find it fairly cringeworthy.
Scott debuted the new video series (essentially a glorified podcast) “America’s Starting Five” on Friday. It’s an ironic name, considering all of the participants are basically the same MAGA movement bench-riders who’ve been cheering from the sidelines as the movement’s main characters have gotten all the shine and actual power. This is what your starting five would look like if you had a team of water boys and equipment managers: In addition to Scott, the panel includes Reps. Burgess Owens, Wesley Hunt, John James and Byron Donalds. All are right-wing conservatives who have no qualms supporting a racist bigot who tried to overthrow American democracy based on false claims that largely Black districts cost him the 2020 election.
Honestly, a conversation among Black conservatives could be interesting if, say, it was about how they navigate belonging to a party centered on white fear and grievance. Scott even refered to this dynamic last fall!
But that kind of reflection doesn’t seem to be on the horizon in this new video … thing. Republican racism doesn’t come up in Episode 1. Hunt even downplayed the existence of racism, noting that each panelist represents a majority-white district, without sparing a second to consider that their support for the GOP’s agenda might be the reason why.
Other topics that are never addressed include Scott’s self-abasing performance stumping for Trump after he dropped out of the presidential race (Scott later accused his critics of racism). Also no mention of the cringey, Ebonics-influenced ad Scott released in 2017 to promote Trump’s…
Read the full article here
