Former presidential candidate Senator Tim Scott recently spelled out his reasons why he handed his endorsement to frontrunner Donald Trump this week.
Over the last month, Republican presidential candidates like Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis have made back-to-back withdrawals from the race, especially in light of Trump’s impressive showings in the Iowa caucuses and, most recently, the New Hampshire primaries.
Now, these former candidates are beginning to release word of who they’re backing among the remaining candidates — Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Once DeSantis suspended his campaign, he shared that he’d also be supporting Trump. Scott and Ramaswamy were seen on stage accompanying Trump during his victory speech following the New Hampshire primaries — a clear indication of their support for the embattled businessman.
Scott even hijacked the mic during Trump’s remarks to tell him face-to-face, “I just love you,” after Trump suggested that he must “hate” Haley.
Although Scott was appointed to the Senate by Haley during her time as governor, he told Fox News Digital why he is backing Trump this election cycle.
“It came down to a simple question: who guarantees us the best future for the average American who starts where I started?” Scott told Fox News Digital in New Hampshire. “I started as a poor kid living in really devastated neighborhoods. I asked myself, the Reagan revolution that transformed my opportunities, who’s best suited for the kids today, living in similar situations, to have that kind of Reagan revolution?”
What is the Reagan Revolution?
Scott is referring to the presidential tenure of Ronald Reagan, which most famously featured his introduction of “Reaganomics,” a term pointing to Reagan’s economic policies that were carried out in the 1980s during a period of high inflation and unemployment. Reagan’s administration instituted widespread tax cuts for corporations, decreased social spending, increased military spending, and market deregulation.
Reagan’s theory was that cutting taxes, especially for corporations, would stir up economic growth and business activity, which came to be called “trickle-down economics.”
While inflation and unemployment fell, his efforts to reduce funding to multiple domestic social programs, including Medicaid, food stamps, education, and job training programs, disproportionately impacted Black and under-resourced communities. Opponents also say his policies widened the wealth gap and increased the federal deficit.
“I don’t have to look that far in the past; 2016, 2020, we got actually the lowest unemployment, but we had the fastest wage growth for the bottom quintile of our demographics. That is powerful,” Scott continued. “So if we can have that and world peace, count me in. Donald Trump is the only guy that’s going to do that.”
During Trump’s stint in office, his administration also implemented massive corporate tax cuts and sought deregulation to promote business growth, which also resulted in an increase in the federal deficit. Similar to Reagan, Trump also introduced budget proposals to cut social safety net programs like food, health care, housing, and income assistance.
However, on foreign policy, Reagan is known for instituting fiercely anti-Communist initiatives when he had to manage foreign relations with the Soviet Union toward the end of the Cold War, which he described as an “evil empire.”
On the other hand, Trump sang Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praises throughout his presidency.
Donald Trump’s Reaction to Tim Scott Before the Endorsement
Scott and Trump made headlines just before the New Hampshire primaries at one of Trump’s rallies.
Scott recently got engaged this week, which Trump alluded to in his speech, saying, “He’s engaged to be married. We never thought this was going to happen. What’s going on?”
During Scott’s presidential campaign last year, he caught a lot of flak from GOP operatives who were unsure whether to back him because of the secrecy surrounding his relationship status. The rumor mill stirred up nothing but hearsay about his dating life, and questions even surfaced about his sexuality since he never had a female partner present at any of his campaign events. Scott did tell news outlets that he had a girlfriend but preferred to keep her identity private while he campaigned.
Just a couple of months after that gossip started appearing in news stories, he debuted his girlfriend and now-fiancée, Mindy Noce, at the end of the third Republican presidential debate, putting rumors to bed once and for all.
