At a gathering of Florida Republicans, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott doubled down on his endorsement of Donald Trump for President.
"He is the one person running that can really bring strength back to our country," Scott said.
The former Governor's remarks came hours before current Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's chief rival for the Republican nomination, took the same stage.
The Naples Republican stressed he believes all the Republican candidates for Governor would be better than Democratic President Joe Biden. But he said his personal relationship with Trump as President gave him confidence in the former and would-be Commander-in-Chief.
"I had a great working relationship with him as Governor," Scott said of Trump. He also said that while he has called for the party to rally around Trump, he will not call on any other candidates to drop out of the race.
But does he value his working relationship as U.S. Senator with the sitting Governor?
"I think Ron DeSantis is working hard and doing the best he can," Scott told press after his speech.
Scott had more scathing words for Biden.
"Does anyone think Joe Biden is lucid enough to even know anything that is going on? I don't know," Scott said in his speech. "He's an embarrassment to his own party."
Scott also lobbed attacks at the likely Democratic opponent to his own re-election effort next year. Without referencing former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by name, he slammed the "radical socialist from Miami" that Senate Democrats recruited to run. He suggested Mucarsel-Powell wasn't U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer's first choice.
"He tried to enlist celebrities and some NBA players to run against me," he said.
He slammed Mucarsel-Powell's voting record in Congress as 100% with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 94% with U.S. Sen. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. He also hinted at oplans to tie Mucarsel-Powell to other controversial members of Congress, referencing selfies with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat under fire for defending Palestinians after Hamas attacks.
But he shared some of his sharpest criticism for U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. Scott unsuccessfully challenged McConnell for Minority Leader last year. He accused McConnell of siding more often with Schumer and Biden, citing McConnell's support for bundling aid for Israel with support for Ukraine and other domestic issues.
"We got a Republican Party in Florida and all across the country," Scott said. "Shouldn't we have one in DC?"
He had higher praise for new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, who has pushed for single-subject budget votes.
"A lot of us in the Senate we're demanding a clean vote just on aid to Israel. It's already passed the House. Thank God for Speaker Johnson.," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment