Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Sunday pointed to a once prominent defund-the-police movement as evidence Democrats aren’t listening to “everyday Americans” who primarily want to stop runaway spending.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Scott pointed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif., declaring the movement is over.
“Speaker Pelosi said … defund the police is dead, which means that defund the police was alive,” Scott said.
“It was alive for a couple of years, and the crises that it created is undeniable across this country,” he continued. “Officers feel less represented, less respected and, frankly, with a 70% increase in shootings of police officers, they are less safe.”
According to Scott, what’s needed now is “the exact opposite.”
“We should sit at a table and finish police reform as long as police reform means we're protecting the qualified immunity and giving them more money for body cameras, training, resources and equipment,” he said.
Scott railed at the Democrats’ failure to understand what Americans are really worried about.
“I do think [Democrats] have not read the tea leaves… they're not listening to everyday Americans,” Scott said, even though voters are clear on their priorities.
“What they're saying is simply this: We don't want any more spending,” he said. “But what the Democrats seem to be hearing is somehow … the solution to what ails you is more of the problem.”
“The problem is spending,” Scott continued. “More spending is not a solution. But the Democrats believe that this once in a lifetime opportunity to add more entitlements, to add more spending and raise taxes somehow is a solution,” he said of the Biden administration.
“That’s an alternate universe. It doesn't really exist,” he said.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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