Tim Scott Gets in Heated Exchange About Race With 'The View' Panel

Senator Tim Scott, a Republican candidate for president, got into a heated back-and-forth with The View's Sunny Hostin Monday after she inquired about his thoughts on systemic racism.

Scott is currently one of seven GOP candidates who have officially launched campaigns, joining former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are expected to make their bids official within the coming weeks.

"One of the things I think about and one of the reasons why I'm on the show is because of the comments that were made frankly on this show, that the only way for a young African American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule," Scott told Hostin. "That is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today, that the only way to succeed is to be the exception."

He pointed to progress in the forms of the United States having a Black president (Barack Obama), a Black vice president (Kamala Harris), and two Black secretaries of state (Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice). When he brought up a decrease in Black unemployment since 1975, Hostin retorted by referring to a rise in homelessness among a demographic that makes up about 12 percent of the total national population.

"You had the chance to ask the question," the South Carolina senator said, cutting her off. "I know that you—I've watched you on the show, you like people to be deferential and respectful, so I'm gonna do the same thing."

He then brought up his grandfather being born in South Carolina in the 1920s, a time when he had to step off a sidewalk "and not make eye contact." Scott also mentioned how nearly every TV network and entertainment sector features different races today.

Scott, who has been in the Senate since 2013, is one of 11 total Black senators to ever serve in Congress. He is the fourth Black Republican senator, with the first two such senators—Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce—beginning their terms during the period of Reconstruction in post-Civil War America.

"What I'm saying is that yesterday's exception is today's rule," he said.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg later asked Scott why the Republican Party doesn't have similar conversations about race as they did in that segment, or those take place among Democrats.

Scott replied that it is a "human issue" and said his side of the aisle is doing a "fabulous job" in making progress, drawing a puzzled response from Hostin—who said Republicans' rewriting of the tax code in 2017 did not help those affected by systemic racism, drawing applause from the audience.

The pair seemingly continued the conversation throughout the commercial break, causing Goldberg to warn them that they were back on the air. "We're arguing over here still, I apologize," Scott said.

Scott's appearance included multiple commercial breaks and concluded abruptly after co-host Ana Navarro asked him about the feud between DeSantis and Disney, and whether he agrees with "weaponizing the government."

"I think Tim Scott is trying to find that lane whereby he becomes the alternative to Trump and it's likely a long game but he's hoping that South Carolina can help to catapult him to the front," Todd Shaw, associate professor of political science and African American studies at the University of South Carolina, said in a phone conversation with Newsweek.

Scott is trying to project his status nationally while also complementing a statewide grassroots campaign, Shaw said, as well as an embracement of the Republican agenda by telling his own life story as someone who is Black and also identifies as a political conservative.

"It is a difficult proposition given how very divided the parties are by race in this state and nationally, and it is difficult to see to a degree whether or not Tim Scott can build a big tent even though he is arguing about the fact that the Republican Party either can be or is a diverse party—which is not exactly true from an ethnic or racial standpoint," Shaw said.

"But that's what he's trying to predict, and I think he's trying to use a bellwether conservative state such as South Carolina to make that case."

Polling conducted by Echelon Insights between May 22 and 25 showed Scott with 2 percent of support from likely voters, trailing Trump (49 percent), DeSantis (19 percent), Pence (9 percent), Ramaswamy (8 percent) and Haley (5 percent).

In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup at the time of Scott's mid-May race entry with a smaller field than currently exists, Trump held a 79-21 advantage over Scott, according to a Harvard/Harris poll.

The fact that South Carolina has two conservative candidates in this race, including two politicians who have both successfully performed at the statewide level, makes it seem like Scott and Haley will try to out-match one another to take over that lane in the early primary battles, Shaw told Newsweek.

"Both of them were fairly popular officials or had a fairly solid level of support in their statewide approval ratings, so it's hard to see exactly how they will distinguish one from the other," he said. "Particularly if they're relying on the question of the diversity of the party and the way in which they can speak to the diversity of the party.

"Or at least, maybe their argument is diversity of the American electorate more broadly...It's hard to say how they can both compete and both be competitive, given that they're occupying a very similar lane."