After five days of radio silence following his denunciation of a racist video posted by Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, Senator Tim Scott took to social media to endorse Trump antagonist Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection campaign in Maine.
Scott referred to Collins, who is frequently at odds with the White House, as "a battle-tested leader whose fierce independence has led to historic wins for Maine."
The South Carolina senator, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, sparked rapid GOP backlash after he said the racist video of Michelle and Barack Obama's faces superimposed onto monkeys posted by Trump's account last Friday was "the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House" and that he was "praying it was a fake.”
Meanwhile, Collins recently sided with a small group of Republicans supporting a procedural measure to curb his authority to deploy the military in Venezuela without congressional approval — prompting him to say the group “should never be elected again.” She also voted to convict Trump in the impeachment trial following the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Scott's alleged disloyalty to Trump has been underscored by numerous attacks from those close to the president.
In another post on Tuesday, Scott turned his attention to remarks previously made by the Democrat State Rep. Gene Wu, the minority leader of the Texas House of Representatives, claiming Wu was "recycling the ideology behind slavery, ethnic cleansing, and history’s greatest atrocities". "Congrats", he added.
Scott was responding to a video in which Wu appeared to call on the diverse ethnic communities in the U.S. to unite.
"The day the Latino, African American, Asian and other communities realise they share the same oppressor, is the day we start winning. We are the majority in this country now. We have the ability to take over this country and do what is needed for everyone," Wu can be heard saying in the clip.
After describing the monkey video as "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," far-right political activist Laura Loomer, a hardline supporter of Trump, posted on Saturday: "Why hasn’t he deleted this tweet? He is deliberately trying to sabotage President Trump."
It emerged that, following Scott's remarks about the video, Trump later phoned on Friday after the South Carolina Republican publicly urged him to remove it.
On the call, Trump reportedly told Scott that the post containing the offensive video had been posted in error by a staff member and that he would have it removed.
The White House initially defended the post. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the image, which placed the Obamas’ heads on the bodies of apes, was part of an “internet meme video” parodying “The Lion King.”
She urged reporters to “stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
However, a White House official later said a staffer "erroneously made the post".
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