Rick Scott, CBS host spar over Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene comments
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) sparred with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Sunday when she pressed him on recent heated rhetoric from former President Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
During an appearance on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Brennan asked Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to respond to Trump’s racially tinged statement on Friday calling Elaine Chao, who served as Transportation secretary in the former president's administration, “Coco Chow” and “China loving” and Greene's remark on Saturday that Democrats “have already started the killings.”
Scott initially responded by referencing other portions of Trump’s statement that criticized Democrats for high inflation.
But Brennan pushed further, also pointing to yet another part of Trump’s statement in which he says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Chao’s husband, has a “death wish.”
“I know, sir, you're talking about substance,” Brennan said. “And I would love to talk to you about that. But what I quoted you is a phrase saying McConnell ‘has a death wish.’ He said racist things about Elaine Chao. And then, ‘they have already started the killings.’ I mean, that's not a policy dispute, senator, the language is what I'm talking about. Isn't that dangerous?”
“I think we all have to figure out how do we start bringing people together and have a common goal to give every American the opportunity to get a great job, their kids to have an education [so] they believe they can be anything and make sure everybody lives in a safe community,” Scott responded.
McConnell and Trump’s relationship has been a rocky one since the former president was in the White House, and Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly lambasted the top Senate Republican, saying he should no longer serve as GOP leader while attacking Chao, referencing her family’s American business that also has dealings in China.
“He has a DEATH WISH,” Trump said of McConnell on Friday after he voted for a bill to fund the government through mid-December. “Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
Scott on CBS declined to say if that language brings people together.
“He gives people nicknames,” Scott told Brennan. “I'm sure he has a nickname for me. Alright? So you can ask him what he means by his nicknames.”
The day after Trump’s post, Greene traveled to Michigan to speak at a rally the former president held in support of his endorsed candidates there.
“I'm not going to mince words with you all. Democrats want Republicans dead, and they have already started the killings,” Greene said.
When asked on Sunday about the remark, Scott said he had not seen it and proceeded to criticize Vice President Harris for a remark she made at a Democratic National Committee event on Friday when asked about the administration’s response to climate change.
“It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making,” Harris said at the event. “And so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity.”
Scott tied Harris's comment to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) response to Hurricane Ian in his state.
“But it's also not helpful what the vice president says, when she thinks that FEMA is going to treat people differently based on their skin color,” Scott said on CBS.