Senator Tim Scott joined me this morning:

Audio:

09-21hhs-scott

Transcript:

HH: Senator Tim Scott is running for president. Good morning, Senator. How are you?

TS: Good morning, Hugh. Thanks for having me on this morning.

HH: I’m grateful to have you on. Arthur Brooks was just on talking about his new book with Oprah, Build The Life You Want. And he said the whole country has to upvote positive, and deselect negative to get out of the crisis of the culture that we’re in of toxicity. Is that the premise of your campaign, Senator?

TS: I do believe that America benefits from an optimistic, positive messenger, as long as you are anchored in conservatism and you have a backbone. America has always prospered when the conservative party is moored in principles. One of the blessings of my young life, Hugh, was having Ronald Reagan come onto the stage right after the Carter debacle of the freshman in high school. The unemployment rates in my neighborhood was 30%. Ronald Reagan brought a revolution, an optimistic, positive revolution. But everyone knew he was a little off sometimes, and he might use every weapon in the arsenal. Peace through strength emerged, and it brought the world stability, and brought America a revolution we have not seen since those days.

HH: Now yesterday, Politico had a story quoting your very smart campaign manager. Jennifer DeCasper is from the University of Michigan Law School, as I am. So she knows what she’s doing. She said everyone calm down. Senator Scott is not leaving the stage. He’s going to stay in this for the duration. We’re going to stay positive. Positive, it wins in the long course. What did you think of the reaction to her memo? Is she right?

TS: I think absolutely, our campaign is going to continue to focus on an optimistic, positive message. That does not mean we will not engage in a contrast with our other opponents. We have opponents who want to raise the death tax to 59%. That is just wrong. So the fact of the matter is that there are policy differences between who we are and what we represent for America’s best future. And some of my opponents on the stage who want a fundamentally different kind of Republican Party, that is the kind of contrast that I believe you can showcase while having an optimistic, positive approach. Another issue is the issue of abortion. I believe that we need a 15-week federal limit because every Senate Democrat has already voted for abortion on demand up until the day of birth. That’s wrong, Hugh.

HH: So Senator, yesterday, and I applaud you doing this, you were asked by a reporter in Iowa what about the vice presidency, and you came up well, maybe Governor Sununu in New Hampshire, my old friend, Trey Gowdy from South Carolina, John Ratcliffe, who was originally a congressman from Texas, and then the director of National Intelligence, and then you named Mike Pompeo, my friend and yours, former Secretary of State/CIA director. Four of those, they’re four great guys. Trey Gowdy’s not eligible, because you’re both from South Carolina. But I would encourage you do to more of that. Do you think any of the other candidates will put out lists of vice presidential candidates and SecDefs and Attorneys General and things like that?

TS: You know, I think it’s really important to know what your moral compass and your global view can be seen through your friendships and your partnerships. And so one of the things I’ve seen as a member of Congress in 2010 was Mike Pompeo came in, Naval Academy grad, top in his law school. Here’s a man committed to serving our country, but also a man who has a global view of the world because of his experience. I think experience matters as long as it’s experience that has been applied in the right way. And his has been. I would say John Ratcliffe is another person who demonstrates the same kind of commitment to America through principled center approach in governing. I hope every person on that stage has a short list of people that they can turn to that reflects their core values and areas that the nation benefits from hearing about.

HH: Number one, you’re going to get a text message shortly from Mike Pompeo saying he’s party of the long, gray line of West Point, not the Naval Academy. But other than that, you’ll be fine.

TS: Oh, my God. You’re right. You’re right. That’s right. Thank you for clarifying. I knew that.

HH: I do agree. I would like to see short lists for the Attorney General. Trey Gowdy can go there. There’s no Constitutional prohibition of two members of the same state going into the cabinet. Then I’d like to see a Secretary of State, and I’d like to see the Secretary of Defense as well. Last political question. New New Hampshire poll by CNN and the University of New Hampshire has the former President at 39%. So he’s under a majority. That means there’s an opening. But Vivek has 13, Nikki has 12, we’ve got Ron DeSantis at 10, Chris Christie at 11, Tim Scott at 6. How do you change that dynamic? Are you betting everything on Iowa?

TS: I think it just needs more time. One of the things I’ve done, yesterday I was in New Hampshire. I need to spend more time in New Hampshire. We have been spending a lot of time in Iowa, and we are working towards an equal, balanced amount of time in New Hampshire. The more I show up, the larger the crowds that show up to hear me. So I’m excited about what we’re going to do in the 4th quarter both in New Hampshire and Iowa. I do believe that a three-state strategy is the strategy we’re going to continue with. Of course, the third state being my home state of South Carolina. Bringing momentum from the two earlier states, I believe, creates a winner for me in South Carolina.

HH: Now Senator, I want to talk to you about the spending deadlock in the House. You were a member of the House before you were up to the Senate. I’ve known you for a long time. I remember the first time you introduced yourself. You’re the third of three brothers, one of whom, I believe, was an Army master sergeant. Am I right about that?

TS: Yeah, he was a command sergeant major, 32 years. And my other brother is an Air Force Academy grad, 26 years, retired as a colonel.

HH: Okay, so you know the military. Can you believe that your old colleagues in the House did not pass the Defense Authorization, the appropriations bill?

TS: Listen, I think the importance of funding our military is one of the highest priorities we have as a nation. You look at Article I, Section 8, without question, about half of those enumerated powers goes to keeping America safe. We need to make sure that the national security apparatus is always in place, always fully funded. And frankly, we need to purge the social experimentation out of the military and get back to only focusing on war fighting, coming home safe. And making sure it’s always funded is a priority. House, Senate, let’s get our job done on that front.

HH: So you know the military. And you’re very pro-life. Now they come into a collision with Senator Tuberville. On this program, Governor DeSantis has backed Senator Tuberville’s boycott of the 300-plus career military people. Nikki Haley, your colleague from South Carolina, former governor, former ambassador to the U.N., has blasted the Tuberville boycott. What is your advice to Senator Tuberville? Declare victory and go home?

TS: Listen, he was right to do what he said. The Hyde Amendment is clear. You cannot use a penny of federal dollars in support of abortion. Period. Transportation, any other way. I think it was seven or eight years ago, Hugh, I held promotions as well, because there was a move to take the Guantanamo Bay prisoners and bring them into Charleston, South Carolina. You have to be willing to take a stand. The Senate can at some point override you, and that’s what’s happened recently, but the truth is you only have certain weapons in your arsenal, and I must concede. Under President Biden, holding up promotions is not necessarily a bad thing. What we’ve seen in the top brass in today’s military is too much focus on EIG and DEI and gender issues, vaccine mandates as opposed to war fighting, lethality, and making sure that the resources and the equipment and the training that we need, that’s where the focus of this military should be. We may have been a little bit better off slowing down the promotions and slowing down a greater social experimentation within the ranks of our military.

HH: Two last questions, Senator. What is your website where people can get on board Team Scott if they want to?

TS: Thank you for the 30-minute question. I’ll take all the time I can on this one. www.votetimscott.com, www.votetimscott.com. You can find out more about my candidacy and make a contribution.

HH: Last question is about Vivek Ramaswamy. On this show, he’s had a position on Taiwan which was unusual. He said he’d defend it until we had semiconductor independence, and then not. He’s changed that subsequent to be back to strategic ambiguity. It’s kind of a mess. What’s your position on Taiwan, Senator Scott?

TS: Well, we should always be loyal to our allies, lethal to our adversaries. We should be unequivocal in our commitment to our allies. Taiwan is an ally of ours. We should make sure that they have the resources, the weaponry, and frankly, not on backorder, already delivered. As president of the United States, I will deliver the weapons necessary to keep Taiwan safe, including missile defense systems as well as other weapons that they’re not getting out of the Biden administration. And Vivek, he’s just wrong on this topic. He’s wrong on making sure that we protect Israel until 2028. You cannot put an expiration date on our allies. It’s just dead wrong, and it could lead to the loss of life, and certainly leads to the loss of confidence in the greatest nation on God’s green Earth.

HH: Bonus question. Second debate is next week. Is Tim Scott going to be the same Tim Scott as in debate one in debate two?

TS: Well, I think you’ll see the same optimistic, positive approach to debating, and I certainly hope that we have a chance to contrast on some of the issues, and not have a food fight. It is time for us to showcase to America why this nation can do for anyone what she’s done for me. But if we’re going to have a food fight, someone has to bring us back to the issues that are germane to the American people, and not a food fight talking about things that don’t matter to the voters. I will be the person that will create the contrast and the focus on what people care about, not politicians, but the American people, our bosses.

HH: The website is www.votetimscott.com. Senator Scott, thank you. Keep coming back. Good luck next week in the debate.

TS: Hopefully, I’ll talk to you in the next couple weeks.

HH: You will. Thank you, Senator.

TS: God bless.

End of interview.