Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) was asked to condemn the election conspiracies that fuel political violence like the attack on Paul Pelosi. Instead, he backpedaled into more lies.
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CNN’s Dana Bash asked, “Should Republicans do more to reject conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric?”
Scott answered, “I think what we have to do is, one, we have to condemn the violence, and we have to do everything we can to make sure people feel comfortable about these elections. We’ve got to do everything we can to get people comfortable that this election in nine days is going to be free and fair, that people’s votes are all going to be counted fairly, they’re not going to be diluted. That’s what I’ve tried to do at the NRC, tell people we’re ready. I tell people go to the poll and be poll watchers so you can see the elections will be fair. We have to work on it every cycle. Get it better every cycle.”
Bash pressed on, “To be fair, senator, most of your Republican colleagues, even those in the Trump White House, said the 2020 election is free and fair and that has not stopped the conspiracies from Is it important for people from the top of your party, the former president on down, to tone down the rhetoric about the conspiracies that might instigate somebody who is unhinged like the man who went into the Pelosi home?”
Scott went into full bothsidesism, “Dana, I think what’s important is everybody do everything we can to make these elections fair. We’ve got Hillary Clinton saying the ’24 election can be stolen. We have Stacey Abrams saying she didn’t lose. My job is do everything we can to get people comfortable that the elections are fair. I tell people go out to vote, go be a poll watcher, and when we have the opportunity, let’s make our election laws safer, make sure you have voter id, you don’t have ballot harvesting, monitored ballot box.”
Bash reminded the audience, “Just to be clear, I want to move on, but there’s no evidence that they weren’t fair in 2020.”
Political violence is coming from the right, and Trump’s big lie is fueling it. Even after a man that was radicalized by Republican election conspiracies tried to kill the Speaker of the House and violently assaulted her husband, Rick Scott refused to condemn the election lies and tried to falsely equate Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams to Trump’s lies that caused the 1/6 attack and the assault on Paul Pelosi.
The violence will continue because Republican cowards like Rick Scott refuse to condemn the baseless election conspiracies that Donald Trump and his followers are spreading.
Sen. Scott and the Republican Party are a profile in cowardice.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association