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WASHINGTON – This week, when Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told the GOP presidential primary audience “America is not a racist country,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) says he heard a whistle loud and clear.
“That was Tim Scott completely pandering to the conservative Black audience to position himself to be Donald Trump's VP choice,” Bowman exclusively told Raw Story.
“Now the fact that he would want to be VP to a racist, fascist person is beyond me, but that was him pandering to the Sambo section of the Black community,” Bowman continued, using a derogatory term for people of African descent.
Since the debate, Scott has been widely praised by pundits as having a “breakout performance” and “raising his preacher voice” after he addressed race in America. While Scott still trails former President Donald Trump in national polls by significant margins, he’s running in the top five in Iowa, which conducts the nation’s first presidential caucus.
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“I have been discriminated against, but America is not a racist country,” Scott told the audience. “Frankly the city on the hill needs a brand new leader, and I’m asking for your vote.”
There was nothing praiseworthy that Scott said on race, said Bowman – a member of “The Squad” with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other prominent progressives members of the Congressional Black Caucus. .
“White supremacy is not just the color of your skin, it's an ideology. It's a mindset. It’s colonial. So once white supremacy colonizes your mind, you will behave in accordance with white supremacy, so it's not just the color of your skin,” Bowman said.
Raw Story reached out to Scott’s campaign for a comment, but his team didn’t immediately respond.
All told, Bowman says these are scary days for African Americans.
“It’s very dangerous. All of it is dangerous – his whitewashing on that Republican stage, the book bans happening across the country, the attack on diversity, equity and inclusion,” Bowman says. “What's happening in Houston is deplorable. In terms of taking over the school district and closing libraries and opening up detention centers, so everything that's happening and scary. That's why we can't pull our punches, and we got to fight like hell.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in front of the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2023, in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
While Bowman “can't stomach an entire Republican debate,” he said he caught two segments and was disturbed by what conservative voters witnessed from the seven candidates who showed up.
“What I saw in two segments was everybody yelling and screaming,” Bowman said. “Pence looked terrible. And they tried to fit every Republican talking point into every answer, and they were talking so fast trying to do that – it was just gross.”
The debate did open Bowman’s eyes as to why Trump, who skipped the debate, has consistently been dominating GOP primary polls.
“And I said to myself, ‘no wonder Trump is the front runner. These people are terrible,’” Bowman said.
As for Trump’s absence – including the Fox Business moderators not even mentioning the 91 felony counts facing the former president – Bowman says the Republican Party is ruled by fear.
“If they criticize Trump, then you know the MAGA majority will turn on them, and they have no way of winning if the MAGA majority turns on,” Bowman said.
Bowman did leave with some takeaways.
“No one up there had the courage – well, I shouldn’t say no one. [Fmr. New Jersey] Gov. [Chris] Christie, you know, he's the one who has the courage to go after Trump, and he sounds reasonable when he speaks,” Bowman said. “Tim [Scott] sounds reasonable with a lot of his answers. Nikki [Haley] won the debate, I thought. The rest of them, I mean, they all were bad, but those three sound at least reasonable.”
Not reasonable enough to Bowman, who left his interview with Raw Story with what he says was a stomach ache.
“I don't know how you write this facial expression, but please write that,” Bowman said, his face contorting in disgust as he grimaced. “Worried. Yeah, grimacing. That literally turned my stomach. It's bad out here, man.”
