Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on Sunday that Republicans should “be clear” on the topic of white supremacy, saying that the ideology is “wrong”
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan asked Scott if he thinks it’s important for leaders to publicly condemn white supremacy, noting a CBS News poll in which 75 percent of Democrats and 23 percent of Republican respondents said it is important for political leaders to reject the ideology.
“Well, clearly, we ought to all condemn any hatred. We ought to condemn any white supremacy. We’ve got to figure out how to come together. I believe we got to stop all this racial politics and what the plan I put out at Rescue America.com, I said we have to stop asking people on government forms for their skin color,” Scott told Brennan.
“We ought to judge people by their character, not, you know, not their skin color. So, we’ve got to figure out how to bring people together.”
When asked if he will tell GOP senators who are currently running for reelection to publicly condemn white supremacy, Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, mentioned that “every Senate candidate on both sides is going to decide what is important to them, and what is important to the citizens of their state.”
“If they asked me, I would say, ‘be clear.’ … I don’t think any American should believe in white supremacy or hatred of any kind,” Scott responded. “I mean, it’s wrong.”
Scott’s remarks come a week after the massacre in Buffalo, N.Y. that left ten people dead and three others injured when a lone gunman opened fire at the community supermarket.
Payton Gendron, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting, reportedly shared in his manifesto the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which states that white people in the U.S. are being intentionally replaced by members of the minority group.
Some GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have called out GOP House leadership for “enabling” white nationalism in their ranks.