Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) head-scratching claim about slavery during Wednesday’s second Donald Trump-less GOP primary debate elicited a short but damning response from Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee.
In comments that have now gone viral, the South Carolina senator appeared to suggest that President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society federal welfare program had been more difficult for Black people to survive than slavery.
“Black families survived slavery. We survived poll taxes and literacy tests. We survived discrimination being woven into the laws of our country,” said Scott.
“What was hard to survive was Johnson’s Great Society where they decided to put money, where they decided to take the Black father out of the household to get a check in the mail,” he continued. “And you can now measure that in unemployment, in crime and devastation.”
Steele had just one word in response.
“Tim.” the former Republican grandee wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Other critics agreed with Steele’s succinct analysis.
