Sen. Tim Scott calls Trump’s survival of assassin’s bullet a ‘miracle’ in stirring speech

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks Monday, July 15, 2024, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott sounded like a revival preacher in a stirring speech at the Republican National Convention, as he told the crowd former President Donald Trump’s survival of a would-be assassin’s bullet was a miracle.

“If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now! Thank God Almighty that we live in a country that still believes in the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the alpha and the omega!” Scott told the cheering crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on opening night of the GOP convention.

Scott’s eight-minute speech Monday came almost exactly two days after a shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania left Trump and at least two others injured.

A bullet killed one rally-goer, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore , whose wife said he dove on his family to protect them. The shooter, who was on a rooftop outside of the venue, was killed by authorities, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

Trump had slightly turned his head just before a bullet hit his ear as it whizzed by.

“Our God still saves. He still delivers. And he still sets free. Because on Saturday, the Devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!” Scott continued, drawing out the last word as the crowd started chanting “fight, fight, fight!”

That word has become a rallying cry for Republicans since Saturday.

After Secret Service agents surrounded the former president to shield him with their bodies as they moved him off stage with blood visibly streaming down his face, Trump rose his arm above them and pumped his fist in the air and mouthed “fight” several times. It was a moment of seeming defiance, as well as a signal that he was OK, prompting shouts of “U-S-A!”

Two days later, Scott cupped his hand to a different chant. “He roared! Yes, he did!” Scott said.

The crowd at the RNC later erupted as Trump made a surprise appearance, his first in public since the shooting. A large, white bandage covered his right ear.

Scott had challenged Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination but dropped from the race in November before a single vote was cast. He endorsed the former president two months later and pivoted to be an enthusiastic campaigner for Trump, an enthusiasm he continued Monday.

During his remarks, Scott called Trump the “greatest president of my generation.” He led a call and response of “four more years.”

Scott outlined a picture of a country that is “heading over a cliff” under President Joe Biden, with wars abroad and inflation at home. Then he outlined a picture of a more prosperous future, one in which American factories give good jobs to blue collar workers — a future he said would only be possible under Trump.

“This November, we are not deciding simply the fate of the next four years,” Scott said. “We are setting a course for the next 40 years.”

Scott’s ringing endorsement is not unexpected —Trump has said the senator is a better campaigner for him than Scott was for himself, something Scott himself agreed with . He was regularly floated as a potential running mate for Trump, although earlier Monday the former president picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance .

During his RNC speech, Scott also highlighted some of his own story.

“I was raised by a single mother in poverty. We had plastic spoons, not silver spoons,” he said.

It is Republican policies that will lift people out of this kind of poverty, Scott argued, pointing to his signature Opportunity Zones. The bipartisan proposal signed into law in 2017 by Trump provides tax breaks for investors who put money into low-income areas.

The effectiveness of Opportunity Zones has been a matter of debate, with some Democrats criticizing it as chiefly benefiting wealthy investors. A 2023 review by the Urban Institute , a Washington, D.C., think tank, found mixed-to-no impacts on employment and job creation in the zones.

The only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate repeated his often-used line that “America is not a racist country.”

“I know this is going to offend the liberal elites. Every time I say, it offends them. But let me say it one more time!” he said as the crowd cheered.

Scott has been busy outside of campaigning for Trump.

Earlier this year, he launched a video series called America’s Starting Five , with the four Black Republicans in the U.S. House. In June he announced that the Great Opportunity PAC, a political action committee associated with Scott, will spend $14 million before Election Day with a focus on turning out Black voters for Trump.

The 58-year-old will be a newlywed on Election Day.

Nikki Haley to speak at Republican National Convention

Scott and his fiancé Mindy Noce got engaged in January on the beach of Kiawah Island. The couple is getting married Aug. 3 at the nondenominational Seacoast Church in Mount Pleasant, where they met.

Scott was first appointed to the Senate by former Gov. Nikki Haley, who remained in the GOP presidential contest through Super Tuesday in early March as the last challenger to Trump. She is slated to speak Tuesday after initially not being invited to the RNC at all. That changed after Saturday’s shooting.

Scott rose quickly in South Carolina politics.

The former Charleston County Council chairman and state House member had just won re-election to a second term in the U.S. House when Haley picked him in December 2012 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Sen. Jim DeMint of Greenville.

Scott easily won the special election in 2014 to finish DeMint’s term. He won his first full term two years later and in 2022 he again easily won re-election in a Senate race he said would be his last.

Final speeches

Trump walked into the arena in Milwaukee after Scott spoke. The former president listened to the final four speeches, including one from Amber Rose, a model and rapper.

Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, called Trump “one tough S.O.B” during the final scheduled speech Monday night.

It was the first time ever a Teamsters president had addressed the RNC.

In his speech, O’Brien pressed Republicans opposed to organized labor to rethink their stance, while crediting Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley for listening to unions.

“In the past, the Teamsters have endorsed GOP candidates, including Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush,” O’Brien said. “But over the last 40 years, the Republican Party has rarely pursued a strong relationship with organized labor. There are some in the party who stand in active opposition to labor unions — this too, must change.”

O’Brien added that “at the end of the day, the Teamsters are not interested if you have a D, R, or an I next to your name.”

“We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?”

States Newsroom’s Washington, D.C., senior reporter Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report from Milwaukee.

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