Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott lashed out at former President Barack Obama this week after he accused GOP candidates of downplaying racism in America.
Obama made remarks about Scott and fellow Republican candidate Nikki Haley on a recent podcast.
"I think there is a long history of African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say everything's great and we can all make it," the former president said.
"He says it's fair to be skeptical of candidates who don't acknowledge and have a plan to address hundreds of years of racism," Fox News host Shannon Bream told Scott. "You've talked about your own experiences being followed by store clerks, being pulled over, even having a hard time sometimes getting into the Capitol, attesting that you are actually a senator. Do those experiences make President Obama's point?"
Scott disagreed with Obama and downplayed racism in the U.S.
"Absolutely not," Scott said. "There's no higher compliment to be attacked by President Obama. Whenever the Democrats feel threatened, they pull out, drag out the former president and have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down."
"The radical left and President Obama, they have failed, they have failed, and they have failed," he added. "We will make it happen."
Scott said that he could eliminate poverty without acknowledging racism.
"And if anyone should be standing and shouting at the mountaintops that America is not a racist country, it should be the man that Americans supported twice for the nomination and becoming president," he concluded. "The evolution of America is palpable."
