Sen. Tim Scott won’t be the last to lionize Trump or talk of divine intervention at RNC | Opinion

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, speaking Monday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, compared former President Donald Trump to a lion who “roared” after an assassination attempt, invoking imagery of Trump as God’s chosen one while saying current President Joe Biden is “asleep at the wheel.”

Such invocations are putting religion front and center in a presidential campaign as never before.

A recent Politico headline declared, “Republicans embrace ‘divine intervention’ for Trump’s near-miss into martyrdom,” an expression of faith that that has exploded in recent days but existed well before the shooting Saturday that killed a spectator and left Trump bloody and two others gravely wounded at a rally.

In April, The Nation reported that “Paul Djupe, a political scientist at Denison University, has conducted polls showing that one-third of believers in modern-day prophecy endorse the idea that Trump is anointed by God to be president.”

On Monday, in 18 interviews Reuters conducted with Republican delegates in Milwaukee, all but two believed the hand of God saved Trump from death Saturday.

Scott shared that belief Monday. He drew some of the loudest applause of the night from thousands of appreciative GOP delegates and supporters while drawing a contrast between the strength of a septuagenarian and the weakness of an octogenarian who are vying for second terms in the White House and control of the nation’s future.

Barely 48 hours after a would-be assassin’s bullet pierced Trump’s ear on a stage in Pennsylvania, Scott seized on the instantly iconic image of Trump’s ensuing raised fist and immediate proclamation to “Fight, fight, fight,” from a stage in Wisconsin and invoked religious imagery to hold up a man he briefly challenged for the presidency last year.

“Listen, if you didn’t, if you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now,” Scott said at the start of a speech that was met with repeated boisterous applause.

“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. And our God, 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.”

The crowd roared in response.

A day earlier, Scott said something similar to Fox News show hosts the day after the shooting:



“Isaiah 54:17 says, ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper.’ And I gotta say, without any question, watching the bullet miss by less than an inch was an answer to prayers of millions of Americans who understand that only Donald Trump is willing to stand in the fire for the American people.”

Comments correlating Trump’s survival to the survival of the Republic have been heard across the country since the weekend, according to a Politico story published under the headline, “Sunday services paint Trump as God’s chosen one.”

Amid growing questions about Biden’s mental acuity, Trump was always going to emerge from Wisconsin with momentum, even more than any candidate leaves a national party’s convention every four years. But the aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt has been something else altogether, with calls to calm room temperatures and political rhetoric matched only by talk of the hand of God and the power of prayer.

In thanking everyone for their prayers on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump himself wrote, “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”

In his eight-minute speech, Scott spoke of a higher plane and the more mundane, amplifying chants of “Four more years” for Trump on Monday night, and saying as a two-term president, he would chart a course for the country for four decades. Echoing others who addressed the Milwaukee crowd Monday night as the RNC began, Scott blamed Biden for persistent problems with inflation, illegal immigration, wars worldwide and despair and pain on the homefront. He said conservative values would restore hope and Republican polices that would lift people up.

There wasn’t much to fact-check in Scott’s soaring oratory because he shared more than opinions than facts, but one news outlet in Chicago took issue with his focus on the shortcomings of that city. Scott attributed Chicago’s problems, particularly educational failures and shootings that kill or injure thousands each year, including one of Scott’s interns, DaQuawn Bruce, in 2018, to Democratic control.

In its story on Scott’s remarks, NBC Chicago noted: “Scott’s reference to gun violence in Chicago comes as the city sees reductions in murder, sexual assault, motor vehicle theft and overall shootings over 2023 numbers. According to the latest data from Chicago police, shooting incidents are down 3% year-over-year, and are down 27% from high levels experienced in 2021. Murders are also down 8% year-over-year, and down 22% since 2021.”

The NBC station added, “According to statistics compiled by Statista, Illinois has reported 14.4 gun deaths per 100,000 residents this year. Mississippi currently has the highest rate in the nation at 29.7 deaths per 100,000 residents, while Scott’s state of South Carolina is ninth in the nation, with 21.3 deaths per 100,000 residents.”

Another Scott criticism — of the Biden debate claim about military deaths — was true, but Scott’s characterization of Trump’s tax cuts was not, though it has been debated. Below is the full transcription of Sen. Tim Scott’s remarks to the RNC on Monday so you can read it yourself, with notes where it was punctuated by the crowd’s reactions.

What did you think of Scott’s remarks? Please let us know in the comments below.

Wow. Wow. Wow. [Applause.]

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Hello, Milwaukee! [Applause.]

Are you ready for four more years of Donald Trump?

[A loud shout of “Yeah.”]

Me, too.

Listen, if you didn’t, if you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now. [Applause]

Thank God Almighty that we live in a country that still believes in the king of kings, and the lord of lords, [applause] the Alpha and the Omega. [Big applause.]

And our God, 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. [Big applause.]

Oh yeah. He roared. [Big applause and chants of “Fight, fight, fight.”]

Yes, he did.

You see, America, this is a difficult time for our nation. Inflation is crushing families. Illegal immigration is crushing American workers. Failing schools and victimhood culture are crushing our poorest kids.

And the weakness of the commander-in-chief has invited world wars all around our world. Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel, and we’re headed over a cliff. [Applause.]

We hear despair in the voices of a millennial couple raising two kids in a one-bedroom apartment because they can’t afford a house. We see pain on the faces of Gold Star parents because their commander-in-chief Joe Biden literally forgets their son died in uniform on his watch. America, we deserve better. [Applause.]

We deserve so much better. [Applause.]

I was raised by a single mom in poverty. We had plastic spoons, not silver spoons. But she taught me to work hard, to take responsibility and reject victimhood. Thank God for my wonderful mama. [Applause.]

And I know, I know this is going to offend the liberal elites. Every time I say it, it offends them. But let me say it one more time: America is not a racist country. [Big applause.]

No, we’re not. But if you are looking for racism today, you’d find it in cities run by Democrats. [Applause.]

Look on the South Side of Chicago. Poor Black kids trapped in failing schools. Thousands shot every single year, including one of my former interns, DaQuawn.

But there’s good news. It’s conservative values that restores hope. [Applause.] It’s Republican policies that lift people up. [Applause.] I partnered, I partnered with the greatest president of my generation, President Donald J. Trump, [big applause] on the biggest tax cuts ever for working people and single moms, and opportunity zones for neighborhoods that need the most. But Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, they give illegal immigrants free hotel rooms while our veterans, while our veterans, sleep on the streets. [Boos.]

Disgusting, disgusting.

Trump secured our border once, and Donald Trump will secure it again. [Big applause.]

Listen, this November, this November, we are not deciding simply the fate for the next four years. We’re setting a course for the next 40 years. [Big applause.]

I see our heartland filled with huge American factories, powered by abundant American energy, building what America needs, creating generational wealth for blue-collar workers. [Applause.]

You see, we are the Republican Party of Frederick Douglass and of Abraham Lincoln, [big applause] of Ronald Reagan and of Donald Trump. [Bigger applause.] But we .... [chants of “Four more years.”]

Four more years, I love it. [Louder chants of “Four more years.”]

Awesome.

We are not simply the party of our leaders. We are also the party of a young woman in Wisconsin taking over her family farm, an Hispanic father working 16-hour days in Nevada and a Black teenager in Philly, starving for opportunity. We’re not just the Grand Old Party of the past. We are the great opportunity party of America’s future. [Big applause.]

And there’s only, hear me clearly, and there’s only one person who can make that vision a reality, Donald J. Trump. [Echoes of “Donald J. Trump” and applause.]

God bless America. [Applause.]

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