Did y’all know that GOP Sen. Tim Scott — the first and only Black Republican to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate — spent years promoting a federal program to support minority-owned businesses? It’s kind of weird, right? The guy who positioned himself to be MAGA America’s favorite Black friend, who made it his mission to convince Black people that “America is not a racist country,” was, according to Politico, “integral to congressional efforts to permanently authorize the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency” — which would be an odd agency to even need in a non-racist country.
I never would have predicted that Scott would champion a department dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion, considering the only time you ever hear him mention systemic racism against Black people is when it’s time to compare it to systemic racism against — *checks notes* — Republicans. What is predictable, however, is that, within weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump‘s administration essentially dismantled the program. What’s even more predictable is that Scott hasn’t dared to breathe a word about it.
From Politico:
Now, the program, which funds grants to business owners and provides technical assistance, support and mentorship, has had 100 percent of its staff, about 50 people, placed on administrative leave or redistributed within the Commerce Department, according to a Commerce employee and a Democratic staffer granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
For years, Tim Scott has prioritized efforts to expand access to capital and economic mobility for underserved communities, like the one he says he grew up in, and minority businesses, like his own Main Street insurance agency. The MBDA dates back to the Nixon administration and was one outlet for this mission. But Scott has stayed silent publicly about the gutting of the agency.
“They are watching this happen, and they are doing nothing. That’s cowardice. And it cuts especially deep when the people you once believed were your champions turn their backs in silence,” the Commerce Department employee said of Scott’s and other Republicans’ silence on cuts to the program.
Look, maybe it surprises me that Scott was ever out here campaigning for what Trump would certainly consider to be DEI because the only public version of him I can ever remember seeing is one who holds water for white nationalism and gushes over Trump like the president was his first celebrity crush. Maybe that’s why I completely missed the time he said this during a 2020 appearance on The View:
“Small businesses — barber shops and beauty salons and landscapers — are in abundance in the African American community. They are some of the hardest working people you know and they need to understand and know that the resources are there.”
During the pandemic, “Scott pointed out he secured an additional $10 million in a Covid-19 relief bill to help the MBDA connect minority-owned businesses to the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided financial aid to companies during the crisis,” Politico noted.
In fact, it’s worth noting that it’s not just Scott who basically abandoned his pro-DEI agenda once Trump decided to base his entire 2025 campaign around placating white grievances, fighting fictional “anti-white” racism, and dismantling everything meant to correct actual systemic racism. There were bipartisan efforts to back diversity initiatives before making white nationalism great again became the new project for 2025.
More from Politico:
Tim Scott and other senators championed bipartisan legislation, which passed as part of a 2021 infrastructure and jobs bill that permanently authorized the Minority Business Development Agency and expanded it to establish rural business centers at historically Black colleges and universities. Scott said at a 2020 U.S. Chamber of Commerce fireside chat that “by having more MBDAs located around the country, especially in the rural areas, you’ll bring expertise to those would-be entrepreneurs and you’ll better equip them for success.”
Oh well — I suppose we’ll never see the version of Scott most of us never knew existed again, because the last thing he’ll ever do is upset his MAGA daddy by expressing disappointment at Trump’s and MAGA America’s racism.
Not that America is a racist country or anything like that.
SEE ALSO:
Op-Ed: Reducing ‘DEI’ To A Catchphrase Undermines Its True Purpose
Trump Admin Ends Wastewater Settlement For Black Alabama Town, Calling It DEI
Sen. Tim Scott Promoted A Federal Program For Minority-Owned Businesses. Now He’s Silent As Trump Guts It
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