Rick Scott jabs Joe Biden’s ‘do-nothing executive orders’ as no answer to crime wave

Rick Scott defund
Scott slammed Biden's crime speech.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott blasted what he called “do-nothing executive orders” from President Joe Biden‘s speech Wednesday afternoon.

Scott said Biden had finally “figured out there was a crime surge in this country due to the policies of the radical Democrats.” But Biden failed to follow the “real simple advice” to “stop defunding the police,” he added.

“The Democrats’ radical policies have caused this unbelievable crime wave,” Scott said.

Scott was on Fox Business Network’s “Evening Edit” when he made the comments, which continued messaging from one of his political arms ahead of the speech.

Scott’s National Republican Senatorial Committee blasted “defund the police” Democrats as “crazy and dangerous” in a new ad.

The 30-second spot was timed as a prebuttal to the Biden speech, and it begins with a laconic Scott narrating.

“Here’s the Democrat plan for America: Crime,” Scott said, introducing footage of mob violence in the streets recorded last summer as riots and protests roiled cities around the country.

Scott contends in the ad that Democrats have “embraced the idea of defunding the police, which is the dumbest idea ever,” a position familiar to those tracking Scott’s media and an example of Scott’s famed message discipline.

Scott has been making similar arguments since calls to reprioritize law enforcement funding mounted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.

“The single most ridiculous and irresponsible policy idea that has been suggested in my lifetime can be summed up in three words: ‘Defund the police.’ And yet, it is actually being discussed and debated as if there are pros and cons to it by those on the left. There are no ‘pros’ to defunding the police. There are no coherent arguments for this lunacy,” Scott wrote in the Washington Examiner in June 2020.

The “defund the police” trope’s return to NRSC messaging appears to be a direct result of Biden messaging on the uptick in crime, especially in urban areas.

A “battleground states poll” commissioned by the NRSC and the Republican Governors’ Association that was touted this week did not address police funding, instead covering topics including critical race theory, the COVID-19 “lab leak” theory, and the crisis at the Mexican border.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


4 comments

  • Michael Hoffmann

    June 23, 2021 at 7:20 pm

    Enough, already, AG. Who writes this gack spouting from Rick
    Scott’s motormouth?

  • Ocean Joe

    June 24, 2021 at 9:34 am

    Police forces are an integral part of government. I thought the rap on Democrats was that they spend too much. I thought that was why Scott and the GOP voted unanimously to oppose the CARES act because it would bail out government to make up for unanticipated expenses caused by dealing with the pandemic. So if you had to make across the board cuts, because the GOP opposed relief, wouldn’t THEY be the ones defunding your police department?

    • Tjb

      June 24, 2021 at 10:39 am

      Just a reminder to the Trump supporters, Trumps administration reduced federal funding for public safety by 400,000,000 dollars durning his last year in office. Sounds like defunding to me.

  • PeterH

    June 24, 2021 at 2:42 pm

    Actually Rick ….. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRIME WAVE! Only Congress has the authority to curtail the 2nd Amendment! Where is your plan? Oh I forgot when you were Governor you gave tax breaks to gun manufacturing operations to relocate to Florida! Sure Rick ….. let’s keep the guns local to the criminals who populate Florida. Hey Rick ….. your favorite criminal Rudy Giuliani has his license to practice law pulled today.

    Real conservatives should consider joining us at the Lincoln Project.

Comments are closed.


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