Donald Trump is leading in the polls compared to other presidential candidates, but conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk believes moderate GOP donors may shift their dollars to another presidential candidate because of “white guilt.” .
Trump was the first high-profile candidate to announce his presidential bid in November, and recently, the GOP presidential field has become more crowded. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced her campaign in February, and in the past 10 days, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have also announced their campaigns after widely anticipated campaign launches for both. Throw the hats into the ring. Trump continues to dominate the polls but may struggle to do well in the primaries amid ongoing legal battles and the frequent vitriol he shares on Truth Social.
Kirk, however, thinks Scott, the first black man to represent South Carolina in Congress, has an edge over Trump by attracting fundraising dollars from GOP donors because of “white crime.”
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“Republicans have been looking for our own Obama since 2008, as if he would solve all our problems,” Kirk said in a recent statement. Episode of his eponymous talk show. “It’s too bad you have to look at everything through a racial lens because Senator Tim Scott, regardless of his race, actually has a lot to offer in a very powerful and charismatic way. I think he is a thoughtful person, although he is more than that. In some respects he is more moderate than I am.
“Senator Tim Scott will certainly continue to resonate with more moderate Republican donors that he wants center-right policies,” Kirk added, before referring to moderate GOP donors. “‘Oh, this is Senator Scott and he’s not the kind of guy you don’t like. He’s a moderate and he’s all right.’ There is also white guilt in some of these donor decisions, make no mistake.”
Newsweek Scott’s campaign was reached by email for comment.
Scott’s optimistic outlook is an about-face about Trump’s verbal attacks, but Newsweek reported that Scott trailed Trump in a hypothetical one-on-one matchup, with the prominent Harvard/Harris poll Poll released last week showed Trump with a 79-21 lead over Scott in a two-person contest. The survey was conducted online in the United States between May 17 and 18 and surveyed 2,004 registered voters.
When Scott was included with other potential GOP candidates such as DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Vice President Mike Pence and Trump, only 1 percent of GOP voters admitted they would vote for him, 58 percent admitted they would vote for Trump and 16 percent for DeSantis.
The poll asked GOP voters who they would vote for in the primary if Trump didn’t run for president, with Scott jumping by a percentage point but DeSantis easily ahead.