Senator Rick Scott joined me this morning:

Audio:

06-26hhs-scott

Transcript:

HH: Joined by United States Senator Rick Scott on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Good morning, Senator. Welcome back. Always good to talk to you.

RS: Good morning, Hugh.

HH: Senator, I’m looking at the economic news, and even in the Nike numbers, there’s buried an interesting clue. They’re down 38% year over year in the quarter, but their online sales were up 75%. I’m looking at an Amazon story. I always disclose I own Amazon. Their quarter two revenue is likely to surge to $80 billion dollars. You were a businessman before you were a very successful governor before you were a senator. I think what we see is the force march of American commerce online with amazing productivity benefits to be harvested. I might be hunting for a silver lining, but I also think it’s the reality of what’s going on in the economy. What do you as a businessman think?

RS: Well, first off, you know, I personally, I didn’t buy that much online before the Coronavirus. I know enough now that I actually know my credit card number. So I think people are buying a lot more online. The world’s changing. And you know, as a businessperson, you’d say well, you know, I don’t like all the chaos, but that’s when the opportunities are there. So as a business guy, I’d say boy, what should I be doing to win in the new environment? If the new environment, we’re going to have more online, there’s going to be different products that people want, different services that people want. I mean, I’m fascinated with what my daughters buy versus what my wife and I buy. It’s different. So it’s going to be, it’s going to be an interesting time. I’m excited. The economy is clearly reopening. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re going to get there.

HH: Do you believe that the Democrats are invested in economic despair? Because it seems to me they are ignoring every positive sign and emphasizing every negative one.

RS: Hugh, all they care about is elections. All they care about is power. They don’t care about, they don’t care about solving problems. Look at Tim Scott’s law enforcement bill. I mean, they didn’t want to even have a conversation about it, because oh, gosh, we might pass a bill and then the Republicans might get some credit for it. Donald Trump might actually sign something. That wouldn’t be good for the Democrats, for Joe Biden. All this is, all this is, is they’re all talk and no action. They’re not out there to help people. They’re not out there to help people get a job. They might be out there to help people become dependent, which doesn’t help you long term, but not help you get a job.

HH: Now Senator Scott, recent polls show the President down between 7 and 10 points in Florida. Now I don’t believe those polls. I believe he will win Florida handily. But you know Florida having won three statewide races there in the last nine years. What do you think the President’s reelection chances are in Florida?

RS: Oh, he’s going to win. First off, you go back and look at the polls in my races. I never, none of the other polls ever said I was going to win. All the polls were generally off four to seven points. This is a 50/50 state, but here’s why Donald Trump is going to win. He’s, you know, does he care about law enforcement? Yes. Do the Democrats? No. They don’t care about law enforcement. Does he care about the economy? Yes. Do the Democrats? No. What have they done? They believe in socialism. And think about it. There’s some issues down here that are going to help Trump – Cuba, Venezuela. You know, look at what Joe Biden, he was part of appeasing the Castro regime, and meeting with people like Maduro. So these, those things are going to help him here. So I think Trump will have a big win here. And look, it’s, we have an election. We’re going to have to fight to win. Do you want, I’m fighting for the future of this country. I know that we need to have Trump win, we need to have a Republican Senate so we don’t get all these crazy things that the Democrats want to do that will be bad for our families long-term.

HH: Senator Scott, let me play for you Joe Biden yesterday talking about the virus. This is cut number 17 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Joe Biden.

JB: …unnecessarily…now we have over 120 million dead from COVID.

HH: Now the President spoke about this latest gaffe with Fox’s Sean Hannity last night, cut number 22:

DT: I love people, but my most important job is to run this country great. I built it once so great. We turned it off, now we’re doing it again. It’s happening so, it’s going to be better than ever. But here’s the thing. I’ve got to do, their folk, this is serious business. We can’t have somebody, that’s a mistake. That’s not a mistake. That’s a serious error. When he says he’s running for the U.S. Senate, that’s a serious error. When he says I’m going to beat Joe Biden, which got very little coverage, that’s not like an error, gee, it’s a slip-up. That’s a serious error. So when you just told me that, I hadn’t heard that, that just happened, I guess.

SH: Yes, it did.

DT: That’s a serious error. That’s not a permissible type of error, because there’s something going on. And we can’t take that. You know, it’s wonderful to say gee, I feel sorry or it’s too bad, because I do, except we’re talking about the presidency of the United States. And it’s just not acceptable.

HH: Senator Rick Scott, straight up hard to answer question, but it’s got to be asked. Do you believe Joe Biden is experiencing cognitive decline?

RS: You know, I don’t know Joe Biden, but what I do know is he’s wrong on all the issues. I mean, he’s going to appease China. He’s going to appease Cuba. He’s not going to defend capitalism. So you know, I don’t know him well enough to talk about his abilities, but I can tell you on the issues, he’s completely wrong. He will not do anything to help this country move where we need to do. We have got to fight our adversary, China now. I mean, the General-Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi, has decided we’re his enemy and he’s going to try to beat us. Joe Biden…

HH: I’m going to come back to that…

RS: …he doesn’t think he’s a problem.

HH: But I’m asking Republicans to straight up focus on what people are talking about. There is buzz every day. The President said yesterday this is not normal. Are you alarmed by this issue, Senator Scott?

RS: Well, look, I’ve run three races, Hugh. You’ve got to always be careful what you say and don’t say things that don’t make any sense. Saying 120 million people died of Coronavirus, that doesn’t make any sense. We know that’s not, that’s not true. You know, it’s, one thing you’ve got, you’ve, if you’re going to run for office, you have got to be on your game every day. And you know, but on top of that, you’ve got to be right on the issues. Joe Biden’s wrong on the issues. I mean, I think Trump’s going to win because he’s right on the issues. I don’t know about Joe Biden, his abilities, but I can tell you what. He’s always wrong. I mean…

HH: Do you think he has to engage the press? He has avoided a press conference for close to three months now, which I think is astonishing.

RS: Hugh, he’s not going to engage the press. I mean, this is what happened with my race in 2018 with Bill Nelson. When Bill Nelson, he would do a gaffe every time he did an interview. He’s say something that was wrong and wasn’t even accurate, and so he just stayed home and the press gave him a pass. That’s what they’re going to do with Biden. They’re going to give him a pass. They’re not going to talk about how his, how he’s wrong on China, how he’s wrong on capitalism, how he’s wrong on law enforcement, how he’s wrong on Cuba. They’re not going to do that stuff. I mean…

HH: That is a very interesting comparison, Senator. How much did you beat Bill Nelson by?

RS: By less than 1%. It’s a tough state.

HH: But the stay at home campaign worked, in essence, for Bill Nelson because the media was with him?

RS: Because the media’s all in.

HH: And do you think the media’s all in with Joe Biden?

RS: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, if we, if I stayed home and didn’t go out, I mean, look at the difference. I mean, Trump is out doing interviews all the time. Did Barack Obama? No. I mean, look at the standard. It is so different if you’re a Republican in this country with regard to most of the media. It’s just, look, the standard stuff. Hugh, from my standpoint, that’s fine. I’ll go do it. I’ll explain it, why I do what I do. I think that’s what Trump’s been doing. But I really believe that in the end, the election’s going to be about the issues that matter to a family. What’s better for your family, not just for me, but who’s better for your family to stand up to China?

HH: That is, by the way, it will come down to the economy. I tell people tell me in September how the economy is looking and I will tell you who will win.

RS: Yeah.

HH: But I do worry about in the meantime, I do not think Silicon Valley is Donald Trump’s friend, although Mark Zuckerberg is at least not an enemy, and for that, he’s being pilloried by people in his own company. Do you believe these large social media platforms ought to have the protections of Section 230, that they ought to be treated as bulletin boards as opposed to publishers, because I no longer do?

RS: Hugh, they’re going to lose their immunity if they don’t change. If they just, if they do exactly what they’re doing where they go after conservative sites, but I mean, you know, Twitter was in one day, and so you, I guess that was when they kicked Mitch McConnell off, but Maduro, you’re okay with Maduro down in Venezuela that’s doing genocide against his people. You never stop any of his stuff. So if that’s, if they continue to pick and choose, they’re going to lose their immunity. It’s just a matter of time.

HH: Now there is a story this morning that one of the best guys in the Senate on the other side, Chris Coons, is talking about doing away with the legislative filibuster. I personally do not believe that they will hesitate for a minute if they win the Senate, which is why we’ve got to reelect Cory Gardner and Thom Tillis and Martha McSally and David Perdue and Joni Ernst and there are a couple others who they’re targeting. But do you think they will do away with the legislative filibuster, Senator Scott? And what do you think will be the consequences of that?

RS: Hugh, Chris Coons led the effort to keep it when Trump got elected, right? And now, he’s leading the effort to get rid of it if Biden gets elected. I mean, how disingenuous that somebody would do that, take this position if this person is the president, this position if this person is president. However, I’ve been there 18 months. It’s really consistent. The Democrats do it every day. So yeah, do I believe they’ll get rid of it? Yeah. They’ll do that. They’ll try to stack the Supreme Court. They’ll do everything they can to make sure they have power forever. That’s all they care. They don’t care about you. They don’t care about making your life better. They care about their power. That’s what they care about every day. The Democrats, all they care about is power.

HH: I want to pause. One more question, Senator. You just said they’ll stack the Supreme Court. You don’t really believe, do you, that they will move to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court?

RS: Hugh, they will do everything that they think they can get away with. If you think about this, think about what you just said about Chris Coons, a guy who led the effort to make sure we didn’t get rid of the filibuster when Trump got elected, but now is going to lead the effort to get rid of the filibuster if Biden gets elected? So what else will they do? They’re going to do everything they can to take the power. That’s exactly what they’ll do.

HH: On that ominous note, I wish you a good weekend, Senator Rick Scott. That’ll make some news, and I appreciate it always when you make news on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Thank you, Senator.

End of interview.