Morning Wire - Israel’s War & the GOP Presidential Race | Sunday Extra

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

Republican Senator and presidential candidate Tim Scott shares his thoughts on the race and Israel’s war to root out Hamas. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The last week has seen a shake-up in the Republican presidential primary, with one high-profile candidate stepping aside as the narrowing field of contenders attempt to separate themselves from the PAC. One of the issues dominating discussion on the campaign trail is the war in Israel. In this episode, we continue our series of discussions with presidential candidates talking with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott about the primary race and the U.S. response to Israel's effort to take out Hamas. I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief,

John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Sunday, November 5th, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire. Joining us now to discuss the GOP primary and Israel is Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Senator, thanks for coming on. First, one of your GOP primary opponents, Mike Pence, just dropped out of the race. What's your reaction to that, and how does this affect your campaign? Mike has served the country so well for so long. We thank God for his service to the country. And certainly a faithful guy like him getting out of the race is one of the, ways that you consolidate the field. I think he looked forward and said that there's not a path forward for him. I think we should all thank him for service. He served the country really well. Impact on our

campaign is that we just remain focused in Iowa. We believe that we're all in for Iowa, and that's where our strategy is. And with Mike out the race, it gives us an opportunity to talk to more evangelical voters. But we always pause when in person of his quality and character gets out of the race. Have you had a chance to reach out to him personally? Yeah, we've texted back and forth. We've prayed partners. We've prayed a lot together and we spent a lot of time together on the House floor. When I was a newbie in the house, he was there for several years before I got there. And he was one of the people that you could really count on from a conservative perspective. And he remains that person who continues to see the seeds he's been sowing over decades of public service germinating and bringing

more conservatism into the party and into the conversation. So we'll miss them. Do you feel like his presence in the early stages of the race helped in terms of the national conversation. I do. I mean, listen, Mike is a staunch conservative, social conservative. And so when you look at the spectrum that is today's Republican Party, I think it's really important for us to have folks who are on the social side, very, very conservative, and then the fiscal hocks. Some of us blend it all together. But I think Mike always led with his faith and it always created an opportunity for a serious conversation. And I think it moors our party in an important way that the principles that govern us really important. He focuses on those principles as good as anyone from a social perspective.

I think we also need to continue to cast a vision as it relates to the economic realities of Joe Biden's devastation to the average family. I think it's important for us to recognize the unsafe, insecure white-up and southern border and what that does to our nation. But we also need to have someone who's saying, listen, guys, there's a pro-life movement that really matters. Those voters, we need them not only to turn out for us, but we need them turn out in huge numbers for us. And I think he helps to make that case for us. And speaking of that, what are the points of focus, your priorities for your campaign going forward? Yeah, for us, it's trying to thread the needle between being an optimistic, positive,

conservative, and someone who leads from a tough personal experience, helping people understand that the truth of my life literally destroys the lives of the radical left. They're willing to, for power and for politics use anybody, any group, any issue to maintain their power, what I want to focus on is how it is that the GOP and our principles have always led to human flourishing and how my life reflects that conservative perspective and destroys every single argument that the radical left are currently using from race to class to devise, to divide this country. Moving on now to the issue that's dominating the headlines Israel. Recently, Iran's defense minister threatened the U.S. at the U.N. on U.S. soil. This comes after U.S.

officials warned Tehran against tampering in the Israel-Hamas war. In your view, how has the Biden administration handled this situation and would you do anything differently? Well, the Biden administration's immediate focus is always appeasement. They always seem to be saying, yes, sir, yes, ma'am. whatever you want, we'll just negotiate. Hogwash, the first step is to recognize that appeasement only invites conflict. They haven't figured that out. The president of Iran, months ago, on our soil, threatened the lives of officials from the Trump administration while he was under the Secret Service protection.

No response from the Biden administration only encourages the foreign minister to come a few months later and say, if you, America, continue to support Israel, the consequences will not just be for Israel. It will include America for this president to hear those comments preceded by other comments just like it. And if you want to see the fact pattern, 80 plus attacks on American soldiers and personnel with only four responses, my administration, would do exactly the opposite. The first attack on our soldiers would have an equal proportional response, which means you attack one, we attack two.

Double for your trouble. It is the only way the Eastern philosophy understands Western strength is when you exercise it. You can't talk about it. You can't just have, thankfully, our aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. That's a good thing. But the truth is, if you're not willing to use the power you have, you only invite more conflict. That is something that my administration would understand and implement day one. Because if you don't do it day one, you've just taught your adversaries how to treat you.

What actions should the U.S. take to continue to support and maybe better support Israel going forward? A couple of things I would say. Number one, I am thankful that on October the 7th, I say, said a couple of hours after the attack that the first thing we should do is have our Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, seeing the Gerald R. Ford come in as well is helpful. I've said all along that having the special operation forces prepared to get our hostages back is absolutely essential. But we also must send a very clear message signal to Iran. That everything that Hamas does, everything that Hezbollah does,

anything the PA does, and or any other proxy that you are funding, the blood will be on your hands and the toll will be on your head. Without that, we'll see more malign behavior from all the proxies because as long as we are hitting targets in Syria and suggesting that it has nothing to do with Israel and Hamas, I think it weakens our position. and it strengthens the axis of evil. We've seen even recently more behavior from North Korea that suggest that they are too a part of this axis of evil that is acting in the Middle East. If we want to break that axis of evil, if we want to focus our attention effectively, go back to Iran where there are proxies and they are a conduit for North Korea. putting all that together simply tells us the puzzle is almost complete.

And by seeing that puzzle, if you don't strike in the heart of it when necessary and already provoked, you will encourage more bad behavior. How about Qatar and Turkey and their role in the Middle East conflict? How do those two countries play into this? Well, one of the things that we've seen with the negotiations of Qatar with the release of the hostages is that Qatar has an outsized role, partially because from all the indications we have, the head of Hamas, the leadership of Hamas, they're in Qatar. So unless we are working behind the scenes, and I do not think we are,

unless we are working behind the scenes, saying you're turning over the leaders so that they can face justice as well. I would expect that we should be encouraging Israel to hunt every single member of Amas wherever they are, period. Second thing, Turkey has become more and more provocative as they have become more radical in their approach. Our challenge with Turkey is that a part of the NATO alliance, reigning them in means that we have to have specific attention placed on them.

Without doing so, without almost carving them into a small category unto themselves, it will be harder for us to deal with them. If Biden continues to have his kumbay-jouye-lawy-lawy-all. moment in the Middle East. We're going to always see the fractures. Actually, the most effective way for us to deal with Turkey and the Middle East is to refocus our attention on the Abraham Accords and adding more Arab recognition or normalization for Israel with Arab states, i.e. Saudi Arabia. Where we create the partnerships in the Middle East is one of the ways that we start isolating other regimes. And

If we do that effectively, we will be able to target, and I mean, not kinetic, but target, Turkey, and get them to play ball again. Because today, they are out on the limb, and we should either saw it off or find a way to get them back on. Anti-Semitism is definitely on the rise around the world, including here on college campuses. Yes. What should be done to address this behavior on campuses? Well, one of the things I've said is President of the United States, I would sign the legislation that I've already. sponsored. I'm already leading on legislation that says to the colleges and universities and their administration, if you are a place where the platform for anti-Semitism includes

promoting, encouraging genocide, asking, begging, pleading for terrorists to keep devastating innocent people and encouraging mass murder, you will lose your Pell Grants and your federal funds about $125 billion. The only way to get the colleges and universities and their administration's attention is to pull our tax dollars from their campuses. They have the right to be wrong. You even have the right to be stupid. So you have the right to exercise your First Amendment and hate.

Jews or hate blacks or hate whites, that's on you. However, you do not have the right to encourage genocide. You do not have the right to support and to be a part of any apparatus that says terrorism against our allies is a good idea, not with our tax dollars. That is a line in the sand that once you cross it, I believe it's criminal, and you should not have our federal dollars as a part of your revenue stream. In your view, what aspect of this conflict in Israel is not being discussed enough by the administration or the media?

The biggest aspect is the misinformation war that I believe is purposeful, that the objective is a part of the overall strategy. We see Israel fighting Hamas tooth and nail. We saw just recently Israel firing missiles into Lebanon because of the challenges coming on that border. But the thing we've talked so little about is the danger of the misinformation war as an example, the hospital strike. Where why is she still a congresswoman, I don't know, but Congresswoman, Taleb with her Palestinian flag on U.S. soil. flying in front of her office, still having to tweet up. Being an extension of the Hamas propaganda machine led to the cancellation of meetings

with the president of the United States and Jordan, leaders of the PA, and there's nothing? No actual consequences? No challenges to the New York Times or the AP for believing the evil terrorist who murdered 14. hundred Israelis? You're going to just take them at their word? That misinformation war, in my opinion, this is going to sound hyperbolic, and I don't mean it to be, could cost more lives than what we saw since October the 7th. I think it's not only dangerous, I think it's as dangerous as Amos in their initial attack against Israel.

Because the misinformation war is what caused in the war. In part, Iran to say there will be consequences. It caused Hezbollah to start mobilizing. If we start seeing whoever they are, I would say there are multiple forces a part of the Thay. They want to not only isolate Israel in the Middle East. They want to see an erosion of the Abraham Accords and the alliance. They want to see the elimination of Saudi Arabia normalizing relationships. but they also want to see the elimination of every single Jew on the planet.

The misinformation war brings more fire, more fuel, more ammunition to Hamas and to Iran, which is the exact opposite of what the United States of America has to fight. And to have our media playing a role in that, it's not just devastating, it's disgusting. I think it's unethical and immoral. Final question, what do you hope to see in the next few days in terms of U.S. support for Israel and Israel's actions? What are you hoping for in terms of progress? If I were president of United States, I would simply ask Congress for a silo package of the $14 billion. There's nothing else in it to get passed.

I think we need, not Ukraine, but just a significant statement to the world of our interest and support. interest in Israel being successful and support to make it happen. We need a clear signal, not one conflated with other conflicts, but one focusing on Israel. Because I, as President of the United States, would want to send a signal to every single Middle East country, every ally around the world, that we are loyal to our allies. And we will be lethal to our adversaries. Anything less than that, I think it's a sense. same feckless leadership we're having today from Joe Biden. Well, Senator, thank you so much for talking with us. Thank you. That was Republican presidential candidate, Senator Tim Scott, and this has been an

extra edition of Morning Wire.