Sen. Tim Scott, after a listening tour in Iowa this past week, Sunday parried questions about his plans for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and instead accused Democrats of "working on a blueprint on how to ruin America."
"If you wanted to ruin America you would print and spend trillions of dollars leading to the highest inflation," the South Carolina Republican said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday," rejecting complaints from some quarters that he has been putting out a negative message on the opposing party's actions.
"Why is that negative to point out under Joe Biden's leadership we've had the highest inflation in 40 years?" he said. "Why is it negative to point out that we've had four and a half million people across our southern border illegally? Why is it negative to point out the fact that we've had 100,000 deaths to overdoses linked to fentanyl?"
Without understanding the "weakness of the progressive movement," he added, "then it is impossible for us to offer positive optimistic solutions to the challenges we face because of the progressive wing of the Democrat Party."
However, when asked directly if he was ready to announce his decision on a presidential campaign, Scott responded that he "made a decision to go to church at 11:30 today."
And when asked if he sees a "lane" for himself in the primary, Scott told Fox News that the more important lane is for "kids growing up in single-parent houses like I did."
"Can we make sure the lane to the American dream is open for them?" Scott said. "My focus is still on the mission of making sure that every single American believes that the American dream is achievable for them."
He added that it's important to have an "authentic and sincere conversation about the goodness of America," rather than follow progressives who are "trying to make America into a grievance culture…I wish we'd spend more time talking about the goodness of this nation and stop the cancel culture."
Scott also said that a message of optimism is important, as "America is a country founded on the concept of hope," but the left is "trying to sell a drug of victimhood and a narcotic of despair."
"The truth is we have so much to celebrate and yet today and in many parts of the country, you feel like you are in quicksand," he said. "We should not allow the zip code of a child to determine the quality of their life. Education is the most powerful tool to equalize opportunity in this nation but there are poor zip codes where that is not possible. We have to do something about that."
Scott on Sunday also pointed out legislative actions he's been involved in as a Republican when asked what his policy argument would be as a qualification for running for the White House.
"One of the most important parts of being in the majority is the opportunity we have with the Tax and Jobs Act," he said, noting he's the lead sponsor of the legislation.
"We've lowered their taxes for a single mom by 70%," Scott said. "We promised to put more than $4,000 back in the average family's pocket. We were able to lower unemployment for African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians to the lowest level in the history of the country and the lowest level since World War II for women."
Further, he said he created opportunities with his signature legislation that has seen more than $50 billion for the attack against poverty in the United States.
Scott also spoke out on his stance on school choice, pointing out that "charter schools get about half the money as public schools" but provide better quality education and a choice for parents.