Rick Scott gets caught in the act
Current Florida Governor Rick Scott won his primary challenge for Senate on Tuesday. As Governor, Scott has been no stranger to scandals, which makes it that much less surprising that Donald Trump is a vocal supporter. Following the tragic school shooting in in Parkland, it was pointed out that Scott had allowed $20 million in funding for mental healthcare to run out, while refusing to pass common sense gun laws and even signing a bill that made it illegal for doctors to ask patients if they had access to guns. Prior to becoming governor, Scott was called “the ultimate Medicare thief” by the Florida Democratic Party when Columbia/HCA, the company Scott worked for as CEO, was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud.
On Monday, a report by the Miami Herald discussed a new scandal involving Rick Scott hiding large sums of money in a Cayman Islands tax haven. After earning $2.9 million from two dozen hedge funds last year, it was discovered that he and his wife have between $25 million and $62 million worth of investments registered in the Cayman Islands. While Scott’s spokesperson claimed the investments are in a blind trust, the money is being managed by a friend and former associate of Scott. On top of this finding, Scott refuses to say whether or not he’ll even utilize a blind trust if he wins the Senate seat. All of this took place while Trump and the Republicans falsely promoted their tax scam bill as a way to bring offshore money back to America.
Scott’s hypocrisy is not limited to personal assets or healthcare policies. During his campaign for Senate, Scott has released campaign ads in both English and Spanish. While this is not unusual in Florida, a state with nearly a quarter of the population being of Hispanic and Latino heritage, Scott’s campaign ads differed by more than just language. While his English messages praised Trump’s actions and policies, his ads in Spanish were often anti-Trump and even mentioned “reforma migratoria,” which would give undocumented immigrants some legal status while promising to allow an increase of legal migrants in the future.
As it’s clearly evident that Donald Trump is not even fluent in English let alone Spanish, it’s safe to say he will have no clue what Rick Scott is promoting, even if he hears the Spanish ads. While more Republicans in close House races are beginning to call out Trump, it will be interesting to see if Scott’s future campaign ads go even further against Trump heading into the general election in November.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.