During the interview, Scott stated, “I love America more today than I did on May 22nd, but when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign.” He acknowledged that the voters, whom he described as remarkable, had made it clear to him that now was not the right time for his candidacy.

Scott had launched his campaign in May, becoming the second South Carolinian after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to seek the Republican nomination. His campaign focused on a positive and optimistic message, highlighting his personal story of being raised by a single mother and becoming the only sitting Black Republican senator.

The decision to drop out of the race came shortly after the third GOP primary debate. Although Scott had shown some momentum in early state polling over the summer, especially as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis struggled to close the gap with former President Donald Trump, he was unable to maintain that momentum during the debates. In the first debate, Scott found himself in the background as candidates Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley dominated the discussion.

Despite entering the race with a campaign war chest of $22 million, which he had accumulated through fundraising as a senator, Scott’s campaign faced challenges with a high burn rate. In an effort to turn things around, the campaign announced in October that it would focus all its efforts on Iowa, moving its headquarters to West Des Moines. Scott declared, “We have made the decision that it’s Iowa or bust for us, and I’m looking forward to being there.”

Ultimately, Scott’s decision to suspend his campaign reflects the difficulties he faced in gaining traction and the feedback he received from voters. As the GOP primary race continues to unfold, other candidates will need to navigate their own paths in pursuit of the nomination.

Article generated from corporate media sources.

Trust In The Mission (TIM) PAC will pull back on its previously announced $40 million ad buy that was scheduled to run through January in the key early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, according to the memo. While TIM PAC will still support Scott’s campaign in its efforts to win the nomination and beat President Joe Biden, Co-Chair Rob Collins wrote that the “Republican primary is stuck,” nodding to Trump’s massive lead in the polls.

“Donald Trump leads a cluster of statistically tied contenders by a wide margin. Vote share of non-Trump candidates trades up and down, but no campaign has achieved break away velocity. The fundamentals of this race remain unchanged: President Donald Trump occupies a lane to himself,” the memo reads. “So, we are doing what would be obvious in the business world but will mystify politicos – we aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative. We have done the research. We have studied the focus groups. We have been following Tim on the trail. This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting.”

TIM PAC Memo by Daily Caller News Foundation on Scribd

The RealClearPolitics (RCP) average for a 2024 national Republican primary, based on polls conducted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 9, indicate Trump is leading the crowded field by 45 points, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 12.9%, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at 7.6%, conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 6.2%, former Vice President Mike Pence at 3.7% and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 2.8%.

Scott has 2% support, and all other GOP hopefuls received less than 1%, according to the RCP.

“From Day One, Tim’s campaign was built for the long haul — powered by the most primary cash on hand and the highest candidate favorability of anyone in the field,” campaign spokesperson Matt Gorman told the DCNF in a statement. “On issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion, he has been the clearest and strongest voice, leading while others have followed. We’re ready, as ever, to take our message into the early states and beyond.”

TIM PAC has also rejected the notion that DeSantis or Haley are the proper alternatives to Trump, according to the memo.

“President Trump has played to his strengths, effectively defined Gov. DeSantis, and now he will define Gov. Haley. Both campaigns argue they are a ‘Trump but fill-in-the-blank’ alternative for primary voters,” the memo reads. “Trump will negatively define them based on this flawed logic. They are national figures because of Trump. This authenticity gap in their presidential narrative will be exploited. Trump knows this, they know this and that is why DeSantis and Haley have only traded vote share.”

The super PAC will continue its door knocking campaign, fundraising, hosting events and receiving earned media, according to the memo.

Trump, Haley and DeSantis did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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While prominent Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have supported banning TikTok, which is linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through its parent company ByteDance, Scott has opted for a less aggressive approach and has not called for fully banning the app. At the same time, one of the main investors in ByteDance, as well as the executive chairman and founder of Oracle, which stores TikTok’s American data, both contributed large sums to organizations supporting Scott.

Jeffrey Yass contributed $600,000 to Opportunity Matters Fund Action, a political organization that is aligned with and supports Scott, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. Yass’ investment firm Susquehanna International Group bought a significant stake in ByteDance in 2012, while his personal stake of 7% is valued at around $21 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“I’ve supported libertarian and free market principles my entire adult life,” Yass told the WSJ. “TikTok is about free speech and innovation, the epitome of libertarian and free market ideals. The idea of banning TikTok is an anathema to everything I believe.”

Yass is a major contributor to the Club for Growth, a conservative organization that mobilized Republican resistance to banning TikTok, according to the WSJ. He has given $61 million to the organization’s political spending division since 2010, which accounts for nearly one-fourth of its overall funding.

Opportunity Matters Fund, Inc., a PAC that also backs Scott, has received over $30 million in contributions since 2020 from Oracle Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, according to FEC data. Oracle has a contract with TikTok to store the company’s American data. Scott called Ellison one of his “mentors” in May when he launched his presidential campaign.

In response to questions by the Daily Caller News Foundation on whether Scott would support a TikTok ban, his campaign declined to call for one. Instead, it shared Scott’s comment that he has “no problem whatsoever” with a TikTok ban, which he stated in an August Fox News interview.

Though Scott did not call for banning TikTok in the interview, or promise to do so if elected, Scott advocated for a plan to separate American children’s data from the CCP.

“We have to separate or segregate the communist Chinese party from our kids’ data,” Scott said in the interview. “We have to stop them from spying on our kids.”

However, China hawks have criticized Scott for his stance on TikTok when compared to other top Republican presidential candidates, according to Politico.

Other candidates, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have all indicated support of a nationwide ban. However, Ramaswamy recently appeared to walk back his hard-line stance on TikTok.

“In retrospect, it was a little bit of an old-fashioned decision to say that there’s an entire mode of communicating with young people that I was going to turn off,” Ramaswamy said.

Former President Donald Trump also attempted to ban TikTok, but was stymied by federal courts. Scott cited such legal difficulties in his August Fox interview as evidence that “we can’t ban TikTok.”

DeSantis also received $2.5 million from Yass in February, according to data from his Florida PAC, which was named Friends of Ron DeSantis at the time. Yass has not contributed to Never Back Down, a federal PAC supporting DeSantis’ 2024 presidential bid.

Scott has backed more moderate solutions to potential national security concerns raised by TikTok, including voting to ban TikTok on government devices, and introducing a bill called the Know Your App Act to require applications to disclose what country they originate from.

China is using TikTok to spy on our children and invade their privacy. My Know Your App Act gives parents the tools they need to keep the CCP out of their homes and protect their kids.

— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) July 20, 2023

The Biden administration plans to resume negotiations with TikTok despite its previous ultimatum that ByteDance must sell its stake in the company or face a potential ban, The Washington Post reported. The Beijing-based company maintains an internal CCP committee, and the U.S. Department of Justice characterized ByteDance as a “mouthpiece” for the CCP.

A former ByteDance executive has alleged that CCP members within the company had a “superuser” credential or “god credential” that enabled them to view all of the data the company obtained, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company also had a “backdoor channel” to gain U.S. user data, the former executive asserted.

ByteDance employees also used TikTok data to spy on American journalists who were covering the company in 2022, Forbes reported. Additionally, TikTok stored American TikTok creators’ and businesses’ financial information such as Social Security numbers and tax IDs in China, according to records obtained by Forbes.

Oracle, Susquehanna, TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

“I know that America is a land of opportunity, not oppression. I know it, because I’ve lived it,” Scott said in the video. “I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional, and that’s why I’m announcing my exploratory committee for president of the United States.”

Scott described his positive experience in America and intends on defending the Judeo-Christian values that make the country great, according to the video. The senator has been widely perceived to run for the Republican nomination in 2024, and the video announcement is the latest indication of his aspirations.

I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional.

That's why I'm announcing my exploratory committee for President of the United States.

This fight is personal.

I want every American to have the same opportunities I had. pic.twitter.com/HV56pbyKdB

— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) April 12, 2023

In the campaign-like video, Scott listed some of the things he might do as president – standing up to China, restoring job opportunities, parental rights in education, solving the border crisis, defending streets from crime and protecting the right to life.

“Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness. They’re promoting victimhood over responsibility. And they’re indoctrinating our children to believe that we live in an evil country. And all to often when they get called out for their failures, they weaponize race to divide us, to hold on to their power.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Article cross-posted from Daily Caller News Foundation.

Despite being correct in her assessment, even her fellow Democrats are calling for her to suspend her campaign with some even wanting her to resign from the state legislature. According to the Associated Press:

The calls for state Rep. Krystle Matthews to withdraw just two months ahead of the general election came Thursday in reaction to leaked audio published by conservative activist group Project Veritas of Matthews speaking to one of its members, without her knowledge.

Sitting in a restaurant, Matthews, who is Black, is heard saying that she represents a “mostly white” district, adding, of white voters: “I keep them right here — like under my thumbs. … Otherwise, they get out of control — like kids.”

“You ought to know who you’re dealing with,” Matthews goes on to say. “You’ve got to treat them like s—-. That’s the only way they’ll respect you.”

She’s not wrong. White leftists love to be treated like s*** by persons of color. It makes them feel like they’re selflessly accepting punishment for past generations that wronged Blacks and other minorities. It’s an act of penance to reverse their “White Privilege” that has made things too easy for them while making things too hard for minorities.

In modern-day America, this is, of course, a very racist perspective. American citizens have equal opportunity across the board. The myths of systemic racism or generational persecution were no longer widespread problems in the 21st century until Democrats saw an opportunity to stoke racism from the other side of the cultural fence. Now, we’re seeing people like Krystle Matthews attempting to capitalize on the lunacy.