Tim Scott reads racist tweets by ‘liberal left’ over support for Jeff Sessions

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott read racist tweets directed at him on Wednesday from the floor of the U.S. Senate as a way of showing his peers that no political party has a monopoly on bigotry.

Former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was confirmed as President Trump’s attorney general late Wednesday, but not before a contentious debate that devolved into racial attacks on his integrity. Mr. Scott, a Republican, took time to read bigoted tweets by the “liberal left” that were sent to him, seemingly in response to a speech given by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

Some of the tweets read:

• “Senator Tim Scott is not an Uncle Tom — he doesn’t have a shred of honor. He’s a house negro, like the one in ’Django [Unchained].’ “
• “[Mr. Scott is a] black man who is racist against black people. Big Uncle Tom piece of fertilizer.”
• “You are a disgrace to your race.”
• “How does a black man turn on his own?”

“I left out all the ones that used the n-word,” Mr. Scott told his colleagues during footage aired by C-SPAN. “Just felt like that would not be appropriate.”

“You see what I’m surprised by, just a smidgen, is that the liberal left that speaks and desires the rest of us to be tolerant do not want to be tolerant of anyone that disagrees with where they are coming from,” the senator continued. “So the definition of tolerance isn’t that all Americans experience a high level of tolerance is that all Amer­i­cans that agree with them experiences this so-called tolerance.”

Mr. Scott also noted that Alabama Democrats vouched for Mr. Sessions’ character. The former Alabama prosecutor was confirmed with a 52-47 vote.

“Jeff Sessions has earned my support and I will hold him accountable if and when we disagree,” Mr. Scott said, Fox News reported Wednesday.

.@SenatorTimScott reads tweets criticizing his endorsement of Sen. Jeff Sessions: “I left out all the ones that use the n-word.” pic.twitter.com/AhTnGaUyiz

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 8, 2017