Conservatives Could Be 'Equally Unhappy' With Trump, Sen. Tim Scott Says
Sen. Tim Scott has a word of warning for fellow Republicans.
— -- Sen. Tim Scott has a word of warning for fellow Republicans on the eve on Donald Trump's Inauguration: Get ready for the "unpredictable."
"He did not run, in my opinion, as a conservative," Scott told ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Rick Klein on the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. "He ran as an agent of change. So, we should expect to be equally unhappy with some of his policies -- from the right to the left. That's the one thing we’ll have in common," said the South Carolina Republican.
"When there are areas of disagreement, I know that I'm going to take on the likelihood of strong criticism from the White House, but the reality of it is I’m gonna stand up for what I believe in," he added.
Scott specifically named Trump's promise of a massive infrastructure bill. "The infrastructure plan -- I’ll be a little hesitant on until I see the details," said the first-term senator.
President-elect Trump has continued his public feuds since winning the election in November, most notably with civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who said Trump's election was not legitimate. Trump is slated to take office on Friday at noon.
"When Donald Trump is punched, he's a counter-puncher. He hits back," Scott said. "Whether it's Meryl Streep, whether it's John Lewis, whether it's John McCain -- we've seen this play out very often in the same fashion."
"There's an old Scripture in the Book of Matthew that says love your neighbor," he said. "Now, I would hope we as leaders would look for ways to bring this country together -- from the president of the United States down to every member of Congress, to leaders of households and at the state level as well."
Conservative columnist George Will agreed with Scott on Trump's conservative credentials.
"I'm not convinced that he's a conservative," he told the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. "The strongest evidence we have since the election is his behavior with regards to Carrier -- using the political power of an office he did not yet hold to compel a private sector entity to abandon its original estimate of what made economic sense ... and to reverse itself and make non-economic decisions under political pressure. ... It's not an encouraging sign."
Will went on to say that he could see a potential clash between the White House and Republicans in Congress over major issues like entitlement reform.
"The president-elect early on in his campaign said he wanted no changes," Will said. "Paul Ryan, who is the intellectual leader of the congressional wing of the party, has made entitlement reform the goal of his political life. That is, to put it mildly, a very stark conflict."
Will also named Trump's infrastructure plan but called the repeal and replacement of Obamacare as "the big initial test."
"We're going to see at that point whether Congress still thinks of itself as independent and a co-equal branch of government," Will said.
Will held a dinner party with Obama before his inauguration, but he said he doesn't have any dinners slated with President-elect Trump. He also said he wouldn't hazard a guess on whether the Chicago Cubs or Donald Trump are more likely to repeat their underdog 2016 victories.
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