While much of America is scratching its heads Wednesday morning, Gov. Rick Scott says he isn’t one bit surprised Donald Trump walked away with a win last night. Why? Because, Scott says, Trump is a lot like him, and out-of-touch Washington elites are to blame.
“It turns out that the elites in Washington have no idea what is going on in this country,” the governor explained. “They are completely clueless. They are in complete shock right now. I love it.”
Take a look at the president-to-be and Scott -- both were outsiders with virtually no political history who rose from the underbelly of an underground network of voters who were fed up with the status quo.
Both are wealthy individuals -- and in both 2010 and 2016, the Republican Party counted them out.
The party spent money to push them both out of the race.
In the end, both Trump and Scott emerged victorious.
“The pundits and so-called ‘smart people’ inside the beltway had already written the obituary of Donald Trump and the Republican Party,” Scott said Wednesday morning. “They said they were dead and gone...they said the same thing to me in 2010.”
To Scott, Tuesday’s results sent a big message to the Washington elite which have run the political show for centuries --- a new wave is coming.
Scott had remained mostly quiet during this year’s election cycle, but he did publicly endorse Trump earlier this year and chaired the Rebuilding America Now PAC, which spent $20 million on TV ads in states like Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- states which all went red on Election Day.
Most major polls suggested Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would win in places like Florida, the state Scott has governed for six years and the state that went blue for both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
Scott, however, didn’t give up hope that Florida would bring it home for his nominee.
“I have long said that Trump would have a big win in Florida,” he said.
Trump’s win, Scott said, “harnessed the passion of Americans for turning Washington upside down.”
The people, he explained, want something different, just like they did when they elected him governor in 2010.
In a way, looking at the 2016 election must be a lot like looking in the mirror for Scott, who also suffered horrible favorability ratings throughout his gubernatorial career.
Trump has heard the same cry for help Scott did when Floridians demanded the end of politicians leading their state. While the governor did dump millions of his own dollars into the campaign, the overall rallying call for change was the one which resonated the most with voters in the Sunshine State.
The same principle, Scott explained, is paralleling across the country.
“He will have a lot of work to do,” said Scott of Trump. “But, that’s exactly what Americans are demanding.”
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
