Joe Biden told Black voters "you ain't Black" if they didn't support him – and Democrats spent a week calling it a gaffe.
Now Gavin Newsom walked into Atlanta on his 2028 presidential book tour and told a Black audience he was just like them because he scored a 960 on the SAT and "cannot read a speech."
And Tim Scott wasn't about to let him walk away from it.
Gavin Newsom's 960 SAT Comment Goes Viral With 35 Million Views
Newsom made the remarks Sunday night at the Rialto Center for the Arts, seated alongside Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens while promoting his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry.
"I'm not trying to impress you, I'm just trying to impress upon you I'm like you," Newsom told the crowd. "I'm no better than you. I'm a 960 SAT guy."
He kept going: "You've never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in."
The clip hit X and exploded to 35 million views.
Sen. Tim Scott responded without hesitation: "Black Americans aren't your low bar. We've built empires, created movements, outworked, outhustled and outsmarted people like you. Stop using your mediocre academics as a way to patronize communities."
Newsom Blames Dyslexia as Backlash Spreads Beyond MAGA
Newsom's office fired back with the now-familiar Democratic playbook: call it "MAGA-manufactured outrage" and move on.
His spokesperson insisted Newsom had said this publicly for years – including with conservative audiences.
That's the problem.
A man worth $30 million, whose billionaire family friends bankrolled his wine business, chose low SAT scores and an inability to read as his bridge to a Black audience in Atlanta – while sitting next to the book he authored, the same book that cost up to $100 a ticket to hear him discuss.
The crowd paid to watch a man sell them his memoir while explaining he can't read.
Tim Scott Fires Back With Trump's HBCU and Black Unemployment Record
On Fox News with Sean Hannity, Scott drew the contrast that every conservative in America was thinking: one party talks down to Black Americans, and one actually delivers for them.
Trump's record is concrete – Opportunity Zones channeling private investment into distressed communities, the FUTURE Act permanently securing $255 million in annual HBCU funding, and Black unemployment hitting historic lows in the first term. In the second term, Trump has added $322 million in disaster relief loan forgiveness to four HBCUs and signed an executive order rebuilding federal partnerships with Black colleges.
Scott put it plainly: a 50-year high in Black Republican votes because Trump believed in the community and delivered – while Newsom used his mediocre academics to patronize it.
This isn't the first time Democrats have pulled this move. Biden told Charlamagne tha God in 2020 that Black voters who considered supporting Trump "ain't Black." In 2019, Biden told Iowa voters that "poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids" – then caught himself and added "wealthy kids."
The pattern isn't accidental.
Why Newsom's Atlanta Gaffe Could Follow Him to 2028
Newsom is running for president – he just won't say it out loud.
The Atlanta book tour, the South Carolina stops, the X battles with Hannity – this is a campaign without a filing date.
And on the night he launched it in the city that will matter most to any Democrat hoping to win Georgia, he chose to bond with a Black audience over illiteracy and academic failure.
Scott said it plainly on Hannity: the contrast for 2028 is already written.
Democrats have been reaching into this same tired playbook for decades – assuming Black voters need to be pandered to rather than delivered for – and it keeps blowing up in their faces.
Trump funded their colleges, built their neighborhoods, and earned the highest Black Republican vote share in 50 years. Newsom flew into Atlanta and told them he's just like them because he can't read.
His 2028 opponents just got their opening ad handed to them at a book signing.
Sources:
- Hanna Panreck, "Newsom ripped over 'racist' viral clip telling Black mayor 'I'm like you' before touting poor SAT score," Fox News, February 23, 2026.
- Tim Scott, Statement on X, February 23, 2026.
- "Scott rips Newsom for saying 'I'm like you' before quoting low SAT score to Atlanta crowd," WCIV/KOMO News, February 23, 2026.
- White House, "President Trump Celebrates Black History Month: Advancing Opportunity and Prosperity for Every American," whitehouse.gov, February 2026.
- Sen. Tim Scott, "Senator Scott Praises President Trump's Commitment to Opportunity and Innovation at HBCUs," scott.senate.gov, April 23, 2025.
- "Biden Says 'You Ain't Black' If Voters Are Torn Between Him and Trump," NPR, May 22, 2020.
