In a video message Wednesday (April 12) announcing the launch of his presidential exploratory committee, the U.S. Senate’s only Black Republican said Democrats “weaponize race to divide us” – ignoring the racist dog whistles Republicans often use.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, 57, vowed in the video to "never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional,” making this the strongest signal yet that he’s positioning himself in what could become a crowded Republican field of candidates running for president in 2024.

Scott, who has stated that Trump is blameless for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, said in 2021 that he would support the former president if he ran again in 2024.

But Scott’s announcement suggests that he plans to roll up his sleeves and fight for the party’s nomination against Trump and other GOP heavyweights, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who reportedly intends to run for president.

The announced candidates include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The other names floating around include former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Throwing red meat to the base, Scott said, "Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness. They're promoting victimhood instead of personal responsibility and they're indoctrinating our children to believe we live in an evil country. And all too often, when they get called out for their failures, they weaponize race to divide us, to hold onto their power.”

While accusing Democrats of weaponizing race, Scott ignored how Republicans, including those vying for the presidency, have used race to divide the nation and get votes.

Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” was a signal to White southerners, former President Bill Clinton told an audience while campaigning for Trump’s rival, his wife Hillary Clinton, The Huffington Post reported.

“I’m actually old enough to remember the good old days, and they weren’t all that good in many ways,” Clinton said. “That message where ‘I’ll give you America great again’ is if you’re a White Southerner, you know exactly what it means, don’t you?”

In 2018, DeSantis, a former three-term congressman stepped into the national spotlight during his gubernatorial race against Andrew Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor and Florida’s first major party Black candidate for governor.

It didn’t take long after Gillum won the Democratic nomination for DeSantis to stir controversy when he appeared to blow a racist dog whistle, using the racist epithet “monkey,” during a Fox News interview.

“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state,” DeSantis said of Gillum, The New York Times reported.