Florida Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis might support an education policy which claims slavery had its benefits, but it isn't benefiting his flagging presidential campaign.
Byron Donalds, a two-term African American GOP Congressman representing Florida's 19th District, largely praised DeSantis' education policies, but thought Florida should back off on extolling the virtues of slavery. Donalds tweeted on Wednesday:
The new African American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this.
Donalds was direct yet restrained in his criticism of DeSantis' policy. DeSantis and his allies, however, showed no such restraint in his criticism of Donalds. DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern and Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz called Donalds "a supposed conservative" and "supposedly conservative", respectively (or disrespectfully as was the case here) while DeSantis' press secretary turned rapid response director Christina Pushaw asked, "Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?", in reference to her speech last week condemning the policy.
Reinforcing Pushaw's rhetoric, DeSantis chimed in, “So at the end of the day you’ve got to choose. Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you going to side with the state of Florida?”
Mind you, a great deal of this hostility towards Donalds is because he endorsed Trump over DeSantis back in April. But for all intents and purposes, DeSantis and his allies were basically telling Donalds, "Know your place, boy!"
On Friday, Donalds replied to DeSantis and his team's criticism stating, “This is a dumb story and it’s brought to us by the DeSantis campaign. They’re the ones who made this an issue.”
Mind you, Donalds isn't the only African American Republican that DeSantis has gone after on this issue. South Carolina Senator and rival GOP presidential aspirant Tim Scott said of DeSantis' policy on Thursday, "There is no silver lining in slavery." DeSantis was slightly more restrained with Scott but not by much linking him with "D.C. Republicans" and Vice-President Harris:
I think part of the reason our country has struggled is because D.C. Republicans all too often accept false narratives, accept lies that are perpetrated by the left. And to accept the lie that Kamala Harris has been perpetrating even when that has been debunked – that's not the way you do it.
Michigan Republican Congressman John James, who is also African American, took DeSantis to task for his criticism of Donalds and Scott on Twitter:
@RonDeSantis, #1: slavery was not CTE! Nothing about that 400 years of evil was a “net benefit” to my ancestors.
#2: there are only five black Republicans in Congress and you’re attacking two of them. My brother in Christ… if you find yourself in a deep hole put the shovel down. You are now so far from the Party of Lincoln that your Ed. board is re-writing history and you’re personally attacking conservatives like @VoteTimScott and @ByronDonalds on the topic of slavery. You’ve gone too far. Stop.
But DeSantis won't stop. He will keep digging and the next pile of dirt will be headed towards James. DeSantis feels he must continue digging because he must maintain his so-called anti-woke credentials and keep to Trump's right. At the same time, DeSantis will also try to have it both ways as he has also claimed he "wasn't involved" in developing the slavery curriculum. But that curriculum was written at his behest.
DeSantis' presidential campaign is flailing, and it would seem fit that developing an education policy which teaches children slavery had its benefits would be the hill on which DeSantis' aspirations for higher office would die. And while DeSantis' campaign deserves to die an awful death, that death will clear whatever obstruction is left between Trump and the GOP nomination regardless of his far worse transgressions.
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