News/Commentary

Another Black Republican using Dem talking points to attack DeSantis: ‘You’ve gone too far. Stop’

July 29, 2023 | | Print Article

Attacking from the left picked up steam as efforts to box Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis out of the presidential primary have made for some controversial GOP connections to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mud-slinging is nothing new for politics, and with the better part of a year before a single ballot is cast, the primary is likely to only heat up from here. While the decision for some prominent conservatives to choose sides has come as no surprise, the choice for some black Republicans to echo Harris’ sentiment on the slavery curriculum probably wasn’t on anyone’s 2023 bingo cards.

Reality remaining unpredictable, two more members of Congress joined Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) who had already expressed his disfavor for the curriculum standards released by his state’s Department of Education. Among them was Michigan Rep. John James who took to social media Friday to slam DeSantis for having “gone too far.”

“@RonDeSantis, #1: slavery was not CTE (Career Technical Education)! 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,” the congressman alleged.

“My brother in Christ…if you find yourself in a deep hole put the shovel down,” James continued. “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.”

As pointed out by the Michigan lawmaker, who like Donalds has publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, the Florida governor also took heat from rival candidate South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Scott had picked up the baton, after Donalds had already been hit with tremendous backlash for misrepresenting the Florida curriculum in line with Harris’ accusations, and told CBS News, “There’s no silver lining…in slavery. The truth is, even if you learn that any benefits that people suggest you had during slavery, you would have had as a free person. Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans, and raping their wives. It was devastating.”

DeSantis had already come out and defended the curriculum against the attacks from the vice president who, as reported, had zeroed in on one line from the text that stated, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Despite the narrative presented by James that DeSantis was on the attack, the governor had been responding to accusations and did so again Friday when questioned on the controversial position taken by his fellow Republicans.

“You know, 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, you know, accept the lie that Kamala Harris has been perpetrating, even when that has been debunked, that’s not the way you do it,” he could be heard saying in a video clip shared by Ron Filipkowski.

“The way you do it, the way you lead is to fight back against the lies,” DeSantis continued, “is to speak the truth. So I’m here defending my state of Florida against false accusations and against lies. And we’re going to continue to speak the truth.”

Meanwhile, as Scott and James attempted to pile on where former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson had also attacked, Donalds was already backtracking his statements after getting slammed for appearing to align with the vice president.

Appearing on News Nation, the Florida congressman said, “I don’t agree with Kamala Harris,” and further stated, “Children in Florida will learn black history, and they’ll do a good job with it.”

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles