DeSantis calls out Donalds after his exclusive interview with WINK News

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:
Congressman Byron Donalds spoke out against critical race theory on Tuesday. (CREDIT: WINK News)

An interview with Congressman Byron that aired exclusively on WINK News resulted in retorts from the Florida Department of Education and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The interview

Donalds discussed the new African American history standards in Florida Tuesday. Afterward, DeSantis called out Donalds during his campaign stop in Iowa for the Congressman’s comments made in an interview with WINK News.

Donalds was concerned with one section of Florida’s new African American history standards that purports to address “how slaves developed skills which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit.”

A national response

“You got to choose. Are you going to side with Kamala Harris?” DeSantis said. “And liberal media outlets? Or are you going to side with the State of Florida? Don’t side with Kamala on that. Stand up for your state where there are beneficial aspects to slavery.”

On Wednesday, the Governor’s Office took to Twitter to say Donalds is parroting Vice President Kamala Harris, who traveled to Florida last week to criticize the standards.

Commissioner Manny Diaz with the Department of Education tweeted the following, “We will not back down from teaching our nation’s true history at the behest of a woke @whitehouse, nor at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman.”

Donalds responded, posting his interview with WINK News. He explained that he called the standards good and robust, he only found issues with the one section.

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign put out a statement that said DeSantis’ presidential campaign’s attempt to smear Donalds is a disgrace.

Trey Radel, a former Republican United States Congressman from Florida, told WINK News this isn’t a matter of politics—it’s a matter of humanity.

“To watch these campaigns now kind of go back and forth on it is pretty gross because the thing just needs to be removed,” Radel said.

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