The embarrassing and desperate online proxy war being waged by both DeSantis and Trump “influencers” and Twitter trolls has reached a new low in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, as DeSantis's Executive Office and campaign staffers have taken issue with Rep. Byron Donalds for expressing his dissatisfaction with an aspect of Governor DeSantis’s Education curriculum.
While he has emphatically stated that he supports Florida’s Education standards, Rep. Donalds has only taken issue with one sentence in the curriculum that promotes the notion that slaves “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“To me, yes, that section needs some adjustments. The talking point narrative around it, yeah, it sounds awful,” Donalds said in an interview with Wink News. “Like nobody should be accepting of that, but when you read through the standards, they actually did a very good job in covering all aspects of Black history in the United States.”
Donalds has the right to his opinion, but the pushback he has received from Team DeSantis smells of political retribution considering that Donalds endorsed former President Donald Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential sweepstakes.
Team DeSantis is in the midst of a critical campaign reboot as money woes and plummeting poll numbers continue.
“What's crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement. Anyone who can't accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points. Just another reason why l'm proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump,” stated Rep. Donalds
Hypocritically, The Floridian has learned that several of DeSantis’s current and former Executive Office employees worked with Donald’s legislative office over the past few years to help frame DeSantis’s ‘War on Woke” agenda and to help with messaging on several culture war issues.
According to DeSantis’s press secretary Jeremy Redfern, Donalds is a “supposed conservative” and lying for the Biden White House.
“Supposed conservatives in the federal government are pushing the same false narrative that originated from the @WhiteHouse,” Redfern said. “Florida isn’t going to hide the truth for political convenience.”
Redfern continued, stating, “Laundering a lie for the White House isn’t a good look."
Laundering a lie for the White House isn’t a good look. https://t.co/HeesVZ5pwP
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) July 26, 2023
Redfern was echoing what Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. stated about Donalds in calling him a “supposedly conservative congressman.”
“This new curriculum is based on truth,” said Commissioner Diaz. “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.”
Christina Pushaw, who was recently reprimanded for some questionable online tactics, questioned Donalds on Twitter,” Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?”
Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 26, 2023
Pushaw was referring to Donald’s tweet where he calls Florida’s education standards “good, robust, & accurate.”
“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,” stated Donalds.
Interestingly enough, another one of Team DeSantis’s online “influencers,” Pedro Gonzalez, made Donalds’ case that blowback on him for disagreeing with part of the education curriculum was politically motivated.
“Hey Byron do you have a statement about Trump ripping off his supporters for $250 million after he lost to Biden and his team all told him he lost to Biden while publicly pushing the stolen election narrative,” stated Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was recently outed by Breitbart for making antisemitic and racist remarks.
“Minorities like me see America for what it is—a country built by whites, that can only survive if whites survive,” stated Gonzalez “And it is my job to make whites wake up. Because if they don’t we are all fucked. Especially people like me.”
Gonzalez also referred to Candace Owens as, “The Negress.”
Harrison Fields, Donalds congressional communications director, called Team DeSantis assertion that somehow Donalds was “repeating” the White House talking points on Florida’s education standards, was “a joke,” adding,” These people continue to lose credibility and integrity.”
Fields did not mince his words defending his boss, referring to DeSantis staffers and influencers as “ DeSantis keyboard warriors” that have “stooped to a new low by misrepresenting” what Donalds said.
President Trump came out swinging in defense of Donalds through his Senior Advisor Jason Miller, calling the him a “conservative hero” an saying that DeSantis’s “attempt to smear” him nothing more than “a disgrace.”
Miller added that these kind of attacks against Donalds is why the Florida governor has “plummeted faster than any presidential candidate in history.”
