DeSantis to GOP Rep. Donalds: Whose side are you on?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday took a direct swing at Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) during a campaign stop in Iowa amid an escalating conflict over the state’s newly revised Black History standards.

In his first public comments about Donalds, who slightly criticized the standards in a social media post Wednesday, DeSantis lumped the conservative Black Republican in with Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris last week blasted the standards adopted by the state’s education board primarily due to a portion that requires middle schoolers to be instructed that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

“So at the end of the day you’ve got to choose,” DeSantis said when asked about Donalds. “Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you going to side with the state of Florida?”

DeSantis’ comments were in line with members of his administration, his education commissioner as well as his presidential campaign apparatus who have criticized Donalds over the past two days.

Many of the governor’s supporters have suggested the Naples Republican took aim at the standards to help out former President Donald Trump. Donalds endorsed Trump over DeSantis even though the congressmember was an avid supporter of the governor and even appeared alongside him on election night last November.

Donalds, in a post on social media Wednesday, called the standards “good, robust & accurate.” But Donalds added that 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 (the Florida Department of Education) will correct this.”

Those in DeSantis’ orbit — including members of his campaign team — responded by linking Donalds to Harris.

On Wednesday evening, Donalds responded with another social media post that stated that “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.”

Jason Miller, a senior adviser for Trump, also weighed in Wednesday night by blasting what he called a “smear campaign” by DeSantis supporters against Donalds.

The exchange over the standards is yet another flash point in an increasingly bitter proxy war of words between the Trump and DeSantis factions.

And it stretches the controversy over the standards — which Florida education officials adopted last week — another day. At first, DeSantis distanced himself from the dust-up, saying during a campaign stop last Friday in Utah that he “wasn’t involved in it.”

But the governor, as well as his campaign, have since pushed back against the criticism, contending that Harris and others have lied about the standards while asserting they don’t downplay the evils of slavery.

The administration added a new talking point on Wednesday by drawing attention to the AP African American History course that the state rejected earlier this year because its lessons ran “contrary” to new Florida laws that regulate how race and gender are taught in the classroom. Harris criticized the state for rejecting the course.

Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis, pointed out the AP class standards included the language: “In addition to agricultural work, enslaved people learned specialized trades and worked as painters, carpenters, tailors, musicians, and healers in the North and South. Once free, American Americans used these skills to provide for themselves and others."

For its part, the College Board, which formulated the AP class standards, on Thursday rejected the assertion that lessons from its African American History Advanced Placement course aligned with Florida’s teaching standards.

The nonprofit said the lessons in question include “discussion about the skills enslaved people brought with them that enslavers exploited as well as other skills developed in America that were valuable to their enslavers.”

College Board officials added in a statement on Thursday that “we resolutely disagree with the notion that enslavement was in any way a beneficial, productive, or useful experience for African Americans. Unequivocally, slavery was an atrocity that cannot be justified by examples of African Americans’ agency and resistance during their enslavement.”

Florida's Education Department, meanwhile, is showing zero signs of changing the standards in the face of criticism in the state and beyond.

Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. is expected to participate in a town hall event on Aug. 10 alongside South Florida Democrats to discuss the new standards. The state lawmakers said the event, scheduled for Thursday in Miami Gardens, is a chance for community members to ask questions about the education changes and expected to be a "constructive evening."

Andrew Atterbury contributed to this report.