Ron DeSantis says Tim Scott, DC Republicans are buying the left's lies on slavery lessons

ALBIA — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and D.C. Republicans of accepting “lies that are perpetrated by the left” after Scott criticized his support for new standards for the way Florida teachers discuss slavery in schools.

“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,” DeSantis told reporters in Albia Friday morning. “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. The way you do it, the way you lead is to fight back against the lies. It’s to speak the truth. So I’m here defending my state of Florida against false accusations and against lies.”

Teachers, civil rights leaders and others have criticized DeSantis for the curriculum, which now requires Florida teachers to instruct middle-school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the country’s first Black vice president, recently traveled to Florida to condemn the curriculum. She is scheduled to be in Des Moines Friday to discuss reproductive rights at a roundtable at Drake University.

Scott was asked by media in Iowa about the curriculum controversy dogging DeSantis.

"There's no silver lining to slavery," Scott responded.

“What slavery was really about was separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating,” Scott, who is Black, told reporters Thursday after a town hall in Ankeny. “So I would hope that every person in our country — and certainly running for president — would appreciate that.”

DeSantis was on the second leg of a three-day bus tour organized by his super PAC, Never Back Down.

He is scheduled to join a lineup of a dozen other Republican presidential candidates, including Scott, at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner Friday evening.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ron Desantis chastises DC GOP for accepting lies about slavery teaching