Former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas is the latest Republican presidential hopeful to come out against the single line in Florida's new social studies standards that calls for teaching "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
On Sunday, during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Hurd criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for standing by the benchmark clarification, which was written by the state's African American History Standards Workgroup, stating, "I was the first Republican to come out and say that slavery is not a jobs program. And anybody that is implying that there was an upside [to] slavery is insane.
"Real leadership," Hurd said, "would have stepped up and said, Hey, there is no upside to slavery. Slavery was not a jobs program. But this is one more part of a fact pattern of Ron DeSantis being mean and hateful."
On Thursday, GOP hopeful nominee Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told a pool of press reporters slavery has "no silver lining." In response, DeSantis defended the 13-member work group from his state, saying, "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 accept the lie that Kamala Harris has been perpetrating," DeSantis continued, "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, 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."
In a statement addressing the standards, two of the people who wrote them — retired Army Lt. Col. Frances Presley Rice and scholar William Allen, a professor emeritus at Michigan State, both of whom are Black — defended their positions, stating, "It is disappointing, but nevertheless unsurprising, that critics would reduce months of work to create Florida's first ever stand-alone strand of African American history standards to a few isolated expressions without context."
According to Allen, it is not that slavery served as some benefit; the point, he maintains, is that despite their obstacles, former slaves transcended their circumstances and leveraged what skills they had to forge a path toward a better life.
Meanwhile, during his appearance on "Meet the Press," Hurd also attacked former President Donald Trump, stating: "Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison."
Approaching the subject head-on that Trump is being made an example of by the Department of Justice and the FBI, Hurd said, "Well, look, can I make some arguments about some of the things that DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI has done over history? Absolutely."
"But ... that doesn't change the facts on the ground. Donald Trump is a liar. Donald Trump is a national security threat.
"Donald Trump willingly knew that he had this country's secrets, and he was trying to tamper with evidence to hide that he had that information. All of those things are true, and that doesn't matter who the head of DOJ or where FBI is. And that's what we have to be honest about.
"And if we want to change how the DOJ operates or the FBI operates, then we have to win elections. And we're not going to win in November if we nominate Donald Trump."
Hurd has not qualified for the August round of RNC debates, as he has not fulfilled the polling or donation requirements.
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