Rep. Byron Donalds told Newsmax on Sunday that he voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House last week, because of the "woke agenda" that he sees growing in the U.S. military, even though he did see many "positive movements" in the legislation.
"Our military has one job to do, and that's to train soldiers to defend our homeland, and then if necessary, to win fights and battles across the globe. That's it," the Florida Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "It's not to get involved in these culture wars that are happening here in the United States. Cleaning up the military from these culture wars is going to be critical for House Republicans."
He added that "if military commanders are concerned about this, they are off their mission."
"There is definitely mission creep in the armed forces, and we have a responsibility to pull that back and refocus the military on its core mission, and its only mission," said Donalds.
The congressman's comments came after he was asked about an incident in New Jersey, where Fox News reports a high-ranking military official flagged a Facebook post from a mother to the local police after she complained about sexual preference posters on display at her child's elementary school.
"It is not the job of the United States military if a mom is concerned about what flags are flying out of school," said Donalds. "Guess what? That's a good mother."
He added that such incidents, along with the revelations contained in the "Twitter Files" documents about efforts to suppress conservative speech and the push to block former President Donald Trump show a serious issue concerning government control.
"You have a situation where elements of our government have no problem using the weight of their offices to reach into America to suppress information, to try to get Americans to take down information, to just ignore information, all of which is a violation of the First Amendment," said Donalds. "It doesn't matter if you're using an outside agency to do it or by using the pressure of your office to get it done. That is a violation of the First Amendment of the United States."
The congressman also spoke out about the upcoming closure of Disney World's Splash Mountain, which will be shut down for the public on Jan. 23, according to NPR.
The company announced two years ago that it would close the popular ride because it was based on the movie "Song of the South," which has caused controversy in recent years over its portrayal of plantation life. It will reimagine the ride, in both its parks in Florida and California, "Tiana's Bayou Adventure," which will be themed around the 2009 animated film "The Princess and the Frog" which features Tiana, Disney's first Black princess.
"I've been at Splash Mountain so many times, I can't even count," said Donalds, adding that he and his three sons have not thought anything there to be wrong.
"Here's the problem that we have," he said. "You have these people who choose to want to be victims being a victim," said Donalds. "They go from place to place and have to find reasons to change something so they feel better about themselves."
And Splash Mountain, he said, "is just an amusement part of the amusement park here in Florida."
But again, Donalds said, Disney has "lost their mind when it comes to programming and stuff like this, and it's really sad to see them not just stand up and be like no, this isn't racist. It's just a part of our park and kids enjoy it."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.