The MRC's DeSantis Defense Brigade: Education Division

The Media Research Center continues to serve as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' PR division, this time defending his efforts to put a right-wing spin on education in the state.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 7/6/2023

Ron DeSantis

One example is how it has defended DeSantis' attempt to censor what is taught in schools, picking a fight over an advanced placement course on African-American history. Alex Christy complained in a Jan. 19 post:

MSNBC and CNN are not pleased with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest attempts to stop woke-ism in Florida with Alex Wagner sarcastically congratulating him for “keeping hockey white” on Wednesday while Wagner and Friday’s CNN This Morning both acted as if Florida will no longer be teaching history.

[...]

Wagner then moved onto DeSantis’s decision to not allow AP African-American Studies to be taught in the state. Courses ending in “studies” are notoriously political, but Wagner did not see it that way, “All of this is bad enough for the people of Florida, but it may concern all of us outside of Florida if DeSantis really is on his way to a presidential run.”

She then introduced Columbia Journalism School dean and The New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb, “Can you give us your thoughts on the moves that the DeSantis administration is making to censor the teaching of history and race in this country?”

For Cobb, it was if DeSantis just banned history class, “they’re trying to eradicate the history of the Civil Rights Movement.”

That’s objectively not true and ridiculous, but Cobb was just getting started, “And so in this march backward to make this heavy-handed diktat about what can be taught and what can't be taught, you’re literally pushing these institutions back into the past.”

As it was on CNN This Morning when Sara Sidner, discussing the same AP African-American Studies controversy and is relates to the wider movement against Critical Race Theory, uttered, “so that's a real problem when you look back at all this because people were oppressed in this country and should that not be taught?”

Sidner then assumed that because Critical Race Theory has “critical” in its name, it must promote critical thinking, “I think we can teach that and people can learn from that and you're supposed to be thinking critically. There's this whole argument that is being made, but this is an Advanced Placement course. So, what if Critical Race Theory is in it? Who cares? Teach kids to think, not what to think.”

Thinking critically means challenging your own assumptions whereas CRT starts with the assumption racism is the answer and then shoehorns evidence to fit a pre-determined conclusion. It is the exact opposite of critical thinking.

Christy offered no evidence to back up any of his attacks on CRT or critical thinking in general.

Kevin Tober ranted in another post that day:

On Thursday night's The ReidOut on MSNBC, the vile and venomous Joy Reid threw a temper tantrum over Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis allegedly banning an AP class called "African American Studies" from being taught in Florida public high schools. Instead of making a coherent argument for why a class like that should be taught, Reid accused DeSantis of approving a course that would teach students that former slaves in America were happy and treated well by their "good slave masters."

"It’s the Daughters of the American revolution, the pro-confederate groups who insisted that we can only teach slavery as happy slaves, good slave masters," Reid claimed.

Continuing to lash out, Reid shrieked: "I promise you an A.P. class that taught that slavery was good because it seemed at least per his former students, Dr. Gallon that he wanted to teach history of slavery as sort of gallant slave owners who were kind to their happy slaves. He's cool with that. And if the A.P. course said that, he’d be fine with it."

In a Jan. 21 post, Christy insisted that a right-winger "debunked" concerns about DeSantis' actions:

CNN’s voice of reason Scott Jennings displayed amazing patience on Friday’s CNN Tonight as he calmly debunked self-righteous senior political correspondent John Avlon and condescending former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner on the issue of what exactly Florida requires as part of its history curriculum.

As part of a discussion of Gov. Ron DeSantis disallowing AP African-American Studies, Avlon declared “Well, I think, first of all, what DeSantis is doing with this AP history course is about identifying a political tactic they think is a winner for the Republican base in particular, this war on woke. I think it shows that a lot of the conversations around free speech really fall apart when it's pushing their own ideological agenda.”

Every state, liberal, conservative, and everything in-between has laws regarding curriculum, but only when conservatives enact them is it a threat to “free speech.”

[...]

Jennings then calmly took apart this rant, “Yes. Well, Nina, you ought to be very happy with Governor DeSantis because not only is African-American history under Florida law required to be taught to school children, it has actually been expanded during his governorship... it is an absolute state requirement in Florida that they teach African- American history. And it's gotten more expansive since he came in. So, you sound upset with me, but the fact is Governor DeSantis –”

Turner then interrupted, “The way he wants it taught, Scott, right... The party of free speech is taking away people’s speech.”

Repeating partisan talking points is hardly the "debunking" Christy thinks it is.

Mark Finkelstein took a turn at complaining that DeSantis' activism was being criticized, and dutifully spouting talking points in response, in a Jan. 24 post:

CNN has never been "Facts First." Don Lemon hosted a segment on today's CNN This Morning to discuss Ron DeSantis's decision to uphold the Florida State Department of Education's decision to deny the College Board the opportunity to run a pilot AP (Advanced Placement) course on African American Studies pushing themes like "Intersectionality and Activism."

At one point, CNN's Audie Cornish said "I don't know where he wants to draw the line. Slavery was political at one point."

[...]

Wrong! Don Lemon surely knows that DeSantis is not proposing to ban the teaching of slavery. DeSantis does object, however, to African American history being taught from a hard-left perspective. And examining the curriculum in question, that is exactly what is being proposed. Students wouldn't be taught: they'd be indoctrinated in CRT, BLM, and history according to avowed Communist Party die-hards like Angela Davis.

Tober served up even more whining at Reid for daring to criticize DeSantis:

On Tuesday, MSNBC's ReidOut host Joy Reid launched into a vicious attack again Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis due to his committing the grave sin of protecting public school children in his state from racial and sexual indoctrination. Reid was so incensed that she compared it to the "cultural genocide" that took place in the 1800s against Native Americans. If you needed proof of how demonic and historically illiterate Reid is, this is all the evidence you need.

A Jan. 25 post by Tober smeared a civil rights attorney suing DeSantis over the forced curriculum changes as a "racial ambulance chaser":

Wednesday's NBC Nightly News dedicated an entire segment to a pending lawsuit by racial ambulance chaser Ben Crump and a number of left-wing activist students over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Education banning an AP African American studies course that would've taught public school students content steeped leftist ideology like Critical Race Theory, black queer studies, intersectionality, and other topics that violate state laws. Most of the segment was framed against the educational reforms DeSantis was making, with correspondent Zinhle Essamuah framing the racial indoctrination as simply "African American history."

"Protest and pushback in Florida with a new potential legal battle over race education," Essamuah announced before cutting to a student named Elijah Edward who whined about DeSantis: "I can't believe that this is 2023, and America is talking about censuring education."

"Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announcing his plan to sue Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and the state after DeSantis blocked a pilot AP African American studies course in Florida," Essamuah sympathetically reported.

Curtis Houck similarly attacked Crump in a Jan. 26 post:

Thursday’s CBS Mornings opened its “What to Watch” segment with a little over two minutes touting far-left activist and Al Sharpton-wannabe Benjamin Crump’s threat to sue Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) over the Florida Department of Education’s decision to reject an AP course on African-American culture and history because it was deemed “a vehicle for a political agenda” with topics such as critical race theory, intersectionality, and queer studies.

“Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is threatening to sue the state of Florida — rather, Governor Ron DeSantis. Here’s the reason: Last week, Florida’s Education Department rejected a proposed Advanced Placement high school course on African-American studies. That is a college prep class,” co-host Vladimir Duthiers began.

[...]

Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King reacted by defending the class, saying “it’s important to point out it’s an elective class” with other choices out there and thus students “don’t have to take it.”

Houck baselessly attacked another "CNS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil as a "socialist" without providing evidence to back it up.

Christy returned to complain in a Jan. 27 post:

If someone really wanted to get the conservative perspective on the news, one of the last places they would turn would be CNN, but that didn’t stop a Thursday CNN Tonight panel from declaring that GOP efforts to stop Critical Race Theory are not conservative.

[...]

Later in the segment, Avlon lamented that they were even having this conversation, “it's just the performative nonsense that we're playing into to some extent. I mean, yeah, Trump is trying to outdo Ron DeSantis and this is all about, you know, play the base and it's not about serious policy. It's not about helping kids. It's not about, you know, uniting the nation.”

Because The 1619 Project and gender theory are about uniting the nation?

Christy went on to insist that "Trump, DeSantis, and others are reacting to a left-wing culture war" and not creating one, even though CRT is nothing if not a right-wing culture war.

The lashing out at any criticism of DeSantis continued:

• Lemon MELTS DOWN Over 'Outrageous' DeSantis, Claims He Wants Children 'Ignorant'
• Behar Claims GOP Wants to Ban Holocaust from History Classes
• MSNBC's Hasan: 'Florida's Gone From Don't Say Gay to Don't Say Black'
• NBC Bemoans Removal of Racial & Sexual Content from Florida AP Course
• CNN Claims 'White Supremacy' Is Why DeSantis Opposes AP Class
• Univision Shamelessly Airs Anti-DeSantis Propaganda

Houck used a Feb. 1 post to remind us that this was all about advancing right-wing narratives and buzzwords and boosting DeSantis and nothing about education:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) scored yet another K.O. to wokeism Wednesday when College Board, the company behind Advanced Placement courses for high schoolers, released its revised curriculum for AP African American Studies after the Sunshine State rejected it for its litany of woke principles, including Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and queer theory. But when the head of College Board and the lead adviser joined CBS Mornings, none of that was brought up.

Instead, the course was treated as completely innocuous.

Houck never explained why it wasn't innocuous, beyond dropping right-wing buzzwords like "woke" and "Critical Race Theory." He followed that up with a Feb. 3 post touting DeSantis' "latest victory over wokeness" and whining that someone else criticized DeSantis.

Tim Graham cranked out his own DeSantis defense in a Feb. 3 column:

Anyone watching leftist cable news channels knows that it’s considered fair commentary to categorize Republicans, individually, or collectively, as “white nationalists” or “white supremacists.” Anyone standing in the way of the Black Lives Matter/Critical Race Theory crusade is dealt the Racist card.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scored a political win in pressuring the College Board to tone down their proposed Advanced Placement curriculum on “African-American Studies.” Every conservative knows from experience that when you place “studies” in front of a minority group – black studies, queer studies, Native American studies, women’s studies – you can expect a highly ideological journey.

Graham refused to admit that DeSantis is simply imposing his own ideology by force on Florida's educational system. Instead, he gushed that electoral might makes right: "Ron DeSantis was just re-elected with 59 percent of the vote, but CNN and their left-wing guests want to suggest that he’s the one that’s 'outside the mainstream.'" By contrast, the MRC never concedes that Democrats who win elections have a mandate for change according to their views.

Attacking a teacher

Kevin Tober defended DeSantis and attacked a teacher who exposed the practical effects of his policies -- in a Feb. 18 post:

The cast of CBS Saturday Morning spread some misinformation about the state of education in Florida when correspondent Cristian Benavides claimed that “classrooms and school libraries look like this” while showing a photo from a substitute teacher that was fired on Wednesday for spreading misinformation.

During his report, Benavides interviewed teacher Andrea Phillips, who was not the one who was fired, but who was there to provide the anti-Gov. Ron DeSantis emotion, “Without a diverse variety of books that represent my students, I can't get them interested in books.”

Reporting over some viral images, Benavides recalled, “Duval County Public Schools, which includes Jacksonville, said it would conduct a formal review of all books. While that review is ongoing, classrooms and school libraries look like this.”

What Benavides left out was a statement from the district. From First Coast News:

In discussion between the district and ESS regarding this individual’s misrepresentation of the books available to students in the school’s library and the disruption this misrepresentation has caused, it was determined that he had violated social media and cell phone policies of his employer. Therefore, ESS determined these policy violations made it necessary to part ways with this individual. (emphasis added)

So the problem is not that the teacher was actually wrong, it's that she went public with it. Tober never explained what, exactly, the "misrepresentation" is that Phillips made -- teachers were stripping books out of their classrooms out of fear. Further, blogger Judd Legum reported that the Duval County school district did, in fact, order all books removed from classroom shleves to be vetted.

Geoffrey Dickens cranked more defense in a Feb. 23 compilation item attacking criticisms of DeSantis' changes in teaching black history, though he offered no reason why the changes needed to be made in the first place. The same day, Tierin-Rose Mandelburg sneered at Florida students who are pushing back against the changes, reading straight from the DeSantis PR handbook:

Walkouts are just about as effective as petitions.

Regardless, Florida college students are planning a walkout for Thursday, Feb. 23, to protest Governor Ron DeSantis’ (R) supposed anti-black and anti-gay policies. Yes, this is as dumb as it sounds.

The Florida College Democrats and Dream Defenders organized the “Stand for Freedom” movement scheduled for noon on the 23rd. It’s in opposition to DeSantis and supposedly as a push to “restore diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in colleges and universities,“ USA Today reported.

In the “Stand for Freedom” statement/sign up sheet, organizers stated that their “education is being tarnished” by DeSantis and added, “He has displayed a pattern of behavior in which he Hijacks School Systems as he did with the New College of Florida. Marginalizes and Dehumanizes The LGBTQ Community, and portrays an abject Disregard Of The Rights Of Students. He says we are being indoctrinated by wokeness, but we say he is using us in his narrative, and destroying our schools to achieve his vision.”

Talk about drama!

Last month DeSantis did introduce a legislative proposal taking a stand against academic discrimination and indoctrination but nowhere did he “hijack” a school system or “dehumanize the LGBTQ community.”

Despite what critics are saying, the legislation will actually help diversify schools. Florida Lottery Secretary John F. Davis said the proposal will give all students the opportunity to succeed “regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, or socio-economic status."

Written very much like a paid DeSantis operative, not a "media researcher."

A Feb. 25 post by Graham complained that it was pointed out that DeSantis tried to water down content in AP black history curriculum while the College Board, which governs AP content, was fighting to keep what the Washington Post called "robust content" in the curriculum, which caused Graham to huff: "'Robust content' is a fancy term for overt propaganda." He offered no evidence this was, in fact, the case. Graham also whined that one critic "is a radical leftist who wrote a book celebrating Cedric Robinson, the author of Black Marxism."

Alex Christy spent a March 1 post grumbling that late-night comedy shows made jokes about DeSantis' dictatorial education reforms, .as well as the fact that the Disney-hating governor actually got married at Disney World. Christy found no humor here of course, insisting that "Disney changed in the time since DeSantis got married."

Christy then groused in a March 3 post:

MSNBC has officially run out of original thoughts. On Thursday’s Alex Wagner Tonight, the eponymous host and Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb came together to agree with Critical Race Theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a fascist.

[...]

While the current segment was mostly about the university system, the interview Wagner referenced was about the A.P. African-American Studies controversy making it a bit ironic that MSNBC frequently says Critical Race Theory is a made up controversy while citing one of its most famous advocates to call people fascists.

Actually, a state-mandated prohibition against certain things being taught in school because they are believed to run counter to that government's political agenda -- was is the case with the irrational ban on CRT -- seems to be the very definition of fascism.

Graham returned to whine in a March 7 post when someone who actually has experience in presenting history -- something neither Graham nor DeSantis have -- called out the governor's education dictates:

"Renowned” PBS filmmaker Ken Burns appeared on Tuesday’s CNN This Morning to rain fire on Gov. Ron DeSantis over a bill in the Florida legislature to mandate some boundaries on how taxpayer-funded universities teach American history. In the fevered brain of this PBS star, DeSantis is somehow comparable to both the Nazis and the Soviets. CNN loved this, and didn’t blink at this blatant misinformation from a "treasured chronicler."

[...]

Burns told CNN “All of these bills that DeSantis and others are doing limit our ability to understand who we are and they are not inclusive, they are exclusive. They are narrowing the focus of what is and isn’t American history. It’s terrifying. It feels like a Soviet system or the way the Nazis would build a Potemkin village,” Burns said.

He threw in Fox News to please his CNN hosts. “Tucker Carlson’s doing the same thing with the footage from 1/6. It’s just a kind of rewriting of history at the most dangerous level. It’s a huge threat to our Republic.”

When Burns noted that he learned from researching the Holocaust that "it's easy to make a person other," Graham huffed in response: "So conservatives are like genocidal Nazis and Soviets....and we shouldn’t create an “other.” Does that make any sense?" No less sense than the mindless right-wing demonization of CRT and portraying LGBT people as "the other: that is the foundation of DeSantis' education changes.

Tober complained in a March 22 post:

With the news of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis giving a lengthy sitdown interview with Fox Nation’s Piers Morgan in which he called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” ABC’s World News Tonight used that as an opportunity to bemoan DeSantis also seeking to ban LGBTQ and other forms of sexual indoctrination and grooming in 4th through 12-grade public schools. Since the Democrat Party [sic] narrative was more important than facts on ABC, anchor David Muir referred to Florida's Parental Rights in Education law as "don't say gay." This was despite the fact that the word "gay" appears nowhere in the text of the law.

Regardless, Muir was either ignorant of that basic fact or he knew what he was saying wasn't true and decided to say it anyway. After teasing the story on DeSantis's comments during the Piers Morgan interview, Muir previewed the news, saying, "DeSantis and a potential plan to extend Florida's don't say gay policy in schools all the way to the 12th grade."

Leftist hack and ABC senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott used a portion of her report to bemoan how DeSantis was expanding his anti-grooming legislation to include fourth through twelfth grades:

Tober went on to rant that "Regurgitating the talking points of gay and transgender activists, Scott ghoulishly suggested the legislation could cause some students to commit suicide: '[O]pponents say students all the way up to their senior year who may be struggling, could be cut off from teachers who could help.'" Tober, of course, is regurgitating the talking points of right-wing anti-LGBT activists, and he didn't disprove anything Scott said, despite whining that "leftists like her want to impose their sexual issues on young school children." How is acknowledging that LGBT people exist a "sexual issue"? Tober didn't explain.

Houck spent a March 23 post complaining that a non-right-wing news outlet didn't sound like DeSantis' PR team:

Thursday’s Good Morning America continued ABC’s smears of Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) by lamenting he’s “doubl[ing] down” on the “controversial” “Don’t Say Gay policy” as part of his obsession with exacerbating “hot button issues” and “cultural divisions” that pose a risk to the mental health of students by not allowing them to explore sex.

“DeSantis doubles down. Details on the Florida governor’s new move to expand what critics call the Don’t Say Gay policy and the reaction this morning,” announced fill-in co-host Whit Johnson, adding later at the start of the formal segment that DeSantis wants to expand “the controversial law.”

Senior White House correspondent and Biden shill Mary Bruce was on the case. After she said “DeSantis has become a real champion for conservative, cultural concerns” and has “lean[ed] even more into...hot button issues,” she also dubbed his call to expand the Parental Rights in Education Act.

[...]

Shifting into defensive mode, she posited that “opponents say it could put students at risk, barring young people, even those in their senior year, from seeking a teacher’s help if they’re struggling with their identity.”

Ah, so it’s harmful that students can’t engage in gender mutilation?

Like a good, unofficial White House flack, she touted Karine Jean-Pierre’s attack on DeSantis, summarizing her thoughts as arguing he’s “part of a disturbing and dangerous trend of laws targeting the LGBTQ community.”

Houck sounds like a good, unofficial DeSantis flack, so his attack on Bruce is painfully ironic. Still, he went on to whine: "No word on what she thinks about men competing in women’s sports or what age she thinks is too young for kids to change their gender or discuss sex." No word from Houck on what age people are allowed to learn that LGBT exist -- or if thinks all mention of them should be completely eradicated from society so knowledge of their existence is punishable by law.

Tober returned to rant in a March 26 post:

Proving that their DeSantis derangement syndrome is incurable, Sunday's "Powerhouse Roundtable" on ABC's This Week went after Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for wanting to protect public school children from perverted groomers and racial arsonists. ABC contributor and former Democrat National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile lashed out at DeSantis and proclaimed he is "running on a 1950s America, not a 2050 America." Moments later Politico associate editor Alex Burns said with a straight face that President Joe Biden was "always more of a centrist." Going from trashing DeSantis to praising Biden within moments is the kind of contrast that makes even the casual viewer realize ABC is essentially state-run television on behalf of the Biden regime.

Again, Tober didn't explain how acknowledging the existence of LGBT people equals "grooming," or how pointing out that slavery and discrimination is bad makes one a "racial arsonist." And if ABC is "essentially state-run television on behalf of the Biden regime," the MRC is clearly a state-run website on behalf of the DeSantis regime.