‘Governor DeSantis Started This Fire!’ Chris Christie Trashes DeSantis ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Response to Florida’s ‘Benefits’ of Slavery Curriculum

Media commentator and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie slammed GOP primary rival Gov. Ron DeSantis over trying to distance himself from his state’s plan to teach about the “personal benefit” gained from being a slave as part of African American History in public schools.

On Sunday’s Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan played a clip of DeSantis being asked by reporters about the shocking addition to the new curriculum, which the Department of Education voted to approve on Wednesday.

Brennan asked Christie about the major controversy and how it “reflects” on the Republican party, of which he’s a member, former governor, and candidate. He began by going after DeSantis’s answers directly.

“First of all, ‘I didn’t do it and I’m not involved in it’ are not the words of leadership,” he said, quoting from the presser.

“You know, look, Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed, and now he doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it,” said Christie. “And from listening and watching his comments, he’s obviously uncomfortable.”

He went on, saying that there are many issues facing the country but politics is focusing on these “smaller issues” instead.

“We have enormous issues to deal with in this country and around the world, and we’re spending time, and I don’t blame you for asking, but we’re spending time on this as the first question to a presidential candidate on a Sunday morning,” he said.

He then circled back to blaming his 2024 opponent’s leadership some more.

“You know, the fact is that Gov. DeSantis starts these things for political advantage. He tries to take political advantage of them, and then he says, ‘I don’t know, I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved,'” said Christie as Brennan agreed. “I mean, that’s that’s not leadership, Margaret.”

After Brennan asked him to clarify what he meant by “smaller issue” in the context of racial division, and he said he was referring specifically to “micromanaging” school curricula, he went back to DeSantis again, echoing many in the press who claim DeSantis is farther right and therefore worse than Donald Trump.

“He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and tried to get to the right of Donald Trump,” he said. “And so I think people see this as politically manipulative.”

BRENNAN: I wonder what you think of this controversy and how it reflects on your party.

CHRISTIE: Well, I think two things, Margaret. First of all, “I didn’t do it and I’m not involved in it” are not the words of leadership. You know, look, Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed, and now he doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it. And from listening and watching his comments, he’s obviously uncomfortable.

The second part of this is, this is why – one of the reasons I’m running, Margaret. You know, we’re arguing about these issues, these smaller issues, when we’ve got big issues in our country like runaway inflation that continues to hurt families like an educational system. Instead of worrying about this, let’s talk about the falling test scores throughout this country that are making us less competitive with the with the rest of the world. You know, we have enormous issues to deal with in this country and around the world, and we’re spending time, and I don’t blame you for asking, but we’re spending time on this as the first question to a presidential candidate on a Sunday morning.

BRENNAN: Right.

CHRISTIE: You know, the fact is that Gov. DeSantis starts these things for political advantage. He tries to take political advantage of them –.

BRENNAN: Yeah.

CHRISTIE: — And then he says, I don’t know, I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved. I mean, that’s that’s not leadership, Margaret.

BRENNAN: I understand the point you’re making, but, just to be very clear, when you said were focusing on smaller issues. The issue of race is incredibly divisive in this country. You’re not referring to that as one of the smaller issues?

CHRISTIE: No, I’m talking about governors micromanaging curriculum in schools. And the fact is that, you know, if this was such a big issue for Governor DeSantis, he had four years to do this.

BRENNAN: Yep.

CHRISTIE: He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and tried to get to the right of Donald Trump. And so I think people see this as politically manipulative. And I’m talking about Margaret, we’re dividing our country into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces, and politicians are pitting them against each other to create conflict.

BRENNAN: Yeah.

CHRISTIE: And that’s not going to make the country bigger, better, stronger or freer. And, but, if we improve our entire educational system so our kids’ test scores are not going down but going up and they can get great jobs and be more competitive with the rest of the world? That’s the kind of thing a president should be inspiring people to do.

BRENNAN: Understood.

Watch the clip above via Face the Nation on CBS.

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