Governor’s office: Democrat plan to challenge DeSantis book in schools is a ‘stunt’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – After the Daily Beast reported Florida Democrats are requesting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new book be reviewed under laws by his own administration, the governor’s press secretary, Bryan Griffin, called it a “stunt.”

DeSantis’ new book, “The Courage to be Free” launched Feb. 28. and the Daily Beast reported Democrat Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell is leading an effort across 50 counties to see if any of them “might review or ban DeSantis’ book based on his law’s vague and unwieldy criteria.”

“The very trap that he set for others is the one that he set for himself,” Driskell told The Daily Beast on Monday.

Griffin shared a GIF of DeSantis saying “this is a stunt.”

“Keep up your stunts; @GovRonDeSantis will keep putting wins on the board,” Griffin said.

The Daily Beast said the move “draws attention” to how the bill, signed by DeSantis in March 2022 that requires curriculum transparency, targeting explicit books in schools can be “abused when taken to its logical conclusions—while putting a critical spotlight on the contents of the book, widely seen another clear sign that DeSantis will run for president in 2024.”

Driskell and other Democrats reportedly identified 17 instances in “The Courage to Be Free” that could potentially “violate Florida law,” including many instances of DeSantis using the terms “woke” and “gender ideology,” which “could constitute as ‘divisive content.’”

It’s unclear how many school districts in Florida currently stock DeSantis’ book, but the Daily Beast said one school district in Marion County responded to Democrats’ complaint.

They said no school in the county, which is home to roughly 400,000 people, possesses the book. “At this time, our schools do not have any copies of this book in their collections and as such we are unable to evaluate the work as a whole to assess your objections,” the district responded.

DeSantis’ new book eclipsed 94,000 sales in its first week, outselling books from former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before their respective presidential runs.

In March, DeSantis released a video showing graphic content found in school library books during a press conference.

The videos were in response to claims that the administration is banning books.

The video included pictures from books that were found in schools that contained sexual imagery. It also listed out the schools that some of the books were located in.

“That’s [book ban] a hoax. And that’s really a nasty hoax, because it’s a hoax in service of trying to pollute and sexualize our children,” DeSantis said.

The governor’s announcement came after a viral video showed a Duval County school with empty bookshelves following a new Florida law. The law requires media specialists to go through approved training to brush up on Florida law before approving books for classrooms and libraries. 

The video led to a frenzy of people believing the state was banning books, even though the DeSantis administration said it was attempting to protect students from pornographic books. 

Officials from the governor’s office told Florida’s Voice the administration never dictated shelves be cleared, calling it political theater.

However, Democrats such as Driskell claimed that “books are banned and librarians are terrified.” Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book made similar comments that banning books is “not freedom” during her response to the governor’s State of the State Address.