As we previously reported, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell handed Vice President Kamala Harris a gift during an “interview” last Friday in which Mitchell asked Harris “what does Gov. Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?”

The problem with the question is that Mitchell’s claim about DeSantis was a lie. Not only does he not oppose the teaching of slavery and the aftermath of it, but it’s very clearly listed as required teaching on the Florida Dept. of Education website:

Seriously, @mitchellreports, it’s right there on the @EducationFL website https://t.co/36bDflaAJb pic.twitter.com/WscBvEjsEB

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 18, 2023

Nearly a week later, Mitchell laughably proclaimed in a “postscript” that she had been “imprecise” in her phrasing of the question–even though nothing she said was true. Mitchell’s statement came after DeSantis’ office announced that they would be declining requests for interviews with DeSantis from NBC News affiliates until Mitchell apologized and retracted her comments (which she didn’t do in this clip):

Once again, @mitchellreports is “imprecise” in her description because she relies on unnamed “historians and teachers.”

Florida statute requires the teaching of slavery and its aftermath. We just know that “queer studies” has nothing to do with Jim Crow.https://t.co/tHKJW30L9l pic.twitter.com/h6l1RDsC4f

— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) February 22, 2023

Naturally, DeSantis himself – who has become legendary for his media takedowns – proceeded in response to take down Mitchell and all the “partisan stooges” and “corporate media” types who ran with the falsehoods about the teaching of slavery in Florida public school classrooms (and the lies about “book bans”), all because they fit a media/Dem-driven narrative about DeSantis that in no way matches reality:

“You have the reporter saying that ‘Governor DeSantis does not want students to learn about slavery and its aftermath.’ Well if you actually looked at what our standards are, not only is it not prohibited to teach that, it’s required to teach that,” DeSantis said, hitting back at what he called “basically media lies.”

[…]

“They are doing that to try to create a narrative, they’re not doing that because Florida has a law,” DeSantis hit back on Thursday. “They’re doing it because they know there is enough people in corporate media who will just take that, and run with that… if it is explicit and pornographic, parents have the right to object.”

“They are lying to you!” he continued. Watch:

“We are required to teach all aspects of black history, not queer theory…They are lying to you!”

Ron DeSantis eviscerates the media’s lies that he doesn’t want students to learn about slavery. pic.twitter.com/zUg3LIDTNP

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 23, 2023

As they did with the parental rights bill – which they are still wrongly dubbing the “don’t say gay” law – the media and left have to lie about DeSantis’ positions on these issues because they know that attacking his stances on their actual merits is not a winning move with parents, as Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe found out the hard way in 2021.

Related: Joe Biden Takes Swipe at Ron DeSantis, Ends up Committing Glorious Self-Own on School Choice