GOP Rep. Byron Donalds on NAACP’s Florida travel advisory: ‘This is silly, and it’s dumb’

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is blasting the NAACP’s issuing of a Florida travel advisory for Black Americans, saying it is “just really stupid.”

“I don’t even know what the NAACP is talking about,” Donalds, who is Black, said on “Fox and Friends” on Monday. “This is silly, and it’s dumb. It’s political. It makes no sense. We should be focused on making sure people actually have the opportunity to achieve, which Florida is actually doing and thriving in way better than other states, let’s say New York or California or Washington state.”

The NAACP on Saturday issued a travel advisory for Florida, saying that the state has become “hostile to Black Americans” under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) leadership. The advisory said DeSantis and the state of Florida are on a “seeming quest to silence African-American voices,” while pointing to legislation the governor signed last week to ban colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 

“Due to this sustained, blatant, relentless and systemic attack on democracy and civil rights, the NAACP hereby issues a travel advisory to African Americans, and other people of color regarding the hostility towards African Americans in Florida,” the advisory reads.

When asked if he felt hostility when in Florida, Donalds responded that he did not, adding that, “this is so dumb.” He then pointed to inflation and increasing gas prices as examples of larger concerns he had with the country.

“The only hostility I feel is this inflation hitting my pocketbook. I’ll tell you that, because inflation is hitting everybody. That is hostile,” he said. “You know the price of food is up, the price of gas, which is still up, and the fact that fentanyl is coming into every community in our country, because of Joe Biden. Maybe the NAACP should be focused on that, because I know that’s hostile.”