U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Florida, spoke to FGCU\u2019s Turning Point USA at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 20 in Sugden Hall. He was invited by the group formally and placed on the Eagle Link schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hours before the event, opposing Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback announced he would attend at the same place and time, but he was not on the schedule, so his event had to take place outside the building.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no record of an event being booked by Mr. Fishback through our campus reservation system. We are aware of his flyer,\u201d said FGCU Director of University Communications & Media Relations Pamela McCabe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Donalds finished speaking, Fishback waited outside the building to confront him. Donalds, however, did not exit\u00a0 the building during the time Fishback was waiting there due to a prior commitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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While Donalds was at FGCU for business with the main intention of answering audience questions, Fishback used FGCU as another stop on his campaign trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will raise public school teacher pay by 25% in my first year as governor,\u201d said Fishback. \u201cCongressman Donalds will say, \u2018Where are we going to get the money?\u2019 Well, how about this? Let\u2019s start with the $385 million you sent to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
People have alleged that he is an antisemite based on these and other similar comments. Student attendee Ryan Dokson is a Democrat and Jewish. He came to the event because he likes hearing opposing viewpoints. Dokson was concerned about how his Jewish identity impacts the candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Donalds cares more about me than Fishback, absolutely,\u201d Dokson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked if Donalds is willing to condemn Fishback\u2019s alleged antisemitism, he attributed it to ignorance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a free speech absolutist, if you want to be ignorant, you\u2019re allowed to be,\u201d Donalds said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Fishback took the opportunity to mention Donalds several times, Donalds did not target his opponents and focused on himself and his campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not interested in giving other people platforms,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cI\u2019m running my race, why would I give somebody else a platform?\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Fishback\u2019s main campaign promises is affordability, especially for students and teachers in schools. One of his positions against Donalds was his stance on education and on what the current Republican government is putting in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says the reason why you guys can\u2019t get jobs is because you\u2019re woke, because the schools are woke,\u201d Fishback said. \u201cI\u2019m going to fight for teachers all over the state. I resent that the establishment, GOP orthodoxy that is espoused by Byron Donalds would attack our public schools and our public school teachers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though now that they are campaigning against each other and Fishback has negative things to say about Donalds, the congressman recalls a time when that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix months ago, he was onstage with me in Madison County, Florida, for an hour and he was asking all the questions,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cSix months ago, he was very complimentary of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While on his campaign trail, Fishback stopped to have a python hunting session with \u201cthe Python Cowboy\u201d in the Everglades. He mentioned that he caught a nine-footer and what happens after catching a python as it related to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rule is you have to name a Python and then you put it into something,\u201d Fishback said. \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018Byrone.\u2019 Make it a belt, because we are going to give him a whooping on the debate stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many cheered at this metaphor of public humiliation of his opponent, but he proceeded to address those who may find fault in this statement about Donalds, a Black man.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll say, \u2018That\u2019s racist, well, don\u2019t you know the historical legacy of hitting black men with Python belts,\u2019\u201d Fishback said. \u201cLike, what is racist about any of that? What are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Both candidates are running for the office of Florida governor and felt strongly about their campaigns. Donalds is also eager to debate Fishback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI debate a lot, so [debating Fishback] is actually something I\u2019m looking forward to,\u201d Donalds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the TPUSA event, an attendee asked a question about one of Fishback\u2019s affordability policies, which offers newly married couples a $10,000 credit toward home ownership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, the Kamala Harris plan,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cThat plan will not work because it will artificially increase the price of housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan he is referring to was Harris\u2019 plan during her 2024 Presidential run, when she wanted to provide $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time home buyers who consistently paid rent for at least two years.<\/p>\n
Now, one of the most notable moments during the visit came after they were both done speaking, when Fishback wanted to enter the building to confront Donalds about this matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called me Kamala Harris,\u201d Fishback said. \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t he call that to my face?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care who advocates for the Kamala Harris plan, it\u2019s still the Kamala Harris plan,\u201d Donalds said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Florida, spoke to FGCU\u2019s Turning Point USA at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 20 in Sugden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-165697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}