Many politicians on the Right are focused on changing the way students learn about American history. Some, like Nikki Haley, claim that slavery wasn't the driving cause of the Civil War. And others, like Ron DeSantis, want schools to stop teaching Black history.
Ben Carson seems to be along for the ride as well. The doctor and former Republican candidate was stumping for Donald Trump in Iowa on Thursday. And he talked at length about the history of slavery.
The renowned surgeon began, "And interestingly enough, you look back to the beginnings of this country and our founders, a lot of people are trying to denigrate them now, saying that they were horrible people, maybe because some of them had slaves, and that America is a horrible place because we had slavery."
Carson continued, "People who say stuff like that obviously don't have a good grasp on world history, because every society has had to deal with slavery, and there are more slaves in the world today than there have ever been at any point in time."
The Republican surrogate closed, "And if there's anything unique about the United States, if there's anything unique about the United States and slavery, it's that we had so many people who were vehemently opposed to it that we fought a bloody civil war to get rid of the evil institution. And that's what we should teach our children," he added. "Our history is nothing to be ashamed of."