The reaction from the left was swift and severe when the Republican Party of Florida announced it would have conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza to its 2018 Sunshine Summit. That was to be expected.

But some on the right may also be uncomfortable with D'Souza's comments mocking survivors of the Parkland school shooting. The bestselling author posted these tweets mocking a photo of emotional Parkland students watching the Florida House vote down a ban on assault weapons in February:

D'Souza then followed up with this apology:

A spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott, who's running for the U.S. Senate, denounced the comments in a statement.

"His comments were disgusting and unacceptable. The governor has spent a lot of time with the Parkland victims and their families and will always stand with them," said Scott spokesman Ryan Patmintra, adding the U.S. Senate candidate has not decided whether he will attend the summit.

And a spokeswoman for Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam struck a similar tone.

"What Dinesh D'Souza said was extremely insensitive and offensive to a community who had just lost their friends, fellow students and teachers in a horrific massacre by a troubled individual," the spokeswoman, Amanda Bevis, said in a statment.

The Times reached out to Putnam's likely primary opponents, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, to ask whether they think D'Souza should be removed from the Sunshine Summit lineup. Neither camp responded to a request for comment.

Blaise Ingoglia, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, which sponsors the Sunshine Summit and booked D'Souza, did not respond to requests for comment. But he told Politico Monday that he stood by the decision to book the provocative author.

Times Washington Bureau Chief Alex Leary contributed reporting.