Former President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a culture war that played directly into American classrooms, calling in a video for “patriotic teachers,” “radicals” and the “direct election” of school principals by parents of students.
The declared Republican candidate for president called for cutting funding to any school that teaches “significant race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content,” as clearly defined.
Trump called for the creation of a “new credentialing body” that would “certify teachers who embrace patriotic values” while eliminating “radicals, fundamentalists and Marxists” (and “pink-haired communists”). (Trump has hailed the January 6, 2021 rebels as “great patriots.”)
He also called for an investigation into school districts that engage in race-based discrimination against Asian American students. Ironically, Trump himself has repeatedly hurled anti-Asian slurs at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, his former transportation secretary.
The video posted on Twitter has created a stir on the social media platform.
Several posters refer to the so-called Trump University (which has never been certified as a school of any kind) that promises to teach adult students how to become successful professionals. Trump paid $25 million to settle claims the operation defrauded students.
