Trumpy Tabs for Tuesday
Because I had a lot of open tabs.
- Via the NYT: Manhattan Prosecutors Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury.
- Via CNN: Ex-publisher of National Enquirer set to meet with prosecutors investigating Trump.
- Via the Guardian: Revealed: Trump secretly donated $1m to discredited Arizona election ‘audit’.
- Via Politico: Trump unveils new education policy loaded with culture war proposals
The plan, shared in advance with POLITICO, calls for cutting federal funding for any school or program that includes “critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.” It also calls for opening “civil rights investigations into any school district that has engaged in race-based discrimination,” particularly against Asian American students, and promises to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
The proposals are not focused solely on social policy and school curriculum. In a video unveiling the plan, which was shared by his campaign, Trump also calls for making significant cuts to administrative personnel and the end of teacher tenure and the election of school principals.
Between this and DeSantis, the 2023 campaign is going to be rife with this stuff. And while one could have a debate about teacher tenure, given the need for teachers it would be highly unwise to take away one of the perks. And electing principals is one of the dumber ideas I have ever heard.
Stephen Gillers, a professor at the New York University School of Law who specializes in legal ethics, called the set of accusations levied at Eastman “scathing.”
“[It] charges Eastman with knowingly or through gross negligence failing to support the U.S. and California constitutions, which he took an oath to do,” Gillers said. “The allegation that Eastman is guilty of ‘moral turpitude’ is an attack on his very character, in other words that he is a bad man, not merely a bad lawyer.”
I cannot claim to be an expert on legal ethics, but that sounds like a reasonable assessment to me.
Well, if you spend any time on Twitter these days it won’t even be the dumbest idea you’ve heard today.
But thank you for bring it to our attention.
On the bright side, it’s the closest thing Trump has come to an actual governing policy. At least one that is longer then a bumper sticker slogan.
What an obscenity. trump is proof there is no kind and merciful god because if there was, s/he’d have long ago put him out of our misery.
@Rick DeMent: Lying about education worked well for Youngkin and is working very well for DeUseless. Hardly surprising that Trump, in his continual quest to find out what the base wants to hear, would try it. DeUseless hasn’t suggested electing superintendents, yet, but here in Sarasota Co. he got a MAGA school board elected, who promptly fired the otherwise very well respected county superintendent over COVID.
@Rick DeMent:
It’s only longer than a bumper sticker slogan because it’s basically a collection of bumper sticker slogans.
It would also destroy public education, which is of course the goal.
@Mikey:
DeUseless is putting a lot of public school funding into vouchers for private schools.
Are the Democrats ever going to start fighting back against this education censorship? Classrooms in Florida have been stripped of all books, teachers are being threatened with jail in several states if they teach non-state-approved ideas — when are the Dems going to start using all this against the Republicans? “They say they stand for freedom — but you can only read what they approve, say what they decide, worship the way they want.”
@wr:
My take is that “all this” is simply part of the stuff that some in liberal/Democratic circles are willing to throw under the bus in their appeal to “attracting the moderates” (whoever THEY are). Education is simply another Latinx-like/lgbtq+ issue–less important than/alienating to the views of the vast center of the nation that only votes for DeSatinist because guys like you keep pushing them away. It’s only a small portion of the population that really needs good schools, isn’t it?
@wr: I saw a great quote this morning in Jen Rubin column, “It takes 5 minutes to explain and 30 seconds to lie about”. The person quoted was talking about the debt ceiling, but it applies to so many things. If DeUseless says he’s agin CRT in grade schools how do you respond? You can’t obviously, defend teaching CRT to first graders. But if you say no one’s doing that, DeUseless will come up with some anecdote and you come off as denying the truth. You can try accusing DeUseless of being a lying sack of shit, which has the virtue of being true, but comes off as a personal attack. And many of the people you’re trying to convince believed DeUseless and don’t want to feel like they’ve been had. And you have to rely on the supposedly liberal corporate media to get your message out while DeUseless has FOX. The Tampa Bay Times has been pretty good about attacking DeUseless’ more autocratic actions, but I see no sign it’s working.
When you first heard that GOPs were opposed to teaching CRT in K-12 I expect your initial reaction was, “Huh, why would anybody even do that?” I fear many people see the world as a matter of simple morality and their initial reaction is to accept the premise and leap to a moral conclusion , “Yeah, that’s bad.”
@gVOR08:
Given very few of us will ever have the chance of confronting DeUseless, but some random MAGAt at the local coffee shop is probable. I’d suggest going Socratic: “What’s CRT?” “Is it being taught in the local schools?” “Which grades?” “What Teacher?” You won’t change their mind, but you will make them look foolish and they’ll know that. Then there is a chance that an observer may begin to question the MAGAt bible.
I am very skeptical that Trump paid for anything.
@Gustopher:
I don’t believe it, either. And there’s this:
http://www.axios.com/2023/01/31/arizona-kari-lake-campaign-violation-probe
Twenty-eight percent of Republican voters would follow Trump if he made a third-party run in 2024.
As I said the other day, that means a Democrat, presumably Biden, will win. Trump will lose if he gets the R nomination, and he’ll lose if he goes third party.
@CSK:
I suspect that percentage is more of a ceiling than a floor. Polls like that are usually more aspirational than realistic. Still, I would agree that his going third party would almost certainly be fatal to the GOP’s chances of capturing the White House in 2024.
That said, I’ll once again link to the map I created for how I imagine a three-way Trump-GOP-Dem race.
@gVOR08: “I fear many people see the world as a matter of simple morality and their initial reaction is to accept the premise and leap to a moral conclusion , “Yeah, that’s bad.””
I agree — and I think the only way to win is to state our own moral conclusion: Censorship is bad. Censorship is the opposite of freedom. Book burning is what Nazis do. They’re trying to control your kids!!!
@Kylopod:
This may account for the apparent Republican reluctance to work up much enthusiasm for 2024. Whatever happens, they know they’ll lose.
@wr:
Have one of my rare upvotes because I am with you on this as a serious issue that needs to be opposed.
I’m also not a Democrat (nor a Republican), so the first thing I would suggest is that I wouldn’t make it a partisan issue, but frame it in terms of other values – Primarily the principle of free speech and the principle of subsidiarity. On the latter, the idea that the proper role of the state is to provide guidelines, not impose one-size-fits-all handcuffs onto teachers and parents. Point out how this takes away parental input and is a slippery slope. Don’t just repeat what teachers’ unions say (a really bad habit by most Democrats).
From the other end, lawsuits. It seems to me this is could be unconstitutional and should be legally challenged to the greatest extent possible.
Get someone besides Charlie Fucking Crist to run for governor. A state of 22 million people and you pick one of the least-popular politicians? (not you personally, I think I understand your politics well enough to know you probably aren’t a Crist fan).
Tell your progressive friends to cool their heels on DEI and the dumbest parts of the “equity” nonsense. That just hands Republicans ammunition and normies and parents don’t like that shit. They like well-run schools that teach kids the fundamentals so they do well on standardized tests. They don’t like all the culture war bullshit.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Maybe we are already in hell and just don’t realize it.
@Andy:..Maybe we are already in hell and just don’t realize it.
Current temperature in Hell, Michigan. -8deg. c.
I have searched the web and cannot find a Fire Department in Hell, Michigan. Therefore I can only believe that there is no such thing as Hellfire.
@Mister Bluster:
It will be -5 degrees in Hell, MI. tomorrow. Guess that’s what a cold day in Hell feels like.