Dana Goldstein

So when President Trump came into office for his first term, he appointed an education secretary, the billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos, who really embodies the term that Republican politics have taken on education. Betsy DeVos was not interested in politics. beefing up public education or beefing up the federal role.

So when President Trump came into office for his first term, he appointed an education secretary, the billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos, who really embodies the term that Republican politics have taken on education. Betsy DeVos was not interested in politics. beefing up public education or beefing up the federal role.

She had two main things, cultural conservatism, which was a big interest of hers, and also her goal, which she has said many times, was to get as much funding for public schools as possible in the hands of parents so they could make choices to go to private school or homeschool their kids. And since then, those ideas have only become much more popular in Republican politics.

She had two main things, cultural conservatism, which was a big interest of hers, and also her goal, which she has said many times, was to get as much funding for public schools as possible in the hands of parents so they could make choices to go to private school or homeschool their kids. And since then, those ideas have only become much more popular in Republican politics.

And that's in large part because of the COVID pandemic.

And that's in large part because of the COVID pandemic.

And many parents, when their kids were doing remote learning from home and they watched what was being taught, did not like what they saw.

And many parents, when their kids were doing remote learning from home and they watched what was being taught, did not like what they saw.

So the parental rights or parent empowerment movement really took off over the past five years.

So the parental rights or parent empowerment movement really took off over the past five years.

Groups like Moms for Liberty, for example, was crusading against, you know, what they saw as woke, liberal ideology about race.

Groups like Moms for Liberty, for example, was crusading against, you know, what they saw as woke, liberal ideology about race.

or teaching students about transgender identities.

or teaching students about transgender identities.

President Trump astutely observed that this was a powerful cultural movement.

President Trump astutely observed that this was a powerful cultural movement.

And in his campaign for president in 2024, he embraced all of this.

And in his campaign for president in 2024, he embraced all of this.

And he has become a lot more sophisticated, we think, in the second term and actually using the federal government to achieve these goals.

And he has become a lot more sophisticated, we think, in the second term and actually using the federal government to achieve these goals.