The Department of Education has been a hot potato since Donald Trump's first term.
Trump would prefer to abolish the department and turn over education to the states, a move that more and more Republicans are starting to support.
Talking Points…
- Trump wants to abolish Department of Education
- GOP House members express support
- Analysis
The movement against the DoE is mainly due to diversity programs and the push regarding gender-related issues. I am sure liberal parents are more than happy that schools are pushing a DEI agenda and offering advice on gender identity, but conservative parents want nothing to do with it. That has led to Trump pushing for the DoE's abolishment and turning education over to states.
In a recent campaign video, Donald Trump stated:
"We're going to end education coming out of Washington, DC. We're going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We're going to send it all back to the states."
This is not new for Trump, as he has been pushing this for years. For instance, during last year's CPAC event, Trump stated:
"Across the country, we need to implement strict prohibitions on teaching inappropriate racial, sexual and political material to America's schoolchildren in any form whatsoever. And if federal bureaucrats are going to push this radicalism, we should abolish the Department of Education."
During Trump's recent interview with Elon Musk on X, Trump reiterated his desire to abolish the DoE and return it to the states. This caught the attention of some GOP House members. For instance, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) stated:
"Would [former President Trump] follow through with it? Honestly, I think it depends on who controls Congress and who his Cabinet secretary is."
Massie has been behind this movement for some time, even having introduced legislation last year that would have abolished the DoE, which was co-sponsored by more than two dozen Republicans, so this is something that does have some teeth.
For those unfamiliar with its origins, the DoE was established late in the Jimmy Carter administration. Even then, it was controversial, with Republicans immediately pushing back on it. Ronald Reagan even campaigned on abolishing the new agency, but that never came to fruition.
Donald Trump loves to compare his administration to the Reagan administration, so it is not surprising that Trump would latch on to this idea, and I am far from surprised that members of the Freedom Caucus and diehard Trump supporters in Congress, like Reps. Massie, Donalds (R-FL), and Greene (R-GA) are behind abolishing the DoE. It is an interesting concept and I think it is very much like abortion in that now that abortion has been returned to the states, parents would be able to pick their states based on their educational platforms rather than having one agenda rammed down their throats.
