Sorry … this editor just finished writing a piece about this article in The New Yorker noting that school board and superintendent candidates who railed against teachers’ unions and critical race theory “fared depressingly well” on Election Day. As an example, Jessica Winter wrote about a superintendent race in South Carolina which went to Ellen Weaver, who “borrowed the sloganeering and buzzwords of right-wing activist groups, such as the 1776 Project and Moms for Liberty — which, as my colleague Paige Williams recently reported, have turned public schools into the national stage of a manufactured culture war over critical race theory (C.R.T.), L.G.B.T.Q. classroom materials, the sexual ‘grooming’ of children, and other vehicles of ‘woke leftist’ indoctrination, as well as lingering resentment over covid-19 lockdowns.”
Her colleague sort of nailed it: These groups have started a war against CRT, grooming, and COVID-19 lockdowns; there’s no problem with LGBTQ classroom materials, though — these groups just don’t want kindergarten teachers leading classroom discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation. But what about the poor trans kindergarteners? Boston Children’s Hospital assures us that children know they’re trans as early as in the womb. They don’t feel pain or have a heartbeat, but they know they’re trans.
The reason I’m revisiting this piece is because of this hot take by a blue check:
The common thread joining Moms4Liberty, anti-CRT activists and 'libertarian' school privatizers isn't "unclear." It's right-wing Christian nationalism. It's all right there in Betsy Devos' bio. https://t.co/3Gbo36EXPU
— Anya Kamenetz (@anya1anya) November 10, 2022
We just found out our editor @bethanyshondark is a Christian nationalist. 🤔 Are you one, too? https://t.co/2jGkCzJLUb
— Heroes Of Liberty (@HeroesOfLiberty) November 10, 2022
Bethany Mandel, who’s Jewish, is a Christian Nationalist.
I’m now a Christian nationalist AMA https://t.co/eFU4xy2nUV
— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) November 10, 2022
You so badly want to believe that – instead of considering that maybe, just maybe, parents of all political ideals and walks of life got an inside look at our public school system and the unions during the lockdowns and absolutely abhorred what we saw.
Caricatures are so lazy. https://t.co/2SNCv2HHER
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) November 10, 2022
Always weird for a Jewish immigrant to suddenly be a Christian Nationalist. Ach, well. https://t.co/MysEdLijnc
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) November 10, 2022
Who are you, and why should I take you seriously after that hot take? https://t.co/o9wnX20Dmu
— Zanshi 惨死 (D – Jar Kitteh) (@zanshi1) November 10, 2022
I have been called many things in my life, but this is the first time I’ve been called a right-wing Christian nationalist.
Why not argue against school choice with an actual argument instead of with name calling?
Hard to do when public schools have catastrophically failed kids https://t.co/GnQyu1oZtF
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) November 10, 2022
Um… as the head of one of the larger “anti-CRT activists,” I have never had a conversation with anyone who wanted to promote Christian nationalism. I don’t even know what it is.
But you wrote a garbage piece so not expecting much https://t.co/jhWpoUiver
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) November 10, 2022
I saw the wisdom of school choice 20 years ago as a South Bronx 5th grade public school teacher. I saw it as a means to improve outcomes for kids and families. I was today years old when I found out I’m a Christian nationalist. https://t.co/zNAtum5PG7
— Robert Pondiscio (@rpondiscio) November 10, 2022
Hey don't forget us secular right wing nationalist 'libertarian' school privatizers! https://t.co/cMNiYex3X8
— 🥷🦅AP4Liberty 🇺🇲🥋 (@AP4Liberty) November 10, 2022
That's interesting. I'm Jewish and I'm very pro school schoice. Does that make me a "right wing christian nationist"? https://t.co/pdodoDgM85
— Ryan Rodgers (@RyanRod40038649) November 10, 2022
Please Google Dearborn, Michigan https://t.co/jTjY4S9oW6
— Anna Hoffman ™️ (@shoesonplease) November 10, 2022
Do you mean the hundreds of Muslim parents who turned out for a school board meeting to oppose sexually explicit materials?
Muslim parents in Michigan have entered the chat. https://t.co/0hNcSoqHEv
— Melissa Moore (@melissamoore) November 10, 2022
Hi @anya1anya, How can you write a book called the STOLEN YEAR and smear parents who saw the same problem? I know @kathsstewart well from her solid reporting on Good News Club K-12 evangelism. You erase minority, non-Christian, immigrant moms like me by white-washing a movement. https://t.co/LURpj1bu1B
— Asra Nomani – Living in "somebody else's country" (@AsraNomani) November 10, 2022
Hi, the Atheists, Hindus and Wiccans in our affiliate are confused how they just became Christian. Care to explain? https://t.co/pgXhkx1kxp
— Libertarian Party of Delaware (@LPofDelaware) November 10, 2022
Me and the #InconvenientLatina girls heading to Sephora to get a lighter shade of foundation cuz -apparently- we are now “white supremacists” …
Wait … guát? If we are also Christians do we need to go lighter or darker? 🤔 https://t.co/vwbIkmkn4e
— Mailyn Salabarria (@cbntaRMNP) November 10, 2022
So if believing in school choice would make me a right-wing Christian nationalist, what would believing in the total and complete abolition of public schools make me??? https://t.co/yZXIInwuui
— Torren Danowski (@tpdnwsk) November 10, 2022
Too bad, so sad:
The ghost chasers bagged plenty of votes on Tuesday. A clown-car school-board race in Charleston, South Carolina, ended with five out of nine seats going to Moms for Liberty-backed candidates. Governor Ron DeSantis—the maestro of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and a home-state hero to Moms for Liberty—endorsed six school-board candidates, all of whom won their races; Moms for Liberty endorsed a total of twelve in Florida, winning nine. In Texas, ten out of fifteen spots on the state school board appeared to be going to Republicans, including three seats in which G.O.P. incumbents either lost or dropped out of their primary when facing opponents who took a harder line against C.R.T.
“The precise logical relation between the conservative-libertarian axis of billionaires who wish to privatize public education—notably among them Betsy DeVos, who was Secretary of Education under Trump—and the rank-and-file right-wing moms who back ‘Don’t Say Gay’ is as yet unclear,” Winter wrote in her piece, but now she has her answer: right-wing Christian nationalism.
***
Editor’s Note: Republican voters deserve answers and accountability for the failed red wave.
Related:
New Yorker: Candidates who railed against teachers’ unions ‘fared depressingly well’ https://t.co/4pDN84v8HQ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 10, 2022
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