Trump alleges ‘left-wing indoctrination’ in schools, says he will create national commission to push more ‘pro-American’ history
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President Donald Trump participates in a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Trump pressed his case Thursday that U.S. schools are indoctrinating children with a left-wing agenda hostile to the nation’s Founding Fathers, describing efforts to educate students about racism and slavery as an insult to the country’s lofty founding principles.
The federal government has no power over the curriculum taught in local schools.
As he campaigns for reelection, Trump has repeatedly cast education that examines the nation’s failures as a betrayal, seeking to rally his base and tap into hostility toward protesters who have taken to the streets to denounce racial injustice and police brutality.
His argument casts any criticism of the United States, even of slavery, as unpatriotic. It stands in sharp contrast to American leaders such as President Barack Obama, who spoke more frankly of the nation’s shortcomings, painting it as a country constantly striving to perfect itself.
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