(LifeSiteNews) — Former President Donald Trump has pledged to “cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory” and “transgender insanity” in an executive order on his first day as president if elected in November.
Trump further vowed to cut federal funding to schools imposing any “other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children” in a video statement directed to the parental rights group Moms for Liberty, shared to X on August 6.
“On day one I will sign a new Executive Order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.
“I will eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs… pic.twitter.com/xEQ4FoPVhc
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) August 6, 2024
Critical race theory, which teaches that racism is built into Western social institutions and that individuals are inherently racist or oppressive by virtue of their race, color or sex, has been increasingly taught in schools to students of all ages, including in teacher training programs. Critics rebuke the ideology for being deeply divisive and even promoting racism, to the point that the ostensibly “privileged” are themselves excluded from work opportunities, for example, on the basis of race and sex.
Schools have also been increasingly under fire for pushing pro-homosexual celebrations and content on inappropriately young children and for carrying pornographic books, which has prompted laws such as the Parental Rights in Education Act in Florida.
“Together we’re on a mission to take back our schools from the Marxists and Communists and the radical-left maniacs who are hellbent on indoctrinating our children,” Trump said in his video address.
“We will move education back to the states – we’re closing it up in Washington – and return everything back to the parents. It will be parental control,” he continued.
Trump also pledged to “eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the entire federal government,” and to “direct the DOJ to pursue civil rights claims against any school or university that engages in racism rather than making decisions based on merit.”
Diversity training has “exploded” in the federal government since President Joe Biden took office in 2020, the Beacon noted, with all federal agencies now mandating a form of DEI training. DEI policies, an outgrowth of critical race theory, have long been widely denounced by conservatives and moderates not only as divisive but for undermining the competence and most basic functioning of public institutions and private corporations.
This crisis of competence has extended to universities, with internal data showing that more than half of the medical students at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) admitted since 2020 fail standardized tests for basic medical knowledge. Insiders have blamed the underperformance on affirmative action policies, with one member of the admissions committee sharing that the standards for minority groups deemed “underrepresented” are “as low as you could possibly imagine.”
In the video address, the former president declared that he would “strongly support universal school choice,” “keep men out of women’s sports,” and ask Congress to legislate a national ban on “child sexual mutilation.”
“Can you imagine you have to put that down as a platform? That you are going to stop child sexual mutilation? Who would think you would ever have to say a thing like that?”
“I’m also going to take aggressive action to reclaim our system of higher education. It’s a system right now of the Marxist left, and we’re not going to have it any longer. When I’m your President, these communists, fascists, and others will no longer be allowed to rule the lives of our children – no longer be allowed to take away the authority of loving parents,” he concluded.