It's not a coincidence that Donald Trump's nominee for Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, is the defendant in a lawsuit alleging that she ignored widespread sexual abuse of minors at World Wrestling Entertainment when she was CEO. Abandoning children to predatory forces who wish to dominate and exploit them seems to be a requisite of the job under the incoming Trump administration. In his first term, Trump picked Amway heiress Betsy DeVos to run the Education Department because of her long history of anti-public school activism. This time, he simply needs someone who will stand aside as an army of far-right Christians, emboldened by the rise of groups like Moms for Liberty, take the lead in attacking the very foundations of free, secular education.
Christian nationalists aren't even waiting for Trump to be sworn in for a second time before they make their move. Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host who Trump tapped to be Defense Secretary, was on a Christian nationalist podcast last week that described the vision. "I think we need to be thinking in terms of these classical Christian schools are boot camps for winning back America," explained the host, who is closely linked with Douglas Wilson, a far-right pastor who advocates for theocracy. Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny after it was revealed he settled out of court with a woman who accused him of rape in 2017, concurred. He called for an "educational insurgency" where "you build your army underground" of children, so they can grow up to be the next generation of fundamentalist culture warriors.
