Senator Kelly Ayotte was asked whether Donald Trump was a role model. She replied, “Absolutely.”
How can anyone say yjis about a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobic, a bully, a braggart, a man who boasts that he doesn’t pay taxes?
Don’t vote for her.
Media Contact:
George Strout
Communications Director
603-224-7751 x308, 603-867-3104 Cell
gstrout@nhnea.org
http://www.neanh.org
New Hampshire Educators to Ayotte: Trump is No Role Model
During tonight’s U.S. Senate debate, Senator Kelly Ayotte was asked whether children should look up to Donald Trump as a role model.
“Absolutely,” Ayotte answered.
New Hampshire educators have a different response: ABSOLUTELY NOT.
“As educators, we teach our kids that kindness, collaboration, and cooperation are important in school and in life,” said Karen Ladd, Sanborn Regional High School Art Teacher. “Donald Trump is teaching our children the wrong lessons: he has consistently denigrated women, wants to ban Muslims from coming to the country, and mocks people with disabilities. His hate-filled rhetoric is setting a dangerous example for our children.”
Since Trump entered the race for president last year, educators have witnessed a steady increase in bullying and harassing behavior that mirrors his words and actions on the campaign trail. Ayotte’s supporting Trump as a role model shows a lack of judgement and should cause great concern for New Hampshire voters.
Anne McQuade, an ELL teacher in the city of Manchester, who has taught at the elementary, middle and high school levels and works closely with refugee and immigrant students says that Trump’s rhetoric has caused her students great anxiety and fear.
“My students fear they will be deported, separated from family members, and sent back to the war torn countries they left because their loved ones were in danger,” said McQuade. “Students should not be thinking about being deported or discriminated against. They should be thinking about their math homework and science essays,”
When asked to recall specific conversations and questions her concerned students have asked, McQuade provided the following examples:
A student from Mexico stood in front of my desk with watery eyes and asked, “Miss, is it true if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States, my family will be kicked out of America?” and “Do you think they will take my Dad away? He brings food home and I don’t know what we will do without him.”
An Iraqi student, who is Muslim, told me that when she got off her bus, a man yelled, “Go home terrorist. You shouldn’t be in this country.”
A Somalian student said, “Why does Donald Trump hate all refugees and immigrants? Does he even know what is happening in my country right now?!”
A girl from the Dominican Republic and a girl from Mexico were talking in my class and the girl from the Dominican Republic said, “I wonder if Donald Trump will kick Dominicans out?” The young lady from Mexico replied, “No, you’re safe, he doesn’t want to build a wall in your country, only mine. My abuela (grandmother) won’t be able to visit me. I’m sad!”
“Throughout her time in office, Maggie Hassan has consistently stood up for students, educators, and their families,” said NEA-NH President Scott McGilvray. “Maggie Hassan understands we need a leader as a President, not someone whose words would land them in the principal’s office.”
About NEA-New Hampshire
NEA-New Hampshire is the largest union of public employees in the state. Founded in 1854, the New Hampshire State Teachers Association became one of the “founding ten” state education associations that formed the National Education Association in 1857. Known today as NEA-NH, and comprised of more than 17,000 members, our mission to advocate for the children of New Hampshire and public school employees, and to promote lifelong learning, remains true after more than 150 years. Our members are public school employees in all stages of their careers, including classroom teachers and other certified professionals, staff and instructors at public higher education institutions, students preparing for a teaching career, education support personnel and those retired from the profession.
George Strout | NEA-NH | 603-224-7751 | gstrout@nhnea.org |
NEA New Hampshire, 9 South Spring Street, Concord, NH
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Later she tried to walk it back, half-heartedly. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/10/04/sen-kelly-ayotte-misspoke-when-she-called-donald-trump-a-role-model-for-children
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In Ohio we have Hillary ads that include specific exemplars of people form whom Trump has shown distain, including a teen whose spine cancer prevents him from walking smoothly without flailing his arms for balance.
There is reasonable concern about the “model” of character and judgment that he is presenting as if of high value for the presidency and for leaders of other nations.
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You really have to give Mr. Dorian J. Trump credit —
Never before in the history of these United States
has one public figure so ably managed to embody
all the qualities we never want our Nation to exhibit.
But exhibit them he does …
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We are all going to have PTSD after watching this maniac demean the presidency, the nation and humanity.
Epic onanistic bloviation.
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Like! Especially EOB
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I have many problems with Trump, and I have many problems with Hillary. Political refugees are here legally and should be treated compassionately – they appreciate being in America far more than most native born citizens do, especially the mostly left-wing ideologues who read this blog.
But America cannot admit every poor person who wants to come here: we don’t have the financial ability to provide for all of them, we don’t the medical infrastructure to care for them, and the environment can’t support another 1+ billion people who would surely come here if they could. Most of all, our economy already has a large surplus of low-skilled labor and doesn’t need more of it from Mexico or anywhere else.
The unionized teachers and other Edworlders who read this blog are part of the Protected: their jobs are safe from competition posed by lower wage immigrants doing “jobs Americans won’t do”, a term that is empirically false per labor statistics, except for farm labor. Put yourself in the shoes of a unionized roofer in Minneapolis who used to earn $26/ hour (2016 dollars) before the huge influx of illegals displaced him by being willing to work for $10/ hour or less. Ditto for other construction trades and many other blue-collar jobs, which would pay more in a tighter labor market, but where the labor surplus caused by massive immigration holds down wages (source: Paul Krugman, et al). This truth is no longer allowed in the hyperpartisan mainstream media, even though Bernie Sanders said the same thing in 2007, as did Hillary Clinton, as did the New York Times editorial board in 2000, as did many other liberals before open borders became the politically correct and socially acceptable position.
But I know that Edworlders don’t want to be hypocrites, So I propose the following. Let’s classify K-12 teaching as a “job Americans won’t do”, reduce the pay to at most $25,000/year, and import teachers from abroad to do this work. Maybe then Edworlders won’t sneer at blue-collar people and call them racists for being outraged at being displaced by low wage illegal immigrants.
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Interesting you only mentioned low wage jobs. H1bs replace highly skilled workers like computer programmers, accountants, and engineers based on a hypothetical skills gap.
But I am puzzled by your contempt towards educators. I see unionized teachers engaged a Thermopylaen stand against forces that want to silence the voice of all those that declare earned income on their taxes, not just teachers. Blue collar workers are not sneered at by teachers. Just the opposite. It is easy to find a unionized private sector worker insist public employee unions are unconstitutional. These people have no problem classifying teachers as lesser citizens under the law worthy of limited rights under the Constitution.
What is annoying are those that disparage teachers and continue to vote against their interests and support an obvious fraud like Trump. I’m more convinced that too many voters want to blame teachers for their own failings as students or parents, rather than take personal responsibility.
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John,
I appreciate one who doesn’t hide behind a pseudonym, although I can understand why some do. Also I appreciate someone who can coin a word-Edworlders. I like it. How did you come up with it?
If I may ask in what trade/profession are you employed? How long?
While I like the term, I’m not sure I’m an edworlder. You see I didn’t start teaching until I was 39 and now have retired from high school Spanish teaching. Before that I have worked many different jobs from custodial to dishwasher to maintenance to clerk, to CS manager, to purchasing pharmaceutical supervisor, to materials management for a metal building manufacturer, I’m a master upholsterer-so I’ve been exposed to many different jobs over the years. As it is I know many mechanics, painters, electricians, carpenters, heavy equipment operators and many other folks, small business owners, lawyers, bartenders, salesmen, and other non-construction related jobs. And many will vote for the Trumpster and are not racist, xenophobes etc. . . . If you’ve been following this blog at all you will know that I am not voting for either of the duopoly’s choices.
Your anger at teachers is misplaced. Your anger at those immigrants is misplaced. Why? Who hires and pays them those low wages? It’s not the other low pay workers and it certainly isn’t the teachers. Well who is it? It’s all the employers who consistently break the law and hire illegal help. They may claim that no Americans will do the work. Perhaps because the employers refuse to pay a living wage. Hell look at the wages paid by Walmart to US citizens that isn’t enough to live on while the Waltons and their kin make billions every year.
So please realize, it’s not us peeon (not sure who coined that one) teachers that hire the illegals and low wage American workers, it is the owners, businessmen/women who do so. Direct your anger at and fight against those who are truly exploiting you (if you truly are a worker who has been displaced by an illegal.)
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John Webster has vomited up so many lies, distortions, straw men, red herrings and slanders that it rises to the level of trolldom extraordinaire. The main reason that wages of the middle class have been stagnant is mainly due to the corporatists and CEOs hogging all the profits for themselves. Anti-union Walmart being a prime example of corporate greed; employee wages are so low than many of them have to apply for food stamps and public assistance while the Walmarts take in their billions. Most of Webster’s screed is nothing more than sneering crap.
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Joe, you are a perfect example of the type of left-wing, uninformed ideologues who are this blog’s biggest fans. Every point I made about the effect of massive low-skilled immigration has been made in this century by Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Paul Krugman, and many other liberals, although it is now politically incorrect to make that point. Canada – which you no doubt view as much superior to the United States – has long had a skills-based immigration system that is far more restrictive than the American system. The law of supply and demand still operates in labor markets, so if there is a large surplus of low-skilled labor, wages will stagnate or even fall. Immigration is not the only factor in wage stagnation, but it’s a major factor, along with globalization and automation. You obviously are dismally educated about economic realities, so don’t even try to debate with me.
The political class – both major parties – has favored open borders for two reasons: (1) Employers – most of them Republican voters – want an unlimited supply of cheap, compliant labor, both low-skilled and high tech, with high tech employers being mostly Democratic voters. Those employers pay large campaign bribes to politicians so that this immigration continues. Forget about building a wall; severely penalize employers of illegal labor, and that problem will mostly disappear. (2) Democratic politicians and left-wing activists view low-income immigrants as reliable future voters – they’re right in that assessment.
I’m not angry at teachers, and I understand why teachers unionized many years ago – they were exploited by employers. But the leaders of the teachers’ unions oppose enforcement of immigration laws for the same reasons that Democratic politicians do, and their members are in no danger of being displaced by lower wage immigrants. It’s easy to condescend to economically vulnerable people when your own standard of living is secure.
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@John W- From Huffingtonpost: “The number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States has continually declined after hitting its peak in 2007 with a total of 12 million, according to the latest study by the Pew Research Center.” [snip] “Migration from Mexico, the country providing the largest number of immigrants, has also fallen. In 2010, 58 percent of immigrants living without legal status in the United States were of Mexican origin. Also, there were a million undocumented immigrants under 18, as well as 4.5 million children born in the United States, whose parents were undocumented.
According to the study, about two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have lived in America for over a decade and nearly half of the community, 46 percent, are parents of a child. Migration from Mexico declined from 2007 in part due to the increase of border enforcement and the growing dangers that come with the illicit transit to the United States. Many undocumented Mexican workers already in the U.S. have also found few job opportunities forcing them to return to their country, The Associated Press reports.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/undocumented-immigration-decreasing_n_2632536.html
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Nice, Webster: shall we reduce the pay of CEOs and doctors to $25,000? Why not?
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Ms. Ravitch, the saddest part of your descent into fanaticism is your loss of common courtesy and your vilification of people who sincerely disagree with you but who aren’t bought off like you claim all your opposition is. I would have thought you still had the reasoning ability to understand my point about reducing teacher pay to $25,000, but obviously not.
If we drastically reduce the pay of CEOs and doctors, talented people won’t go into those professions; same with teachers, which is why I’ve always favored paying teachers better than they earn now. But unionized teachers are protected by tenure and can’t be displaced by lower wage competition – unlike many blue-collar workers like the true story of the roofers I cited. The NEA can sanctimoniously hurl charges of racism at people who favor restricting immigration because their own members are immune to the effects of wage-lowering immigrants. That’s economic reality, as many liberals used to acknowledge just ten years ago, before open borders became the politically correct position. Why has the People’s Utopia of Canada restricted immigration far more than the United States for many decades, and why did Cesar Chavez vehemently oppose illegal immigration?
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your assumption is based on your own view — I believe it holds a good deal of cynicism.
” talented people won’t go into those professions; ”
I don’t imagine your sense and understanding of political history include Jeremy Bentham or anything having to do with altruism (what I always considered an important component of conventional ethics)….
It’s just another of the same attacks that women who studied to be teachers or men who studied in the divinity schools or human services were “less ” worthy and had no talents. I guess they can build tests to try to prove this false assumption ….
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Your comment is pure jibberish; what are you trying but failing to say? I plainly stated that “I’ve always favored paying teachers better than they earn now.”
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Your thought experiment regarding suppressing the wages of teachers is already underway that to the for-profit charter movement. Some of the profiteers operating de-regulated charters employ non-certified (and non-union) teachers for wages that are below market value. And there is really no need to “import teachers from abroad” because many of the for-profit charters use “personalized” computers to provide instruction for students. And assuming you are a regular reader of this site, you see that we “Edworlders” ARE “outraged at being displaced” with un-trained low wage employees and/or machines so that the profiteers can reward their shareholders. Mr. Swacker, who commented earlier, has it right: we should direct our anger at those who are exploiting us. Teachers— union and non-union alike— are being displaced by those who want to make education into a marketplace and want to replace humans with efficient machines.
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John,
Perhaps in the ensuing dialogue you may have overlooked my queries. If I may repeat my unanswered questions:
Edworlders. I like it. How did you come up with it?
If I may ask in what trade/profession are you employed? How long?
TIA!
Duane
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Edworlders is pure horse manure!!! It’s not meant as a compliment. I’m sorry to burst John’s bubble but most teachers’ overriding concern is education and educating the students. John is obsessed with the immigration issue to an extreme degree. Not that teachers aren’t involved in politics and other important issues including immigration but not to the ridiculous level of John.
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I’m not obsessed with the immigration issue; I’m just providing a factually based argument that refutes the sentimental and politically correct support for open borders. Teachers would deeply and justifiably resent being displaced by cheap imported labor – why is it so awful for blue-collar and high tech workers who have actually been displaced by immigrants to resent it? Joe, you can’t disprove a single fact that I’ve cited in this thread about the immigration issue; take off your ideological blinders and read outside the left-wing bubble of the DR blog, the Daily Kos, the NYT, etc. – you’ll learn about reality.
Duane, I coined the term Edworld to describe the K-college establishment that dominates the education world, often in very self-serving ways. I don’t oppose teachers unions per se; my very Republican paternal grandfather long ago saw the need for unions when he was a career high school math teacher. However, those unions are sometimes their own worst enemies when they defend the indefensible in their profession – likewise for all professions, especially police officers when they try to justify misconduct by a colleague.
My first career was as a federal bank regulator for 12 years; I support sensible regulation of business in banking, environmental matters, labor laws, etc. Capitalism is a marvelous generator of wealth, but we need government to sand off its rougher edges and to prevent economic hardship without fostering long-term dependency – goals which are often not achieved.
For 20 years I’ve been in the private sector, first doing personal financial advising for 12 years, with my time now focused on helping businesses in distress to recover without laying off employees. My lifelong avocation is serious reading; since I graduated from college 35 years ago with an Economics degree I’ve read 700+ mostly long books in the areas of American history, Economics, and classic novels. I treasure the liberal arts, which is why I’m a big fan of E.D. Hirsch and his support for content based education, and why I served on a school board for three years and have a high regard for excellent, committed teachers, who in most cases should be better paid.
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John, I appreciate the biographical info. Helps me understand where you are coming from. Muchas gracias!
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If not mistaken, I believe that Ayotte supports more charter schools and providing vouchers to private schools, including religious ones. There are big bucks involved in the efforts to privatize public education, and social security, medicare and medicaid. Do I see the Koch brothers lurking behind that tree over there?
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Donald is not a role model, but he plays one one TV. Is it acting bad, or bad acting? Or both? I do not know.
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Kelly Ayotte is the ONLY New England senator who did not support the bipartisan legislation presented by Biden/Manchin/Toomey for background checks. She also stated she wants to overturn Rowe v Wade. The other women senators (Maine Collins and Snowe) were never this unreasonable and seemed more sensible in their approach to legislation. Ayotte is looking out for her own career and she has to hold on to that base of Trump voters ….. Most of the guns in crimes in MA come in from NH (or Maine).
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from Daily Kos elections: September 5 “• NH-Sen: Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte stepped in it big time on Monday during her debate with Democratic challenger Maggie Hassan. Ayotte has tried to have it both ways regarding Donald Trump: She maintains she doesn’t endorse him, but says she’ll vote for him anyway in what can only be described as pretzel logic. Given the absurd distinction Ayotte has tried to maintain, her answer to whether Trump was a role model for kids to look up to came as a shock:
“I think that certainly there are many role models that we have,” Ayotte answered awkwardly. “I believe he can serve as president, so absolutely, I would [say he’s a role model]”
This is the same Trump who has made so many racist and sexist comments that Hillary Clinton has used them to literally run ads on how he’s a terrible role model for children.”
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Ursula Hegi “The fourth novel in Ursula Hegi’s acclaimed Burgdorf cycle is a thoughtful, sidelong approach to the worst moment in Germany’s history that invites us to understand how decent people come to collaborate with evil” (Kirkus Reviews).
Children and Fire tells the story of one day that will forever transform the lives of the people in Burgdorf, Germany, the fictitious village by the river in Ursula Hegi’s bestselling novels. February 27, 1934—the first anniversary of the burning of Reichstag, the Parliament building in Berlin.
we need to keep Trump away from the oval office…. and call out those like Kelly Ayotte
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