With 33 days until he is out of office, Donald Trump appointed the members of his absurd 1776 Commission, who are tasked with restoring patriotism into all public spaces and presumably into history textbooks, although any federal interference with curriculum, textbooks, or instruction is forbidden by law. I wrote about this silly commission here.
This is Trump’s (or Stephen Miller’s) attempt to refute the New York Times’ 1619 Project and to debunk “critical race theory,” which Trump himself never heard of and can’t explain.
If Trump were a real patriot, he would follow the dictates of the Constitution and hail Joe Biden as the President-Elect. But because he puts self above country, he can’t do that, and he is no patriot at all. He is an insurrectionist.
Politico reported:
President Donald Trump is still trying to advance “patriotic education,” announcing 33 days before his departure from office his intent to appointmembers of a 1776 Commission.
The group will be led by the president of the conservative Hillsdale College, Larry Arnn, a longtime Trump ally, who will serve as chairman, the White House said Friday. Matthew Spalding, vice president for the college’s Washington, D.C., operations and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government, has been appointed executive director of the Commission, according to the college.
The commission is part of Trump’s defense against critical race theory and the 1619 Project, directed by The New York Times Magazine, which revisits the country’s history with a focus on slavery and Black Americans’ contributions. Trump has said he hopes to counter lessons that he believes divide Americans on race and slavery and teach students to “hate their own country.”
Along with Arnn, others to be appointed to the 18-member panel include activist Charlie Kirk, who founded the conservative campus group Turning Point USA; Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who has declared his state “Trump Country;” Silicon Valley CEO and Trump fundraiser Scott McNealy; Brooke Rollins, Trump’s domestic policy adviser; and Mike Gonzalez, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow.
“The 1776 Committee was formed to advise the President about the core principles of the American founding and how to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education,” Spalding said in a statement. “The path to a renewed and confident national unity is through a rediscovery of our shared identity rooted in those principles.”
Spalding took a temporary leave of absence from his duties at Hillsdale for the appointment, according to the college.
Presumably, Spalding’s leave of absence will last for 33 days.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If Spaulding took a temporary leave from the presidency of Hillsdale College to head this Trump commission, he’s a fool, or else Hillsdale has plans to hire him right back in February, when the commission is disbanded.
Rhetorically, what are the values of Hillsdale’s current president?
One of the former presidents, who was the big fundraiser for the school, made the news when his daughter-in-law committed suicide on campus. The scandal confirmed opinions about the family values of Republican/ conservative religion.
Their first meeting is scheduled for January 21st to receive their termination slip.
Hooray for Captain Spaulding!
More bizarre behavior from arguably the worst ever President.
Hey, Joe, Trump and DeVos were great for charter schools!
Yes, so was President Obama.
Obama and Duncan were wrong about charters. Race to the Top failed in every aspect, including teacher evaluation.
Hahahaha! What a RIOT. Trump is the least patriotic person I know. Trump is a traitorous liar.
This is ALL FOR SHOW … ONLY.
Are the Russians hacking into government websites to write the Trump/Kremlin version of American patriotism.
Remember how the Trump campaign ran out of funds? Well, check this out:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/kushner-trump-family-shell-company-b1776359.html
Grifters gotta grift.
Hey, you guys at the 1776 Commission! So glad I could catch you! I have a name for your textbook program: Blood and Soil, Race and Soul! See? A little nod to its precursor, the Third Reich school text Rasse und Seele. And, of course, to the “good people on both sides” in Charlottesville! Truth will not replace us! Propaganda Minister Miller will love it!!!
And you could include some fine print on the inside of the back cover saying that 75 percent of the proceeds will go to the Donald Trump Legal Defense and Personal Slush Fund.
“Truth will not replace us!” That statement aptly describes this administration. Trump’s pathetic attempt to appear to be fighting is likely an attempt to squeeze more money out of his fanatical followers.
“….about the core principles of the American founding and how to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education.”
Is it patriotism to attempt to nullify the votes of almost ten million people.
Click to access richard_delgado_jean_stefancic_critical_race_thbookfi-org-1.pdf
The first (non-italicized) paragraph of this book is a great summation of the illiberalism of critical race theory.
CRT “questions the very foundations of the liberal order,” including “Enlightenment rationalism” and “neutral principles of constitutional law.” And if you spend enough time talking to CRT adherents, you quickly learn that “to question” doesn’t mean “let’s question premises and have an interesting conversation” as much as it means “discredit, destabilize, and replace with new principles that move us closer toward our goals.”
I think my fundamental problem with CRT is that I am a fan of liberalism, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law. These increasingly feel like reactionary views on the left.
I agree, FLERP, but ideas like this are on the periphery of public discourse.
Yeah, I hear you, Flerp. I’m interested in the conversation, though.
When I hear someone like Derrick Bell disparage something like the Brown decision, arguing that it just assuaged white guilt and keep a revolution at bay, I get furious too, Flerp. This is not just a) liberal white guilt talking or b) a small concession in order to keep whites in power by taking half steps. Yes, I understand that many of our schools are more segregated today than at any time in the past. But I’ve taught in an integrated Southern school in a district still under a consent decree because it dragged its feet so long on desegregation. I’ve seen with my own eyes, on the ground, what a difference something like Brown makes–black kids and white kids learning to live together and love one another.
Ah! Derrick Bell was a friend in the late 1970s. I used to argue with him about the Brown Decision. He didn’t like incremental steps. But that is the only steps that move us forward.
Fascinating, Diane!
Diane, I don’t always agree with you, but I admire and appreciate your willingness to engage with random Internet folk like me. It’s unusual, to understate it.
You are my friend.
When Trump talks or tweets about patriotism, to understand what he means, what his definition is, one has to take a walk in his tiny little shoes while listening to what he is thinking with his malignant narcissistic brain.
Patriotism in Trump’s unwritten dictionary is loyalty to Trump. If you are not loyal to Trump, you are a traitor.
Stretch Trump’s definition, and that means if you are not willing to die to keep Trump in the White House, you are a traitor and a loser.
Critical race theory is worthless and pernicious. The 1776 Commission is embarrassing. I wish we could move past all this junk but it’s just picking up steam.
My view: The term CRT, encompasses a lot of different ideas expounded by a lot of different people, some absurd and counterproductive (we should reject rights-based solutions as insufficient and as serving the purposes of the ruling majority), some simply scientific (race is a cultural phenomenon, not a biological one), some noxious and dangerous (separatism), some clearly demonstrable (the existence of microaggressions and systemic racism past and present), some obvious (that individuals instantiate intersectionality). some pragmatic (yes, we aren’t going to get somewhere quickly without affirmative action). It’s a very good thing to be having these discussions.
It ia convenient for white people to “move past all this junk”, not so much for people living the impact of racism.
As example, many of those with a parent or grandparent in the military at the time the G.I. Bill was enacted continue to benefit from the government’s help to their families. On the other hand, black men, discriminated against in jobs and and college admittance were disadvantaged by systemic racism.
It’s actually quite inconvenient to say in public what I said here.
Have you actually read the new (now popular canon) texts of anti-racism? Kendi’s big book, or the HR pamphlet on “whiteness” by Robin DiAngelo?
Anti-racism (which is not “not being racist” or “being against racism”) is anti-intellectual and anti-liberal, and is going to be a gigantic wedge on the left for decades to come if it doesn’t fall out fashion. Lucky for the Democratic left, this is a two-party system and the Republican Party is an absolute horror show and is probably incapable of reforming.
In my view, the anti-racism movement has been outrageously mischaracterized by those who oppose it.
Bret Stephens and Newt Gingrich are rabid proponents of the anti-anti-racism movement. If I were to cherry pick a book from any scholar, I could find a place where that scholar did NOT acknowledge the influence of slavery at all and thus implied that slavery was completely unimportant and had absolutely no affect on anything in US history and demand those scholars be discredited because their book minimized the impact of slavery and instead focused on the impact of other historical events.
The desperation to debunk this movement borders on racism. As a Jew, I have read books that talk a lot about how the holocaust or immigration laws affected Jewish life in America and I have read books that gave importance to other historical events that affected Jewish life. Books that don’t mention the importance of the Holocaust ENOUGH are not debunked and books that do focus on the importance of the Holocaust are not attacked for being “too anti-Nazi”.
This isn’t about scholarship. It is about the double standard that is used to diminish any scholarship that isn’t approved by the establishment.
There was a time when books that talked about the influence and importance of women in American history were attacked because they did not focus enough on how influential and important white men were and therefore were “bad scholarship”.
This happens all the time in history. Those in power object to any history that challenges what they were so lavishly rewarded for promoting as the only “truth”.
I’m sure that Robin DiAngelo has written some things I have disagreed with just like Bret Stephens has. Only one of them is given a regular voice in the NYT to spew nonsense and hypocrisy and also sometimes an interesting point.
Flerp!
Do you anticipate being financially harmed by what you wrote?
I know a number of people who say the things you write and, they aren’t. Current PC has made them emotionally uncomfortable but, that’s different. Recently, an acquaintance tutted, “You can’t say anything anymore”. Her life in GOP territory isn’t changed in the least.
No, because I’m writing anonymously. I would not write this under my real name.
A few articles today at Axios worth a read, “A Timeline of Housing Inequalities”, “Why the Racial Homeownership Gap Persists”, and “The Rental Housing Markets Black Tax”.
Here’s another article, arguing that to counter historic and structural racism, the votes of black voters should be counted twice. Do you agree?
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/black-votes-reparations-gerrymandering/tnamp/
Here’s a short piece by Ibram Kendi — the author of the best-selling “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” arguing that “to fix the original sin of racism,” the constitution should be amended to make disparate impacts on racial groups above a certain threshold u constitutional, and to create a Department of Anti-Racism tasked with “preclearing all local, state and federal public policies to ensure they won’t yield racial inequity, monitor those policies, investigate private racist policies when racial inequity surfaces, and monitor public officials for expressions of racist ideas.”
Do you agree?
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/inequality/pass-an-anti-racist-constitutional-amendment/
My older son was furious when he read some of this literature, and I told him to calm down. Blacks were grievously mistreated in this country, and we will pay for it for many years to come. In the meanwhile, be understanding, be patient, and beware of the possibility that inflammatory rhetoric strengthens the racists, white supremacists, KKK, Proud Boys, and Trumpers.
“Calm down” is always wise advice. But then what? Be quiet? Nod in assent when someone suggests votes should be given different weight depending on the race of the voter? Vote for candidates who support establishing a Department of Anti-Racism? I prefer to point out the utter insanity of this school of thought (calmly if possible).
It won’t matter. Dissertations will bewritten. Progress will be incremental. Racism will, sadly, persist.
I might consider respecting the points right wingers make if I had witnessed, at any point in time, their equivalent outrage at racism’s impact, if they offered remedies instead of takedowns and, if they gave examples of their own personal actions to alleviate the substantial harm caused by patterns of racism directed against black people.
I think that by “all this junk,” Flerp was referring to CRT, not to the current movement to combat systemic racism. To me, CRT is a mixed bag. Same with a lot of Postmodernist theory. But some of it is quite useful: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/from-notes-to-krystalina/
Maybe the 1776 Commission will propose teaching the basics of federalism, under which certain matters, including the curriculum students are taught, are left to states and local communities. But I have no idea how the Commission will do this, since it lacks the authority to dictate that dictating curriculum is not within the purview of the federal government.
Maybe Betsy DeVos can explain all this to the members of the Commission before she clears out her desk.
Clears out her desk of what?
The stock photos of her at work show her looking at carpet samples.
Great video.
The standardized testing in ELA would end tomorrow if the politicians, pundits, administrators, and teachers had to take these tests. I read critiques of these and say to myself, far, far too many people who talk about these tests never actually read (or took) one. They or a godawful mess–sloppy, invalid, backward, and absurd caricatures of actual reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Here, a general critique of them: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2020/03/19/why-we-need-to-end-high-stakes-standardized-testing-now/
Many simply take it for granted that these state standardized ELA tests actually validly test for what they purport to test for. They do not.
It makes me sad to see what the Radical Right has done to Hillsdale College. I is a Liberal Arts college that was established in the 1844 by the Liberals of that day. Abolitionists who were known as Freewill Baptists. It admitted black students shortly after its foundation. It was one of the first coeducation Colleges and the second College in the nation to grant women four year liberal arts degrees. In 1907 the College stopped requiring that its faculty be members of the Freewill Baptist Church and the student body began to be more diverse religiously.
Over the years Hillsdale shifted from being a advocate for liberal social reforms such as abolition, women’s suffrage and equal rights and became more and more conservative until after the passage of the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s it became down right reactionary. Hillsdale strongly resisted the affirmative action requirements that are attached to federal and state funding. In 1962 its Board of Trustees adopted its own Declaration of Independence and began to move the College away from accepting any federal or state grants or funding. After a series of legal actions resisting federal regulations and what the Board called “Government Control” Hillsdale that came through the Federal Student Loan program, in 1984 the College withdrew from all federal student loan programs and the students now rely on private sources of loans and aid.
Hillsdale still provides an excellent true liberal arts College education, requiring all graduates to complete courses on the “Great Books,” The US Constitution, biology, chemistry, and physics along with their coursework in their field of study. However, many students find its stress on supporting an ultra conservative point of view to be oppressing.
Today it is one of a number of small private Colleges and Universities who are still supporting Donald Trump and claiming to view him as the savior of he nation. Its founders must be spinning over and over in their graves.
Wow, Mr. Kolk! Fascinating. Thanks for this history!
Although NYT’s 1619 project is debatable, their Commission is definitely not the one who deserves any credit for its legit criticism. And certainly not for CRT. They are even worse than Southern Baptist Convention(SBC).
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/december/southern-baptist-critical-race-theory-debate-crt-seminary-s.html
I bet this is kind of his next plan to continue his silly, unscientific, fallacious project in private venue after leaving the office in January.