‘FIGHT LIKE A MOTHER’: During the annual Moms for Liberty conference over the weekend the organization’s leaders stuck to the usual talking points. They railed against transgender youths participating in sports, rebuked discussions about gender identity in classrooms and called for abolishing the Education Department. But there was one clear message: They needed to fight to win this year’s election. “We have to fight this year. Just like we did in 2020,” Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the organization said during welcome remarks. “A Walz-Harris presidency would make 2020 school shutdowns and parents being thrown out of school board meetings look like the warm up act.” The conservative education reform group consists of a key demographic that former President Donald Trump needs to win the election: women. The polls show that women, who vote at higher rates than men, favor Vice President Kamala Harris. Nationally, almost every recent survey shows Harris leading Trump, but within the margin of error. Moms for Liberty has 300 chapters and 130,000 members across the country — 600 of whom attended the summit, according to the organization. They attended sessions titled “What does it mean to Abolish the Department of Education?” and “Moms Know Best: Protecting Kids from Secret Gender Transitions in Schools.” They also heard from Trump in what was billed as a “fireside chat” with Justice, which jumped from topic to topic such as Ivanka’s clothing line, his mother’s Scottish origins, and his reality TV show, the Apprentice. Trump and Justice also talked about transgender students participating in sports. Justice said that there has been “an explosion in the number of children who identify as transgender” and asked what he would be “able to do as president.” “Well, you can do everything,” Trump said. “The president has such power.” The audience cheered and applauded. The local chapters had similar views on gender identity and sexuality being taught in schools, improving reading scores, and school choice, among other topics. One topic that they all agreed was important — but didn’t have as cohesive of messaging on — was school safety. School shootings have become increasingly common. There have been 413 since Columbine, and the last one was only two months ago, according to the Washington Post’s tracker. Corie Pinero, a chapter chair of Broward County, Florida, where the Parkland shooting took place, said she believes discipline is key to preventing school shootings. “The Parkland shooter was allowed to fall through the cracks so many times because they gave him so many chances,” Pinero said. “We need to have more safeguards and more structure for discipline for our kids. They need to have consequences for their actions.” She also said that local high schools recently implemented metal detectors, which Moms for Liberty and other groups supported. Others struggled to identify exactly what policy solutions they’d like to see to prevent mass shootings. “I don’t know if Moms for Liberty has a comment for that” Lisa Adams, a chapter chair in Plymouth, Massachusetts said. She paused briefly and then said: “Actually, we are pro-police, so we are pro-adding resource officers to address that.” Several other chapter presidents said they were in favor of adding resource officers to schools, but didn’t have many further comments. IT’S TUESDAY, Sept. 3. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. I’m your host Rebecca Carballo. Send me a note at rcarballo@politico.com. Reach out with tips to me or my colleagues: Juan Perez Jr. (jperez@politico.com), Bianca Quilantan (bquilantan@politico.com) and Mackenzie Wilkes (mwilkes@politico.com). Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment