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![](\"https:\/\/progressive.org\/downloads\/21473\/download\/LindaMcMahon2018.jpg?cb=be679d1c3d2358a8552b60b1caffd068\")
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U.S. Senator Andy Kim, Democrat of New Jersey, likely spoke for many viewers of Secretary of Education appointee Linda McMahon\u2019s Senate confirmation hearing<\/a> last week when he said<\/a>, while questioning McMahon, \u201cI guess I\u2019m frustrated . . . . This whole debate we\u2019re having right now, it just feels like it\u2019s untethered from just the reality on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim\u2019s frustration grew from his exchange with McMahon about President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to cut and dismantle<\/a> the Department of Education, in particular, the department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights, and how that squares with the department\u2019s obligation to address what Kim described as \u201ca surge in antisemitism\u201d in schools and on college campuses. McMahon\u2019s ensuing non-answer\u2014she pledged only to examine \u201cwhat the impact\u201d of the cuts would be\u2014was just one example of her tendency throughout the hearing to obfuscate or respond to questions with platitudes.<\/p>\n During the hearing, McMahon refused to give<\/a> U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, a clear answer to his question about whether schools that have race- or gender-related afterschool clubs are in violation of Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a> to eliminate federal grants to organizations that support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Murphy called her lack of clarity \u201cchilling.\u201d<\/p>\n When Delaware Democratic Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester asked<\/a> McMahon if she believed that every school receiving federal dollars should follow federal civil rights laws, McMahon said, \u201cSchools should be required to follow the laws,\u201d but refused to provide a straight answer when Blunt Rochester then asked, \u201cIf private schools take federal dollars, can they turn away a child based on a disability or religion or race?\u201d<\/p>\n McMahon stated<\/a> her resolve \u201cto make sure that our children do have equal access to excellent education,\u201d but said that was a responsibility \u201cbest handled at the state level\u201d\u2014even though the failure of states<\/a> to ensure equal access was a major reason for the Department of Education\u2019s creation in 1980.\u00a0<\/p>\n While she affirmed that many of the education department\u2019s programs were established by law\u2014though she was unsure of how many\u2014she suggested that legally established education department functions might be relocated to other federal departments. When asked what she would do if Trump ordered her to carry out a policy change that violated congressionally established law, McMahon said, \u201cThe President will not ask me to do anything that is against the law,\u201d which hardly seems plausible<\/a>.<\/p>\n McMahon\u2019s comments at her confirmation hearing left news reporters unclear<\/a> about exactly how or if McMahon would carry out Trump\u2019s declaration<\/a> to dismantle the department she professes to want to lead. A reporter for The New York Times<\/em> described<\/a> what McMahon did lay out as a \u201croundabout plan.\u201d<\/p>\n But New Hampshire Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan likely captured the moment best when she said<\/a>, during her own exchange with McMahon, \u201cThe whole hearing right now feels kind of surreal to me\u2014it\u2019s almost like we\u2019re being subjected to a very elegant gaslighting here.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaslighting\u2014a process by which a person is psychologically manipulated through a pattern of comments or actions intended to make them question their perceptions of reality or accurate memories\u2014more or less describes what Republicans have done with education policy for the past forty or fifty years.<\/p>\n If someone following education politics during the Reagan Administration had fallen into a coma and regained consciousness in February 2025, they would wholly recognize\u2014with the exception of some contemporary issues like DEI\u2014the arguments Republicans are still making: Call<\/a> public education a failure. Check<\/a>! Cut government funding<\/a> of the system. Yep<\/a>! Dismantle the Department of Education<\/a>. Sure<\/a>! And privatize<\/a> everything. You betcha<\/a>!<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear why arch-conservative Republicans have resorted to gaslighting their opponents on the issue of public education: Because their real agenda for public schools is to get rid of them<\/a>, or to undermine public education to the extent that it becomes the option of last resort for families. But Republicans can\u2019t openly admit to this agenda, because it is hugely unpopular<\/a>\u2014even among many Republicans<\/a>. So they instead are pursuing a death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach, all the while claiming<\/a> their actions are taken for the sake of students around the country.<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s important to call out gaslighting while it\u2019s happening and to identify the perpetrators, it\u2019s also essential to understand the impact of gaslighting on the victim. In the case of education policy, Democrats have, for years, displayed<\/a> all the confusion, uncertainty, and dependency that are characteristic effects of the abuse, using the very same arguments<\/a> that Republicans use for education policy and missing the much bigger picture<\/a> of why public education is essential to the nation\u2019s social, political, and economic infrastructure.<\/p>\n In their grilling of McMahon, for instance, Democratic Senators chose to challenge her views on educating specific student populations\u2014those who have a learning disability, or who are racial, gender, or religious minorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n While it\u2019s certainly important to hear McMahon\u2019s opinions on educating student populations that have historically been marginalized, especially in relation to the federal Department of Education, no one challenged her on whether a high-quality system of public education is important for all Americans, even wealthy white ones. Could she even make the argument? Could Trump? Would they agree, for instance, that it\u2019s important to have a high-quality system of public education so voters can tell when politicians are lying to them and playing them for a fool?<\/p>\n Indeed, it was a Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, who gave<\/a> a detailed explanation as to why her party\u2019s call for privatizing public education, via \u201cschool choice,\u201d can\u2019t work in places like rural Alaska that are challenged to provide any education opportunities at all.<\/p>\n So while rural Republican lawmakers can make that case to their constituencies, why can\u2019t Democratic lawmakers do the same for urban communities<\/a>?<\/p>\n McMahon cleared<\/a> the committee she testified before and will likely be approved by the whole Senate, with support likely coming from Murkowski (Republicans have their own intraparty issues<\/a> with gaslighting) and maybe even a few Democrats. And for the next four years, at least, we\u2019re going to hear a lot of Democratic politicians taking the moral high ground to defend public schools. That\u2019s all for the good. But until Democrats call out Republicans for what their real education policy agenda is, and clearly articulate a positive alternative, the country will keep kicking the education can down the road toward total calamity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" U.S. Senator Andy Kim, Democrat of New Jersey, likely spoke for many viewers of Secretary of Education appointee Linda McMahon\u2019s Senate confirmation hearing last week when he said, while questioning McMahon, \u201cI guess I\u2019m frustrated . . . . This whole debate we\u2019re having right now, it just feels like it\u2019s untethered from just the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[37064,47942,12795,7415,3032,13986,47944,47216,47945,41819,47943,37996],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-104333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-democratic","tag-department-of-education","tag-donald-trump","tag-education","tag-elegant","tag-gaslighting","tag-jeff-bryant","tag-linda","tag-mcmahons","tag-public-school-shakedown","tag-republican-party","tag-senators"],"yoast_head":"\n