Commentary
Is Trump's 'Patriotic Education' Move Really About A New TV Network?
- by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 22, 2020
Trump’s move, according to analysts, is largely political — a reaction to a growing push by some academics to teach American history in a way that better acknowledges slavery and systemic racism.
Some would say there are TV networks already doing that, including Fox News Channel, especially with its prime-time opinionated shows. Less criticism, or for many, no criticism? That would be a one-sided point-of-view.
Still, daytime Fox content -- including from specific journalists, such as Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith (who departed last year for CNBC) -- provided more straightforward news content.
The United States was built on critical thinking and dissent. Always.
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What will Trump do if he loses the upcoming election? A graceful exit is unlikely. Speculation is he would back or create a conservative-minded TV news network. One recent speculation talked up investment in One America News.
Some of this speculation surfaced in 2016, when it looked like he would lose the election -- which he insisted would be “rigged” if he lost. Trump has talked up the same “rigged” framework this time around.
Trump still lost the overall U.S. popular vote by 3 million. Was that rigged? He started a commission to look into election fraud -- and it found none. He disbanded the commission in 2018.
Now, another commission.
The bottom line is that localities historically get to decide what content they want to teach in schools -- not the President. Likewise, local TV stations' newcasts also get to decide what content they want to individually cover.
But not all TV station groups. For example, TV stations groups, like Sinclair Broadcast Group, demanded two years ago that all its local on-air newscasters read the exact same copy about fake news and media bias.
Does that mean the same exact “patriotic” education? Who is going to determine the curriculum?
Local diversity is good, as is freedom of speech. But facts and the truth are much better.
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.
Rumor has it that Trump is considering "America's Mayor"---Rudy G---to head up the commission. However, the Ukrainians may try to interfere---as they keep doing constantly in our affairs---even though it has been "proven" thay they are the guilty ones regarding election interference in 2016---and probably, again, in 2020..
"The bottom line is that localities historically get to decide what content they want to teach in schools -- not the President." Well, that's the way it SHOULD work. The reality is that the feds have powerful weapons to coerce states on education. Look at the mess created by GWBush's No Child Left Behind or Obama's DOE's pressure for Common Core. Neither would have become pervasive without the promise of federal funds or the threat of their withdrawal.
Shades of Nazi Youth.....
To Ed of Media Dynamics. You cannot get away with spreading Russian propaganda. Ukraine had nothing to do with 2016 interference. All our intelligence agencies have proven that. By saying that Ukraine interfered in our politics is spreading Putin's disinformation. Now Rudy Giuliani support4ed by OAN has been meeting with Russian operatives for over a year to disrupt 2020.
You cannot spread the false narrative about anyone but Russia wanting Trump to win.
This must be called out at every turn.
But Michael, haven't you heard that our intelligence services, which keep saying that Putin is actively interfering with the 2020 election---just as he did in 2016---have it all wrong---according to our great leader? I'm shocked. No one has beeen "tougher" on Russia than Trump-----isn't that correct? Or is it? So why would Putin be trying to help Trump win the election by smearing Biden if Trump is so hard on Putin? It's all so confusing. The "fake news" folks---ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Public Radio, The New York Times, and countless others keep spreading "falsehoods" about Russia trying to interfere----don't they realize how confusing they are making it for ordinary people to figure out what's really going on?I hope that the new initiative to re-educate America about the "real history" or our country will clear things up----but maybe not?
Ed- I wasn't sure at first so I replied, now I see your sarcasm, but things are so serious right now that I think anyone who sees the spread of misinformation needs to step up and call it out.
Trump's actions are a long-overdue response to "Progressive Fascism", a set of sociopathic and even violently psychotic "progressive" Hate ideologies ( Marxism, Critical Race Theory, etc) based on race, class and gender which have been poisoning the academic, media, political and business environmenst for some time now and which are thoroughly hostile to the Bill of Rights, as well as to Facts and to Truth. "Progressive Fascism" is the dominant source of Hate, Political Violence, Hate Speech, Racism, Sexism and False Narrative in our educational, media and political institutions at this time, and is thoroughly Totalitarian. It's way past time to clean up this toxic mess and restore Free Speech, Facts and the search for Truth.
Talk about turning truth on it's ear. Listen to yourself. The only hostility is the hostility to the truth from anti-prgressive people like yourself. I see the bulk of the hate and violence coming from the right wing essentially white supremacicsts..i.e. Trump voters.
@ Michael Guiseffi --- " I see the bulk of the hate and violence coming from the right wing essentially white supremacicsts..i.e. Trump voters. " Yes, we've been watching those "racist" Trump voters burn down cities across the country as they murdered 33 people and rioted in Portland for 90 days. Dude, you are ~~completely~~ out of touch with Reality!
Tom- Try watching something other than Fox or OAN.
@Michael Giuseffi -- And once again you reply to the facts with a slanderous accusation. Typical progressive fascist tactics.
Tom, never heard of "progressive fascism" till you posted about it. Who made that one up?