Trump issues 1776 Commission to promote 'patriotic education'
Author: Steven Nelson
Nelson, Steven. “Trump Reveals 1776 Commission, Aimed at Promoting 'Patriotic Education'.” New York Post, New York Post, 17 Sept. 2020, nypost.com/2020/09/17/trump-issues-1776-commission-to-promote-patriotic-education/.
President Trump on Thursday announced a federal “1776 Commission” to promote “patriotic education” and accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and the New York Times of warping history.
Trump said Democrats and the Times’ “1619 Project” promote an inaccurate version of US history by over-emphasizing race and the legacy of slavery.
“I will soon sign an executive order establishing a national commission to promote patriotic education. It will be called the ‘1776 Commission’,” Trump said in 17-minute speech at the National Archives marking the anniversary of the Constitution’s signing.
The commission “will encourage our educators to teach your children about the miracle of American history and make plans to honor the 250th anniversary of our founding” in 2026, Trump said.
“[A]s we gather this afternoon, a radical movement is attempting to demolish this treasured and precious inheritance. We can’t let that happen. Left-wing mobs have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials, and carried out a campaign of violence and anarchy,”Trump said. “Far-left demonstrators have chanted the words “America was never great.” The left has launched a vicious and violent assault on law enforcement — the universal symbol of the rule of law in America. These radicals have been aided and abetted by liberal politicians, establishment media, and even large corporations.
“Whether it is the mob on the street, or the cancel culture in the boardroom, the goal is the same: to silence dissent, to scare you out of speaking the truth, and to bully Americans into abandoning their values, their heritage, and their very way of life.
“We are here today to declare that we will never submit to tyranny. We will reclaim our history and our country for citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed,” the president said.
“The left has warped, distorted and defiled the American story with deceptions, falsehoods and lies. There’s no better example than the New York Times’ totally discredited 1619 Project.”
The 1619 Project, he said, “rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. America’s founding set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.”
Trump said that some popular assessments of US history “bear a striking resemblance to the anti-American propaganda of our adversaries.”
“Students in our universities are inundated with critical race theory. This is a Marxist doctrine holding that America is a wicked and racist nation, that even young children are complicit in oppression, and that our entire society must be radically transformed,” Trump said.
“Critical race theory is being forced into our children’s schools, it’s being imposed into workplace trainings, and it’s being deployed to rip apart friends, neighbors and families. A perfect example of critical race theory was recently published by the Smithsonian Institution. This document alleged that concepts such as hard work, rational thinking, the nuclear family, and belief in God were not values that unite all Americans, but were instead aspects of ‘whiteness.’ This is offensive and outrageous to Americans of every ethnicity, and it is especially harmful to children of minority backgrounds who should be uplifted, not disparaged.”
In a direct jab at former Vice President Biden, Trump announced he would erect a monument to Delaware Founding Father Caesar Rodney in a forthcoming National Garden of American Heroes, which he announced in July as activists in many cities tore down historical statues.
A statue to Rodney was removed in June from a square in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Del., amid national anti-police brutality and anti-racism protests linked to the May killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police,
Rodney was a Delaware delegate suffering from cancer who rode 70 miles on a horse to Philadelphia to cast a tie-breaking vote for independence before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was also a slave owner.
“Joe Biden said nothing as to his home state’s history and the fact that it was dismantled and dismembered,” Trump said. “Today America will give this founding father, this very brave man who was so horribly treated, the place of honor he deserves.”
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president also railed against “critical race theory,” which stresses the importance of race rather than individuals in analysis of social and historical issues.
“The only path to national unity is through our shared identity as Americans,” Trump said.
“Critical race theory, the 1619 Project and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda — ideological poison that if not removed will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together,” he said.
Trump recently authorized White House budget director Russ Vought to cancel federal workforce trainings that use “critical race theory.” Vought set up a tip line on Wednesday.
Trump said that the rise of critical race theory actually promotes prejudice.
“We embrace the vision of Martin Luther King where children are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The left is attempting to destroy that beautiful vision and divide Americans by race in the service of political power. By viewing every issue through the lens of race, they want to impose a new segregation. And we must not allow that to happen,” Trump said.
“A perfect example of critical race theory was recently published by the Smithsonian Institution. This document alleges that concepts such as hard work, rational thinking and the nuclear family and belief in God were not values that unite all Americans, but were instead aspects of whiteness. This is offensive and outrageous to Americans of every ethnicity, and it’s especially harmful to children of minority backgrounds who should be uplifted not disparaged. Teaching this horrible doctrine to our children is a form of child abuse in the truest sense.”
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In this article, the NY Post does not offer an opposing view to Trump. It simply quotes Trump’s slander of the 1619 project and moves on. It would be better to follow the quote with an objective explanation of the 1619 project, such as a quote from the NYT.
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Once again, there is no challenge of Trump’s quote. In the NYT article (which I found to be better reporting), the author followed the quote with a counter by a Smithsonian representative.
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Trump’s praise of MLK and the “I Have a Dream” speech is ironic. MLK also said that a riot is “the language of the unheard.” It seems like MLK is the bible of political references. Everybody quotes him for everything.
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1) “Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.”
2) “…there must be a recognition on the part of everybody in this nation that America is still a racist country.” – 1968
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