Trump and the poorly educated

Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (17)

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

No. of Recommendations: 21

Trump’s assault on education broadly and higher education specifically is no accident — after winning a 2016 caucus, he said: “I love the poorly educated.” Voters with college educations are now significantly more likely to vote Democratic, while more non-college educated voters vote Republican. It’s called the diploma divide.

It wasn’t always that way. Republicans noticed signs of demographic changes in the 1980s as college graduations soared. They quickly did something about it. Slashing federal education funding, promoting vouchers, and attempting to abolish the Education Department didn’t start with Trump; it started with Ronald Reagan. Every Republican president since then has tried to undo this foundational principle.

The belief in educating the electorate dates back to the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson believed education would protect the new country against “degeneracy” and “tyranny.”

Moreover, he believed education must be free. “The tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance,” he said.

In the early days of the country, education was considered a collective social benefit, essential for the republic to thrive. Later, it was understood to be integral to America’s ingenuity and economic prosperity.

A smarter citizenry protects freedom and improves economic growth. Now, it is up to citizens at all levels to check the power of the authoritarian in the Oval Office, who is trying to dumb down the American public for political gain.

Dan Rather
open.substack.com - Degrees of damage

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

Print the post Share: X · FacebookFB · LinkedInLI · WhatsAppWApp · Email

Members reply directly to wzambon here — and replies get answered. Reading is free; so is joining the conversation. Join Shrewd'm »

This community has written 88,852 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:

It's going to get worse · 33 recs · 2025

G’day Donny · 30 recs · 2026

Old Related Story · 28 recs · 2026

HCR is a national treasure · 27 recs · 2025

Fascism in America · 27 recs · 2025

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (17)

Prev | Next

Announcements

US Policy FAQ

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

A community forum supporting civilized, and highly helpful, self-educating investors that come together for Shrewdness and merry spirits. These message boards closely follow the look and feel of the old message boards at boards.fool.com prior to the boards redirected to discussion.fool.com. Shrewd'm is not affiliated with the comprehensive and excellent investment website The Motley Fool (TMF) in any way. The Shrewd community here has owed, and continues to owe, gratitude to The Motley Fool for nurturing a culture of jovial irreverence towards Wall St, and that tradition will continue here.