The White House is feeling a bit embarrassed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after her trainwreck of an appearance on 2 national television programs this week.
Politics
In an interview Sunday with Lesley Stahl of the CBS show “60 Minutes,” the Education Secretary struggled to answer even the most basic questions regarding the nation’s school system. Although she has been on the job for more than a year, the person responsible for the education of America’s youth appeared dumb and ill-prepared for an interview of such importance.
DeVos stumbled her way through multiple makeshift answers to questions one would expect an Education Secretary to know. For example, take a look at this exchange regarding gun control:
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DEVOS: I give a lot of credit to the [Stoneman Douglas] students there for really raising their voices, and I think that they are not going to let this moment go by.
STAHL: They want gun control.
DEVOS: They want a variety of things. They want solutions.
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Granted, the students of Stoneman Douglas want a “variety of things.” However, the thing they want most is to be able to go to school without the fear of being shot — or, in other words, a restriction on guns.
Then, there was this discussion about children having their choice of schools:
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DEVOS: Well, in places where there have been — where there is — a lot of choice that’s been introduced — Florida, for example, the — studies show that when there’s a large number of students that opt to go to a different school or different schools, the traditional public schools actually — the results get better, as well.
STAHL: Now, has that happened in Michigan? We’re in Michigan. This is your home state.
DeVOS: Michi — Yes, well, there’s lots of great options and choices for students here.
STAHL: Have the public schools in Michigan gotten better?
DEVOS: I don’t know. Overall, I — I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better.
STAHL: The whole state is not doing well.
DEVOS: Well, there are certainly lots of pockets where this — the students are doing well and…
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Her sentence trailed off from there, having run out of excuses words to say.
Next, when asked what she thought of the underperforming schools she has seen in person, the Education Secretary reluctantly admitted that she hasn’t visited them.
“Well, perhaps you should,” Stahl scolded, to which DeVos replied: “Perhaps I should. Yes.”
The crash and burn from DeVos didn’t stop there.
During an interview on Monday morning with Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show, DeVos was asked about Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers in, what he calls, an attempt to prevent school shootings similar to the recent Florida massacre that killed 17 people.
“The plan is a first step in a more lengthy process,” DeVos mumbled, adding that she doesn’t think arming teachers with assault weapons would be appropriate.
“I don’t think assault weapons carried in schools carried by any school personnel is the appropriate thing,” DeVos said. “But again, I think this is an issue that is best decided at the local level by communities and by states.
“I hesitate to think of, like, my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Zorhoff, I couldn’t ever imagine her having a gun and being trained in that way.
“The point is that schools should have this tool if they choose to use the tool. Communities should have the tools, states should have the tool, but nobody should be mandated to do it,” she added.
Politics
So, in summary, Education Secretary DeVos is either totally unaware or in denial of what the surviving students of the Florida school shooting want; is completely clueless as to how schools in her own state of Michigan are performing; hasn’t visited any underperforming schools to monitor their progress; and speaks in completely reverse terms regarding the Trump administration’s position on arming teachers with guns.
DeVos is only the latest member of the Trump Cabinet to undergo public scrutiny. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt have each been scolded by officials from the White House counsel’s office and the Cabinet liaison after embarrassing and questionable ethical behavior inside their respective agencies. For example, Ben Carson was forced to cancel a pricey and unnecessary $31,000 dining table he somehow believed he needed for his office.
So, why is The White House embarrassed? Well, when you ask a spacey brain surgeon with no administrative skills to run the Dept. of Housing, and an out-of-touch aristocrat with no public school background or educational experience to serve as the Education Secretary, what should anyone expect?
After all, it’s only par for the course, considering the inexperienced, egotistical, narcissistic, womanizing, racist who sits in the Oval Office.
So, why is The White House embarrassed? Well, when you ask a spacey brain surgeon with no administrative skills to run the Dept. of Housing, and an out-of-touch aristocrat with no public school background or educational experience to serve as the Education Secretary, what should anyone expect?
After all, it’s only par for the course, considering the inexperienced, egotistical, narcissistic, womanizing, racist who sits in the Oval Office. […]
And let the Church say AAAMEN!
None of those clueless grifters are fit for the position they hold, least of all that serial lying, intellectually deficient, POSEUR in the White House.