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Ryan Walters sup school

est 1 24 trifecta 7 24 pioneer pending fascism pending

QUIT 9 25 kirk tpusa chapters; org attack unions

// troll caucus socmed? provocateur // rufo --> policy

2nd on bible traction 10 command

MERRI OK

see rufo

see prager u, david barton xian nat

pink pill coming for your kids m4l conspiracy

see story 1

reddest state

1019 bak

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this f guy

state rep has theory that tv played auto porn jackue chan movie?

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RWW

12/18/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Bongino told colleagues more than a week ago that he would not be returning to Washington headquarters this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The billionaire president’s delivery grew frantic as his speech on the economy wore on, ending with him practically shouting.

He says he did “some very bad things.” But in Trumpworld, that’s a plus.

The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency.

State partners with Turning Point USA to form clubs in every Tennessee school.

Katie Miller, the wife of Trump henchman Stephen Miller, is trying to reinvent herself as a squeaky-clean model for MAGA women. People who knew her growing up saw someone far different.

The president’s obsession with self-aggrandizement and self-glorification is pitiful, and it’s getting worse.

The judges rejected a Christian Nationalist curriculum that downplayed systemic racism, spread election lies, and pretended the Bible was history.

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an 10 25

the Oklahoma State Board of Education plans to review, and possibly dismantle, social studies academic standards approved during the tenure of controversial former state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters.

The Oklahoman reports "the controversy surrounding the standards started with how they were approved."

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Walters released a draft version of the standards in December, but held the final version until February. Board members had not received the final version until about 4 p.m. the day before a 9:30 a.m. meeting. Walters then incorrectly told board members the standards needed to be approved that day to meet legislative deadlines, when the deadline wasn’t for more than two months later.

Walters’ standards drew national attention for requiring students to learn about the influence of Christianity on U.S. history and election-denial language that pushed lies and fabrications about Trump’s 2020 loss to Joe Biden. They have two legal challenges pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

The board discussed the two lawsuits during a closed-doors portion of its meeting on Thursday, and after exiting that executive session, board member Brian Bobek made a motion that “the board undertake a review of the 2025 social studies standards for a period of 60 days for consideration, for possible further action with respect to the to those social standards.”

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The board passed Bobek’s motion unanimously.

Walters was a right-wing firebrand who sought to screen teachers from California and New York with an "America First Test" designed to weed out applicants espousing "radical leftist ideology.”

He also tried to charge the state $3 million to purchase more than 50,000 Bibles for classrooms. His bid requirements for the books were specific enough to exclude all but "God Bless the USA" Bibles marketed by President Donald Trump. The so-called “Trump Bibles average in price between $60 and $1,000 for copies signed by the president, who receives fees for his endorsement."

Oklahoma legislators refused Walters’ funding request.

In May, the Supreme Court reached a 4-4 tie on a case brought by Walters to allow taxpayer dollars to subsidize a Catholic charter school.

Walters left the state weeks ago to lead a conservative teacher organization to compete with teacher unions, but one of his final actions before departing the district was a plan to install Turning Point USA chapters in every state high school.

Critics, including Nadine Gallagher, a middle school English teacher and president of the Crooked Oak Association of Classroom Teachers, expressed support for student-organized clubs but voiced concerns about outside political influence.

"I don’t have any problem with a student club, if it’s initiated by students," Gallagher said. "If a student were to pop up and say, ‘I would really love to start a club,’ then I’m all for it. If that’s what students are interested in and that’s what students need for whatever their reasons, for social or something that they need for schoolwork, but I don’t like forced anything."

Read the Oklahoman report at this link.

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AP 9 25

oKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Republican Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s top public schools official who lauded President Donald Trump, pledged to put a Turning Point USA chapter in every high school to honor Charlie Kirk and end what he called “wokeness” in public schools, is resigning to lead a conservative educators’ group.

Walters, 40, said Wednesday night on Fox News that he is stepping down as state superintendent of public instruction to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit that says it assists educators “in their mission to develop free, moral, and upright American citizens.”

“We’re going to destroy the teachers unions,” Walters said on Fox. “We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools.”

Walters has leaned into culture-war politics and sought to infuse religion into classroom instruction, including a mandate that public schoolteachers incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for children in grades 5 though 12.

He has also tried to require social studies teachers to promote conspiracies about the 2020 election, track the immigration status of children in schools and require applicants for teacher jobs coming from California and New York to pass an exam designed to safeguard what he described as “radical leftist ideology.” Many of his efforts have led to lawsuits against him and the agency, even as Oklahoma’s national ranking in several education metrics has continued to decline.

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Just Tuesday, Walters announced that Oklahoma high schools will have Turning Point USA chapters. He said parents, teachers and students “want their young people to be engaged in a process that understands free speech, open engagement, dialogue about American greatness, a dialogue around American values.”

Kirk founded the organization to mobilize young, Christian conservatives. It has seen a massive surge in interest and support since the activist’s assassination on Sept. 10.

Walters, a former teacher, was elected to the superintendent’s job. He had served as Oklahoma Secretary of Education from September 2020 to April 2023. He was appointed to that position by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Ever since then, “we have witnessed a stream of never-ending scandal and political drama,” Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond said in a statement.

“It’s time for a State Superintendent of Public Instruction who will actually focus on quality instruction in our public schools,” Drummond, a Republican and candidate for governor in 2026, said.

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guk 9 25

no lnx

Oklahoma superintendent who put Trump Bibles in classrooms resigns

Ryan Walters, who has led Oklahoma public schools since 2022, is quitting to run a conservative education non-profit

Rachel Leingang

Thu 25 Sep 2025

Oklahoma’s superintendent, who has attracted national attention as he sought to install religion and rightwing viewpoints in Oklahoma schools, will resign to run a conservative education non-profit.

Ryan Walters, who has led public schools in Oklahoma since 2022, has put Donald Trump-endorsed Bibles into classrooms and required teaching 2020 election conspiracy theories.

He is leaving the post to lead the Teacher Freedom Alliance (TFA), which says its mission is to help teachers develop “free, moral, and upright American citizens”. On its website, the group is touting Walters as its new leader.

“Walters fearlessly fights the woke liberal union mob. TFA will take the fight straight to the unions and we will not stop,” the website says. “Together, we will build a national movement that is centered on freedom and common sense, not on bullying and intimidation. Educators will now be able to break free.”

Oklahoma official says all high schools will have Turning Point chapters after Charlie Kirk killing

Read more

Walters announced his move on Fox on Wednesday night, teasing his appearance by writing on X: “Liberal’s [sic] worst nightmare is about to become true.”

On Fox, Walters said he wanted to “destroy the teachers unions” and “build an army of teachers to defeat the teachers unions once and for all”. He said his plan was to take the fight he started in Oklahoma to a national scale.

A local Fox affiliate reported tallied more than 400 national media appearances in the past two years by Walters as he sought to raise his profile nationally while pursuing a Christian nationalist agenda in Oklahoma, rejecting church and state separation and installing Christian viewpoints in governance.

Walters has repeatedly pushed Christianity into public schools in Oklahoma. He once tried to require schools to play a video of him praying. He advocated for the country’s first Catholic public charter school. This week, he called for chapters of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA in all Oklahoma schools.

He also has fought against teachers, particularly claiming they are pushing “woke indoctrination” in Oklahoma schools. He wants teachers coming from liberal states to include an “America first” certification. He put prominent rightwing figures such as the activist behind Libs of TikTok and the leader of the Heritage Foundation on state education committees. Libs of TikTok and other conservative influencers advocated for Walters to become US education secretary under Trump.

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GGL 9 25

Fox News

Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters leaving for new job where he will wage war against teachers unions

Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters declared during a Wednesday night appearance on "Fox News @ Night" that he is leaving his...

.10 hours ago

The New York Times

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma Education Chief Who Promoted Bibles in Schools, to Resign

Ryan Walters, a right-wing educator who drew criticism from across the political spectrum for his efforts to inject religion into public...

.1 day ago

KOCO

Who could lead the OSDE after State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ resignation?

This week's stunning announcement that State Superintendent Ryan Walters was stepping down left many people wondering what will happen next.

.37 minutes ago

The Guardian

Oklahoma superintendent who put Trump Bibles in classrooms resigns

Ryan Walters, who has led Oklahoma public schools since 2022, is quitting to run a conservative education non-profit.

.1 day ago

The Atlantic

Testing Teachers for ‘Wokeness’

A vision of public schools by conservatives, for conservatives. The second episode in a two-part series.

.1 day ago

KOSU

Oklahoma State Superintendent resigns for job to 'destroy teachers unions' as he calls for cuts to education budget

Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced he is resigning from his elected position as the state's top education official in a...

.1 day ago

MSNBC News

Ryan Walters to resign, ending scandal-plagued tenure as Oklahoma schools’ chief

In recent years, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has cultivated a reputation as a right-wing Christian...

.1 day ago

AP News

Ryan Walters resigns as Oklahoma's top public schools official to lead conservative educators' group

Oklahoma's top public schools official, Ryan Walters, says he's resigning to lead a conservative educators' group.

.1 day ago

The Hill

Oklahoma’s Ryan Walters announces plan to establish Turning Point chapters at all state high schools

Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters on Tuesday announced a plan to establish chapters of the conservative...

.3 days ago

NBC News

Oklahoma state superintendent who ordered schools to teach the Bible resigns to lead anti-teachers union group

Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters announced Wednesday that he would step down from his role overseeing the state's schools to lead the...

.1 day AGO

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RWW

09/24/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

The killing of Charlie Kirk could turn the movement into a faith that outlives Donald Trump.

John Solomon’s Informing America set out to create an echo chamber to shape public opinion. It’s working.

State Board of Education picks Barton for advice on history.

Turning Point USA, which was co-founded by Charlie Kirk, helps organize and educate students in conservative principles.

InfoWars founder celebrates after DOJ asks questions about FBI special agent who responded to the Connecticut school shooting.

Twenty years ago, Chief Justice John Roberts took the oath of office and ushered in a new era for the Supreme Court. His 2005 confirmation vote marked the transition from the Rehnquist court—where a narrow majority of conservatives and moderates had largely maintained the status quo on abortion, affirmative action, and voting rights—into something much more reactionary.

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AN 9 25

'Violation of our constitutional rights': Parents push back on MAGA superintendent's order

an 8 25

Next to his long-running radio show, Dennis Prager, now 77, is best known for PragerU — which isn't an actual university, but rather, a program of far-right propaganda videos launched in 2009. One of PragerU's admirers is Ryan Walters, Oklahoma's ultra-MAGA public schools superintendent. And according to CNN, Walters is now using PragerU to screen applicants for ideological purity and to make sure teachers in the state's public schools aren't "woke."

The screening process, CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports, gets underway on Friday, August 15.

"Teachers from 'liberal' states who have relocated to Oklahoma and are seeking to work there must take a controversial new assessment, given for the first time today, that 'keeps away woke indoctrinators,' according to Oklahoma’s top education official," Serfaty explains. "Ryan Walters, Oklahoma's superintendent for public instruction, told CNN that if applicants do not pass the test, they will not earn a teaching certificate to be able to teach in public schools in the state this school year, which begins for some Oklahoma districts on Monday."

READ MORE: This single sentence will fast-track Trump to a prison cell

Serfaty adds, "The decision to use the assessment, developed by PragerU, a conservative media company whose teaching materials are now approved for use in public schools in ten U.S. states, opens a new front in the education culture wars just days before schools are to open their doors."

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PragerU's materials, according to the CNN reporter, have "been embraced by the political right for offering curriculums that champion ideas aligned with the Make America Great Again movement."

According to Serfaty, Walters' "multiple-choice assessment for teachers" contains "around 50 questions." One proposed question, Serfaty reports, "deals with gender — asking teachers to select from a series of multiple-choice answers which chromosome pairs determine biological sex."

"Another question asks why freedom of religion is important to America's identity," Serafty notes. "Other questions include asking for the first three words of the Constitution, naming the two chambers of the U.S. Congress, and identifying the number of U.S. senators…. The test specifically evaluates educators on areas including their understanding of 'American exceptionalism' and their 'grasp of fundamental biological differences between boys and girls,' Walters said."

READ MORE: 'Financial ruin': Trump's White House is terrified of losing this lawsuit

*Read the full CNN article at this link.

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RWW

08/12/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

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an 825

sn

OKLAHOMA CITY — In a major departure from decades of state and federal policy, Oklahoma’s top education official said Friday his administration doesn’t plan to administer statewide reading and math tests this school year.

Instead, state Superintendent Ryan Walters suggested Oklahoma should collect data from benchmark assessments that individual school districts select and purchase from private vendors. Oklahoma would be the first in the nation to replace its statewide exams with a patchwork of district-chosen tests.

The plan requires permission from the U.S. Department of Education, and Walters said he expects a “very, very quick” approval from the Trump administration. The Oklahoma State Department of Education is accepting public comment until Sept. 8 on the idea before submitting its final request to the federal government.

“I was elected to make changes, serious changes,” Walters told Oklahoma Voice. “I have done all that I can to bring the changes into place that the voters demanded. And so, that’s where you’ve seen an overhaul of an education system that was failing our kids.”

If the Trump administration agrees to the plan, Oklahoma could “open the floodgates” for other states to do the same, said Dale Chu, a school policy expert and senior visiting fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a national education think tank.

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State leaders in Texas, for example, also are considering replacing their state testing system.

Federal law requires every state to test their public school students in reading and math from grades 3-8 and once more in high school. These tests are intended to hold schools accountable to providing a quality, equitable education to every student, and they inform families of their children’s academic results.

Oklahoma law similarly mandates that the state Board of Education adopts a statewide system of assessments that complies with federal regulations.

Walters, though, said he doesn’t intend to bring his idea to the state Board of Education for a vote. He said making this change falls within the Education Department’s authority to choose testing vendors and assessment schedules.

“We don’t need a vote from the state board,” Walters said. “We’ve already done everything we need to, so we’re moving forward.”

For several years, Oklahoma’s state tests have found a majority of students performing below their grade level. This was the case last year even after the state lowered the standard for students to meet grade-level targets in reading and math. Test scores are expected to have another downturn this year after state officials again raised expectations for student performance.

Walters said he’s not trying to avoid accountability for state test results. Eliminating these tests could remove a barrier that parents and teachers want out of the way, he said, and benchmark assessments could provide more helpful and timely data instead.

Many Oklahoma districts already use benchmark assessments in addition to the annual state tests. Students take benchmark assessments multiple times a year for more up-to-date information on their academic progress, and their scores are comparable to the millions of children in other states whose schools administer the same exams.

There is a trade-off, though, Chu said. These benchmark assessments aren’t deliberately aligned with the Oklahoma Academic Standards, which dictate what topics local public schools must teach to students in each subject area.

“This is why I always say all the time there’s no single assessment that can do everything,” Chu said.

Each state develops its own set of academic standards to dictate what its public schools must teach to students. Their statewide assessments then test students’ knowledge of those standards.

They also ensure the test scores of every public school and district in Oklahoma are directly comparable.

Chu said he’s not yet seen a statewide assessment system where each individual district, rather than the state, decides which test to take.

“To ensure consistency and comparability and move (the decision) to the district level, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I haven’t seen a reliable and valid method to do what I’m talking about,” Chu said.

The benchmark system is possible, but implementing it is more complicated than one end-of-year test, said Maria D’Brot, who formerly oversaw state testing and school accountability at Oklahoma’s Education Department.

Using multiple testing vendors could undermine comparability between districts, she said. Fairness issues could emerge if students don’t have equal access to testing formats, or if students with disabilities don’t get the same accommodations or accessibility tools.

“The success of Oklahoma’s transition will depend on embedding strong psychometric infrastructure, disciplined operations, and fairness safeguards from the outset,” D’Brot said. “Without these, the accountability system risks losing its credibility, jeopardizing federal and state compliance, and failing to deliver fair and actionable information to students, families, and educators.”

Walters said his administration already has the proper infrastructure in place to make the change this year. He said the Education Department will make sure scores from different benchmark tests are evenly compared.

His proposal has faced skepticism from both sides of the political aisle.

“While we can all agree that the status quo isn’t working, tossing out the tests without thinking through next steps can be short sighted,” said Nellie Tayloe Sanders, education secretary for Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Sanders leads the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability, a small state board that shares authority over state testing with the Education Department. She said she looks forward to working with the Education Department to “find a path forward to ensure our kids have the skills they need for their futures.”

State lawmakers indicated they want input, too.

“We look forward to continued collaboration with Superintendent Walters and school districts so that any proposed changes to student testing align with state law and provides clear, actionable information on student college and career readiness,” said Rep. Dell Kerbs, R-Shawnee, who leads the House Education Oversight Committee.

Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, said legislative Democrats are open to moving on from state testing, but the timing of Walters’ announcement is “reckless.”

Many districts are only days away from the first day of school, and some already have welcomed students back to class.

“Absolutely we should have a conversation about what testing is appropriate and when, and we’ve been bringing up that conversation up for years,” Kirt said. “But him doing it this way, I don’t think complies with state law, and it makes us all have to do a bunch of scrambling to figure out what’s happening.”

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Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.

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RWW

07/30/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Bove has been accused of engaging in deception in order to carry out Trump’s agenda.

White supremacists are (once again) attempting to build a whites-only community, this time in Arkansas. Known as Return to the Land, this private membership association advertises itself as a community for “traditional views and European ancestry.” On Monday, Christian nationalists Joel Webbon and Wesley Todd interviewed the group’s co-founder, Eric Orwoll, and defended their plan.

Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters had an interesting response to being investigated for accidentally playing porn at work.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer keeps exercising enormous influence over Team Trump, successfully lobbying for firings across multiple agencies.

The administration still has FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s extreme social-media posting habit to rely on as a way to get the faithful back in line.

On this week’s “More To The Story,” religious scholar and TikTok star Dan McClellan examines how some Christian nationalists use—and often abuse—the Bible to gain political power.

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yikes an 7 25

critics of far-right Oklahoma Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters often attack him as a highly performative MAGA troll. Walters' antics include purchasing Donald Trump-themed Bibles for classrooms and promoting the false, repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

But Slate's Molly Olmstead, in an article published on July 22, emphasizes that Walters' buffoonish qualities don't make him any less dangerous. And she emphasizes that his plan to screen education applicants for MAGA purity shouldn't be taken lightly.

"This month," Olmstead explains, "Oklahoma's education department announced an innovative new approach to screening aspiring teachers in the state: any applicants from 'woke' states would need to first pass an ideology test created by the right-wing group PragerU. It was an announcement that seemed engineered to draw national news coverage and inflame liberal audiences. Under this plan, teachers from states with 'progressive education policies' would be tested on the U.S. Constitution, American exceptionalism, and 'the fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.'"

READ MORE: This White House lie shows they know Trump is in trouble

Olmstead continues, "The screening is guaranteed to test teachers for a deeply MAGA-inflected understanding of U.S. history, government, and society: PragerU, a right-wing group with a stated mission of countering leftism in education, is already known for its white nationalist-adjacent content for schoolchildren."

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PragerU is the brainchild of Dennis Prager, a far-right talk radio host and Trump supporter.

"Walters' proposals for the school system have included a mandate that all public schools teach the Bible; a plan to collect children's immigration status when they register for public school; and new social studies standards proposals that would have high school students 'identify discrepancies in 2020 election results,'" Olmstead observes. "Each of these announcements solidified Walters' reputation as a relentless attention-seeker, calculating every action from his office to appeal to the power players of the MAGA movement…. These stunts have paid off. Walters has been profiled in outlets all over the country, and he has become the face of the Christian nationalist campaigns into public education."

The MAGA Republican's stunts, Olmstead argues, raise the question: "Is Walters all superficiality, a media-obsessive without the stamina or standing for real, transformative politics? Or is he actually capable of remaking Oklahoma's schools — and signaling what MAGA could bring to schools across the country?"

READ MORE:GOP sen tells constituent he’s 'not obligated to listen' after she’s denied care over marital status

"In sign of just how bizarre American politics have become in this second Trump era," Olmstead warns, "Walters may be a bit of both. As traditional institutions and procedures buckle under MAGA politics, Walters has proven that with the right national climate, slapdash own-the-lib pronouncements can become serious policy. He's a performer, but he also happens to be a major change-maker…. It may be tempting not to take people like Walters seriously, but he has proven that with enough volume, some gimmicks stick."

READ MORE:'Errand boy': Trump official reveals what president talks about during nightly 1 AM calls

*Molly Olmstead's full article for Slate is available at this link (subscription required).

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:{RWW

07/23/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

A new Wall Street Journal report said the president's name "appeared multiple times" in the Jeffrey Epstein files — and he was told that during a briefing.

Forget about putting “everything out there and let the people decide it.” That was last week.

First Lady Brigitte Macron is suing right-wing firebrand Candace Owens for a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” that alleges Macron is secretly a man.

Ryan Walters' far-right curriculum changes are getting snubbed by publishers who refuse to rewrite history.

Three Venezuelans, released last week from the Terrorism Confinement Center, said they were repeatedly beaten and denied access to lawyers.

The Trump administration said it was protecting Americans unjustly held abroad. One of the rescued men, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, killed three people, according to court documents.

On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made a post on Twitter alleging “the most powerful people in the Obama administration,” including former President Barack Obama, were involved in a “years-long coup” and a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Her post quickly went viral, amassing over 13 million views over the weekend, and galvanized the online fringe to fantasize about violence against their political enemies. Trump fanned Gabbard’s flames, sharing a racist AI-generated video of Obama being arrested on Truth Social, which Trump owns.

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rww 7 25

07/18/2025

by

Peter Montgomery

Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters is enlisting PragerU propagandists to devise an “assessment” that Walters says would protect students from “woke” teachers moving into the state from places with more progressive education policies like California or New York. It’s the latest Fox News bait from Walters, a Christian nationalist zealot and ardent MAGA activist, who announced the policy with typical-for-him smears about teacher unions wanting to “destroy this country.”

Walters’ plan to screen teachers for “woke” attitudes comes as Oklahoma, which is ranked near the very bottom of states in educational achievement, is experiencing a serious teacher shortage. While Walters has portrayed the requirement as taking effect immediately, the details are still being worked out just weeks before the start of the new school year.

Walters said the Prager assessment would evaluate teachers on their understanding of the Constitution, American exceptionalism, and the “fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.” He said teachers who do not pass the test would not get a teaching certificate.

In announcing the plan, Walters declared, “We’re raising a generation of patriots, not activists, and I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep leftist propaganda out of our classrooms.”

Of course, he’s fighting tooth and nail to bring right-wing propaganda into the classrooms in the guise of “patriotic education.” Walters says he’s out to ensure that teachers coming into Oklahoma don’t “malign President Trump.” PragerU’s CEO Marissa Streit said the assessment will “ensure teachers champion America’s greatness.”

This isn’t Walters’ first partnership with Prager. Last year, he appointed Dennis Prager and other right-wing activists to an “executive review committee” to provide advice on overhauling the state’s social studies curriculum. Right Wing Watch noted at the time that “the educational materials produced by Prager's own organization are rife with disinformation and right-wing propaganda.”

Although Dennis Prager is Jewish, he is allied with Christian nationalists like Charlie Kirk and promotes their false claims about U.S. history. When Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress and chose a Quran for his ceremonial swearing in, Prager slammed him for not using a Bible, saying, “If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.”

The new social studies standards developed by Walters and his right-wing advisers mandate that Bible studies and teaching about Jesus be incorporated into the curriculum.

And at the last minute, Walters snuck in a requirement that students be taught conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen from President Donald Trump. The legislature had a chance to reverse that decision but chose not to.

Last fall, Walters bought more than 500 expensive “Trump Bibles” for Advancement Placement government classrooms and announced the creation of an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism. He ordered every school to show students a video of him praying for President Trump.

Walters also sought millions in tax dollars to buy 55,000 Bibles to be placed in every classroom; the official request for proposals from vendors was written in such a way that the only Bibles that would meet the requirement would be ones from which Trump and his family profit. It required the use of the King James translation “for historical accuracy.”

Walters’ policy pronouncements seem calculated to get him attention even when he lacks the actual legal authority to carry them out, leading state Rep. Forrest Bennett to describe Walters’ efforts as a “grift.”

Here’s how Right Wing Watch described Walters in a 2023 post about the Moms for Liberty summit at which Walters spoke:

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is waging a scorched-earth campaign against teachers and teachers unions, which he called “terrorist organizations” at a budget hearing in May; he has been accused of lying to legislators at that hearing. At a state board of education meeting, Walters played a five-minute video savaging teachers unions, a video so hostile—it included insinuations that teachers supported pedophilia—that educators feared it would incite physical attacks on public schools. His agency banned sexually explicit materials from school libraries without defining the term. After Trump’s recent indictment, Walters put out a press release headlined, “Joe Biden Leading a Banana Republic Coup Against American Justice,” an indication of his focus on MAGA politics and promotion of Trumpish conspiracy theories.

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AN 6 25

Donald Trump’s second term is shaping up to be just as much about the past as the future. Not the past as it unfolded, but the version of events as he wants them remembered.

*This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

There are a few troubling examples of how the president and his allies are actively attempting to reshape public views of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — and how these efforts are starting to affect real people and real institutions.

Take Oklahoma. Teachers there are now facing updated social studies standards that instruct students to “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results” — not to examine election systems or to discuss voter confidence, but to presume that the election was flawed.This language is a quiet but profound distortion: It accepts Trump’s false narrative of fraud and requires educators to teach that falsehood as fact.

This illustrates the insidious consequences of partisan narratives hardening into policy. Oklahoma’s education chief, Ryan Walters, has aligned himself with efforts to eliminate so-called left-wing indoctrination in schools. But he’s supporting these new standards, which contradict the facts made plain in every credible post-election review, from Trump’s own first-term Department of Justice to GOP-led audits. Courts, including those with Trump-nominated judges, rejected dozens of spurious legal challenges, and officials in every state certified the results.

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These facts have been sidelined in shaping what schoolchildren learn, which has long-term implications for public trust in elections.

Or consider the protests against aggressive immigration raids in Los Angeles. Trump has called the demonstrators there “insurrectionists” and is moving military forces into the city.

And what about the convicted insurrectionists who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol? Trump issued them pardons and commutations as one of the first acts of his second term, erasing the crimes and violence of that day — including threats to execute his vice president — from the historical record. (A plaque honoring law enforcement officials who defended the Capitol that day still hasn’t been installed, despite pleas to House Speaker Mike Johnson.)

Trump’s administration is also reportedly developing a plan to pardon the “fake electors” and other Trump allies charged or convicted in connection with attempts to overturn the election, as well as the plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, as part of a broader effort to shield MAGA supporters from legal consequences, and perhaps convey the sense that these events never happened.

That is, the president is using both his immense influence and his constitutional authority to bend justice, public education, and public memory toward a false understanding of the past. And his allies are bending to his will.

What does this tell us about Trump’s capacity to reshape perceptions in the face of actual facts? And can anything stand in his way?

Some answers may come from a federal courtroom in Denver, where one of the more surreal chapters of the 2020 fallout is still playing out. That’s where the defamation trial against Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — brought by former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer — is underway.

Lindell, who has claimed that Dominion and Coomer were part of a scheme to steal the election from Trump, once promised that this trial would prove him right. But his lawyers seem to be arguing now that he’s so erratic, so impulsive, that nothing he says could be taken seriously enough to count as defamation.

“It’s just words,” said Lindell’s attorney, according to a Denver reporter covering the trial. “All Mike Lindell did was talk.”

That’s a hell of a defense, and itself a rewriting of history. The problem with it is that millions of people did believe Lindell, and still do.

Coomer may get to clear his name in the case against Lindell, but the broader effort to rewrite the past is gaining ground where it matters most: in classrooms, in Congress, and in the minds of voters. Juries and the judiciary can punish lies, but they can’t reach every classroom or undo every pardon.

With so many institutional guardrails already buckling under pressure, the remaining checks are public memory, a free press, and a willingness — from enough of us — to keep insisting on saying what actually happened.

Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica atjhuseman@votebeat.org.}:

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.

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'That's propaganda': Parents fight back against new religious MAGA curriculum in OK schools

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Oklahoma superintendent: $3 million worth of Trump Bibles still 'going to happen' despite no funds

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05/05/2025 rww

by

Kyle Mantyla

The president complained that due process rights are interfering with his mass deportations.

President Donald Trump attempted to take credit for parts of the economy which he considers “good,” while blaming former President Joe Biden for other parts he considers “bad.”

President Donald Trump offered a message of support to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists when he met with a former Proud Boys militant in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters bypassed oversight to push Christian Nationalism and right-wing conspiracies into public classrooms.

In this segment, I examine the notion that there was something exceptionally Christian about America's founding era. Last week, I fact-checked Charlie Kirk's viral video defense of the belief that America was founded as a Christian nation in the legal sense. Most of what Kirk had to say was irrelevant or incorrect.

The 9/11 truther denounced Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general and claimed the COVID-19 vaccine is “killing millions of people.”

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GOPers mull bill to reject OK academic standards that include 2020 election 'discrepancies'

Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice

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An exchange between CNN host Brianna Keilar and Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters got heated when the latter was confronted over his management of federal funds.

[vid]

During the Thursday segment, Keilar hosted Walters to discuss how President Donald Trump's executive order intended to shut down the Department of Education in his state would impact public school students in the Sooner State. The two soon began cutting each other off, with Walters railing against Oklahoma's "radical left-wing teachers' union" and "woke administrators," while Keilar repeatedly steered the conversation back to Walters' widely criticized management of Oklahoma's public schools.

"I took on the worst, one of the worst education systems in the country and have embrace these reforms. so we have continued to see the improvement—"

READ MORE:Former federal judge reveals 'the frightening part' about Trump's impeachment threats

"But overall you've had issues, sir," Keilar responded.

"No I haven't," Walters said, insisting that the only people complaining about his leadership were his political opponents.

Keilar reminded Walters that "Republican lawmakers as well as superintendents of schools who do not seem ideologically opposed to you" have been some of his most prominent critics. As the Oklahoma Voice reported last fall, Republican state representative Tammy West suggested that Walters' office was not providing appropriate "transparency, accountability and communication" when it came to how taxpayer dollars were spent.

"Superintendent, for instance, this whole business in the spring of not getting proper estimates to schools so that they could figure out how to plan for their federal funds that they were getting. You had them running right up into August," Keilar said. "Obviously, you know, in spring, you need to know, 'can I hire new teachers with Title I funds especially?' You're talking about impoverished students. Let's talk about them. That was something that you had Republicans in your state, superintendents in your state, very frustrated with because they were not able to plan. It seems like a miscarriage of just basic duties of how you handle funds."

READ MORE:'Terrifying': Frustration with Trump erupts as hecklers are removed from Democrats' town hall

Walters grew visibly frustrated, and pushed back on Keilar and the network itself, saying: "I know you're trying to railroad me here and gaslight here on CNN ... So what you continue to see is CNN here fighting for a status quo, instead of saying our education system has to get better, we should all agree on that ... No amount of gaslighting is going to change that."

Keilar reminded Walters that the Department of Education gave Walters' office a failing grade on 32 out of 52 indicators for how the state managed federal funding. She also pointed out that those failing marks were specifically about "how you are meeting the needs of students who are low income, the most at risk students in your state." NOTE STATS DEPT 1ST TO BE CUT?!

"The same department within a week also told us we had to allow boys in girls' sports and boys in girls' bathrooms, or they would take all of our funding away from us," Walters said. "The Biden administration Department of Education was constantly attacking conservative reforms, attacking school choice, sending the FBI and the DOJ to investigate parents —"

"What about you, superintendent, and your management here?" Keiler responded. "I hear you pivoting to talk about bathrooms, but your management of these funds — because what we're talking about now, Joe Biden's not president — but you're talking about getting this money in block grants. so let's talk about you and how you manage those funds because you're asking for it with fewer restrictions. That's what a block grant is. And there are serious questions about how you handle that."

READ MORE:'Brink of recession': This 'ominous' MAGA proposal could 'devastate the country's economy'

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3 25 rww

Bob Smietana @ Religion News Service: Turned down by state, Oklahoma schools chief is out to raise funds for Trump-endorsed Bibles

Ryan Walters is looking for 55,000 Bibles, and he is seeking $60 donations for each of them. Walters, who is Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, has made national headlines for his efforts to get Bibles into the hands of public school kids in his state. After state officials earlier this week rejected his request for $3 million to buy the Bibles, Walters launched a fundraising campaign to buy copies endorsed by President Donald Trump, with the help of country singer Lee Greenwood.

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Oklahoma subcommittee rejects MAGA Republican’s $3 million request for Bibles in classrooms

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Calling the inquiry a “manufactured political drama,” Oklahoma’s attorney general declined state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ request for a legal opinion over whether a presidential order blocks federal education funds from benefiting undocumented students.

Walters had asked the attorney general whether any Oklahoma school programs are affected by President Donald Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order blocking taxpayer-funded benefits from supporting undocumented immigrants. He also asked how his administration at the Oklahoma State Department of Education should comply with Trump’s order if any school programs are affected.

Gov. Kevin Stitt similarly has accused Walters of causing “political drama.” Although Attorney General Gentner Drummond borrowed the governor’s phrasing, he also took aim at Stitt in his response letter to Walters.

“I am very thankful for President Trump’s leadership on this critical issue, and I am very disappointed in Governor Stitt’s failures that have cost Oklahoma taxpayers billions and put our families at risk,” Drummond wrote. “(The executive order) should be a model for Oklahoma and every state to ensure their services are delivered only to those legally eligible to receive them.”

Drummond criticized the governor’s support for resettling 1,800 Afghan refugees, whom the attorney general accused of being poorly vetted, in the state and Stitt’s collaboration with the government of Mexico to establish a Mexican consulate in Oklahoma City, which Drummond said serves undocumented immigrants as well as lawful residents.

He accused Stitt of taking “no substantive action to address illegal immigration here in Oklahoma.” He called Stitt’s Operation Guardian initiative, which aims to deport undocumented immigrants in state prisons, an attempt to “save face.”

The governor has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s immigration policies.

“Sadly, once again, we are just getting noise from people campaigning for their next political promotion,” Stitt said in a statement through his communications office. “Being governor has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I will continue to do everything in my power to protect both Oklahomans and the innocent children in our communities.”

Stitt will be term-limited in 2026 after eight years in office, and Drummond is running to succeed him as governor. Walters hasn’t announced a political campaign for reelection nor for another office, but many consider him a potential candidate in a 2026 race.

The round of comments on Monday deepened the ongoing conflict between Oklahoma’s Republican governor, attorney general and public schools leader.

Drummond declined Walters’ request for an opinion on the impact of Trump’s order because a state attorney general has no jurisdiction to interpret federal law, according to his response letter.

Walters said he is “disappointed but not surprised” at Drummond’s response.

“He has a responsibility to offer opinions on all laws, not just the ones he deems worthy,” Walters said in a statement through a spokesperson. “Once again, he is refusing to support President Trump’s executive order on illegal immigration at a time when we all need to move forward with a unified front to protect Oklahoma families.”

Attorney general opinions interpret state law and sometimes are legally binding. An interpretation of a presidential order is “for the federal executive branch to determine,” Drummond wrote.

“Notwithstanding your rumored aspirations, you are not part of the federal executive branch,” he wrote, hinting at allegations that Walters sought a position in the Trump administration.

Drummond said Trump’s order could direct the actions of the federal Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provide hundreds of millions of dollars supporting various school services in Oklahoma, including cafeteria lunches, English learner programs and support for impoverished students.

He encouraged Walters to cooperate with federal agencies to “faithfully implement” the executive order.

“In the meantime, I suggest you devote increased energy and focus on improving the test scores and reading proficiency of Oklahoma students,” Drummond wrote. “The people of this state entrusted you with the critical responsibility of administering and managing public education. Fulfilling that responsibility should be your only focus.”

Walters has supported Trump’s executive actions and advanced his own policy to “no longer allow sanctuary schools in the state of Oklahoma.” He proposed a new rule at the state Education Department to require schools to collect students’ immigration status and report the information to the state.

“Taxpayer dollars should be used to support the education of American students, not to subsidize or create a magnet for illegal immigration,” Walters said.

States are required to provide public education to children regardless of their immigration status under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Many Oklahomans have advocated against the rule, which is now before the state Legislature for consideration, and warned it could drive immigrant students away from public education.

Stitt pledged to block the rule from being enacted and accused Walters of using “kids as political pawns” to launch a campaign for higher office.

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Lawmakers challenge OK superintendent's Bible initiatives after test scores tank

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rww

01/02/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Within hours of the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, the president-elect simultaneously flunked tests of accuracy, decency and credibility.

David Brody, a Christian pro-MAGA TV host on Real America's Voice, called for a "blanket crackdown on mosques" by the government after two potential attacks on New Year's Day.

> As part of his ongoing efforts to brainwash children into Christianity, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters just released the new standards for public school social studies classes. (These are the required topics teachers must incorporate into their lessons.) And, as expected, the standards include all kinds of religious indoctrination.

Trump isn't going after gray areas. If the Journal is right, he plans to enact policies that he flat out knows to be illegal. He's just hoping that his hand-picked Supreme Court will let him do it.

> H.W. Crocker III thinks Western civilization is in trouble. He supports conservative Christian moral values and has decried the rise of a new, secular America where a growing number of people answer “none” to surveys asking which religion they practice. He’s lauded the Confederacy and its soldiers and generals in books like the “Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War” and “Robert E. Lee on Leadership.” And, this year, he picked up a new job: communications consultant for Sen. Josh Hawley’s Senate campaign.

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Even 'devout Christians' are appalled as OK mulls $3.3 million bid on 'Trump Bibles' for schools

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Oklahoma State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, a far-right Christian nationalist and MAGA Republican, has drawn scathing criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for separation of Church and State, and others for trying to impose Christian fundamentalism on students in public schools. And Walters has been clashing with journalists as well, including reporters for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City.

Walters excluded KFOR reporters from press conferences, and the station responded with a lawsuit.

But on Wednesday, December 11, KFOR reported that it had "won a legal battle" against Walters and his allies.

READ MORE:'The next recession starts here': Trump team weighs abolishing bank regulators

According to KOSU-FM (a National Public Radio-associated station in Oklahoma), "State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his press secretary Dan Isett have agreed to allow KFOR journalists into all of the Education Department's news conferences and meetings. The leaders have also agreed to pay attorney fees and damages of $17.91 — a symbolic amount, as 1791 was the year the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified."

According to KFOR, Walters and Isett agreed to "add KFOR to" their "e-mail list for press releases."

KFOR noted, "Attorney fees have yet to be determined, but Ryan Walters and his attorneys did agree to pay them."

Charles Miller of the Institute for Free Speech said of the ruling, "This is a huge victory for journalism."

READ MORE: 'Chomping at the bit': Trump victory has red states feeling 'emboldened' to push far-right agendas

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AN

'Left-wing narrative': OK schools chief accuses CNN host of 'gaslighting' on pro-Trump prayer video 11 24

11/15/2024rww

by

Kyle Mantyla

What Hegseth does have are connections to the TheoBros, a group of mostly millennial, ultra-conservative men, many of whom proudly call themselves Christian nationalists. Among the tenets of their branch of Protestant Christianity—known as Reformed or Reconstructionist—is the idea that the United States should be subject to biblical law.

Pete Hegseth, the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend whom Donald Trump intends to nominate for Secretary of Defense, made several appearances on a YouTube show called Reformation Red Pill. The show’s host, Joshua Haymes, is a Christian nationalist who believes surrogacy should be banned, and abortion and gender-affirming care should be punishable by death.

While Democrats have long embraced some of the reforms RFK Jr. endorses when it comes to regulating aspects of the agricultural industry, like factory farming and pesticides, his other outlandish, crank science beliefs have Democrats and Republicans concerned about how he would run the federal public health department.

Huckabee's anti-Palestinian rhetoric has made him a leading figure among Christian Zionists in America.

Just days after Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters canceled his request for bids to purchase 55,000 bibles for public school classrooms—perhaps because his plan to spend $3 million in taxpayer money on bibles Donald Trump endorsed and has a financial stake in appeared to be backfiring—he’s gone ahead and found a different way to suck up to the next president.

A potentially bombshell report into allegations that Matt Gaetz used drugs and had sex with a 17-year-old should never be published, Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday–hours after he partied with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

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Pastors for Trump leader: “The Antichrist will be a political leader of Jewish descent. That is how the Jews will worship him.”

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published 10/10/24 mma

Pastors for Trump leader Jackson Lahmeyer, a key Trump ally who has been visited by members of Trump’s inner circle, recently warned followers that a Jewish politician will be the Antichrist.

Lahmeyer stated: “The Antichrist will be a political leader of Jewish descent. That is how the Jews will worship him. The false prophet, I believe, will be an Islamic imam.”

Lahmeyer is a right-wing commentator and the pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the founder and leader of Pastors For Trump, which, as its name indicates, seeks “to continue to build the relationship between Christian leaders and President Trump during his bid for the Presidency.”

Lahmeyer has a history of making toxic remarks, including calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “lying whore”; claiming Democrats are “demonic”; and lobbing bigoted attacks at LGBTQ people, Jewish people, and Muslims.

He continued that pattern during a sermon that was posted online on October 8, which carries the headline “Revelation 13 | Verse-By-Verse | Antichrist + False Prophet | Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer.” During the sermon, Lahmeyer portrayed Jewish and Muslim people as a future threat to Christians:

Video

CitationFrom an October 8, 2024, video by Jackson Lahmeyer

JACKSON LAHMEYER: This is the opinion of Jackson Lahmeyer. The Antichrist will be a political leader. This is just Jackson's opinion. The Antichrist will be a political leader of Jewish descent. That is how the Jews will worship him.

The false prophet, I believe, will be an Islamic imam. I believe that the false prophet will be an Islamic religious leader who will lead the people to worship the beast. That's just Jackson's opinion. And he will implement some form of one world religion, an Islamic caliphate. And if you do not take the mark, you will have your head chopped off.

There's only one group of people today that still chop off the heads of people, and that's radical Islamic extremists. And I believe they will implement that form of religion when the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is gone. So it's my opinion that the future Antichrist will have some form of a Jewish descent, that the false prophet will be an Islamic religious leader.

Lahmeyer is heavily tied to Team Trump

Images from Jackson Lahmeyer's Facebook page.

Lahmeyer recently hosted Donald Trump Jr. at his church. He is scheduled to host Eric Trump as well as Donald Trump's legal spokesperson Alina Habba next week.

He also said that he’s scheduled to speak at a pastors event with former President Trump in North Carolina on October 21, which is being organized by conspiracy theorist Clay Clark.

Lahmeyer has numerous other connections to Trump and his orbit:

Ryan Walters, the controversy-laden Oklahoma school superintendent, is also connected to Lahmeyer.

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t rump’s branded $60 Bibles are made in China for less than $3 apiece

3.5 million?

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3.5 million $?

10/07/2024

by

Kyle Mantyla

A new document limits the types of bibles that the state will purchase. Only the Trump Bible appears to meet the criteria.

The MAGA congresswoman’s post comes as FEMA finds itself fighting against fake information about the disaster.

Turning Point’s representatives have made two things clear in meetings with state and local Republican leaders — Donald Trump has blessed their conservative organization to help lead his get-out-the-vote effort, and local party officials ought to use the group’s new voter mobilization app. Both prospects terrify fellow Republicans.

Trump didn’t venture far from his typical tropes on Sunday: He fear-mongered about migrants (“the horrible people that we’re allowing into our country that are destroying our country,” he claimed of migrants, saying the issue was the most important of this election); claimed that if he loses, the U.S. is over (“If we lose this election, this country’s finished,” he claimed); kept up his obsession with crowd sizes; and he also inexplicably decided to revisit his unhinged admission that he wants to be dictator for one day.

A year ago this week, Donald Trump complained about migrants “poisoning the blood of our country.” Now, he's concerned about those with "bad genes," too.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, right-wing media falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration are ignoring millions of Americans impacted by intense flooding. Media personalities and MAGA influencers have falsely and dishonestly claimed that victims are only entitled to $750 in aid, when in reality that is just the start of federal benefits.

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September 30, 2024 rww

Former President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running assault on the integrity of US elections as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, using a new series of lies about ballots, vote-counting and the election process to lay the groundwork to challenge a potential defeat in November.

In effect, we were like other lobbyists and pressure groups, only our visits to offices included saying a prayer or reading a Bible verse with the occupant. Clergy, often arrayed around the stately benches where members of both houses of Congress sit during official proceedings, accompanied us to more formal meetings.

During yet another anti-migrant rant, the former president falsely claimed crime is up and so cops should be allowed to be “extraordinarily rough.”

Robby Starbuck, the former music video director behind clips like “Super Collider” for Megadeth, has a new job: hectoring companies to drop their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and cut their ties to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the organization’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI).

Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, always looking for new ways to shove Christianity into public schools, now wants to spend $6,000,000 on New King James Version bibles for teachers across the state.

Author Jessica Pishko on how two Arizona sheriffs created an entire mythology — and a dangerous movement.

Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch tells how Christian nationalist media are radicalizing their viewers.

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msnbc press show chuck todd? prager u ryan walters says schools unions tcher marxist 5x no challenge?

prager says back to basics many times, schools 1930’s socio pts out segregated

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AN 7 24

Do you know about Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 13950? If you don’t, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Just weeks before he was fired by America’s voters in 2020, President Trump issued this piece of nastiness which was quickly rescinded by just-inaugurated President Biden.

The Executive Order is a “DCL,” what the right-wing brilliantly calls a, “Divisive Concepts Law.” These DCL’s terrorize teachers with the threat of losing their jobs if they dare teach the truth of America’s racial history: That white people enslaved Africans, that the Klan enforced racial vote suppression with the hanging rope. And God forbid, they teach that women were banned from the vote until the 20th Century. The Executive Order bans teaching any historical facts if,

“….any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex….”

As a practical matter, it means teaching the truth of America’s racial stain will get you fired. In 2021, Tennessee high school teacher Matt Hawn lost his job because a student accused him of teaching—cover your children’s ears—“Critical Race Theory.” Hawn said he’d never heard of Critical Race Theory when he was canned.

(Critical Race Theory, taught in law schools, says many of America’s laws and their enforcement, contain a racial bias. Well, D’oh!].

On Thursday, Vice-President Harris told the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston, epicenter of the anti-CRT hysteria,

“While you teach students about our nation's past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation's true and full history; including book bans! Book bans — in this year 2024! Just think about it: we want to ban assault weapons and they want to ban books.”

It was a century ago, that Tennessee was the laughingstock of the nation for prosecuting a schoolteacher for telling his class about human evolution, a story recounted in the film, Inherit the Wind. Now, a hundred years later, Trumpsters are again passing wind over Tennessee.

And he’s baaaaack! Trump has put his fixation with censoring “divisive concepts” into the GOP platform. Details are provided in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 master plan for the master race.

This ill wind originated in Georgia when Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB1084, threatening the jobs of teachers for teaching ‘divisive concepts’ that could make a white child feel “discomfort.”

Who would feel “discomfort” about the uncensored history of Georgia? Well, maybe it’s Gov. Kemp himself. Because it was the Kemp family, then known as the Habershams, that first brought Africans in chains to Georgia.

Maybe Kemp and family should feel a bit of discomfort. I spoke with Janie Banse, who told me she is she is heartsick that her cousin, Gov. Kemp, won’t admit that their family’s wealth originated in the African slave trade. Kemp’s ancestors held the largest auction of human beings in American history, still remembered by Black Georgians today as “Weeping Time,” when 436 men, women and their children were separated and sold.

Georgia’s HB 1084, passed in 2022,

Prohibit[s] the use of curricula that addresses the topics of slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, or racial discrimination, including topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws resulting in racial oppression, segregation, and discrimination in a professionally and academically appropriate manner and without espousing personal political beliefs;

And what if a teacher expresses a personal distaste for slavery?

Since Georgia was among the first to pass a “DCL,” and at least 16 states have followed.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, dubbed his DCL the “Stop WOKE Act.”

He banned the College Board’s AP African American Studies course and supported new Black history standards that include the requirement to teach, “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

I can’t make this up.

Since 2021, at least 27 states have imposed or proposed bans or restrictions on teaching topics related to race and gender. Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona and Oklahoma all passed these Divisive Concepts laws. What do these states have in common? According to rankings by US News and World Report, they are all in the nation’s bottom third in educational achievement. Apparently, they won’t teach uncensored history—but then, it’s not clear that they teach much history at all.

Trump’s DLC brigade is not just putting a blindfold over students regarding slavery and Jim Crow. Oklahoma’s Divisive Concepts Law has effectively silenced the true story of the state that was once known officially as, “Indian Territory.”

Jim Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, told me that teachers throughout the state have been yanking copies of David Grann’s book Killers of the Flower Moon off their classroom shelves. Killers, on which the Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio movie is based, tells the true story about how, in the 1920s, over 100 Oklahoma Osage were murdered for their oil rights.

The insidious brilliance of the Oklahoma law is that it has a fuzzy general prohibition on “divisive” concepts—with teachers facing loss of their teaching credentials and the entire school district losing funding. Because teachers have to guess which books or films will get them fired, the result is mass self-censorship, with Killers culled from classrooms across the state.

A RAND corporation study found that a breathtaking two out of three K-12 teachers, “have decided on their own to limit instruction about political and social issues in the classroom.” Can you blame them?

Any student or parent can put a legal gun to a school principal’s head. But when the law says, “students,” as a practical matter, they don’t mean young kids on the Reservation. Every year, on April 22, Oklahoma celebrates “Sooner Rush Day”, the day in 1889, when any white man could simply stand on a plot of land and seize the surrounding 160 acres of what was, by treaty, Indian Territory. Indigenous kids have to re-enact the theft of their property whether they feel discomfort or not.

I have included this story of the Sooner Rush land grab in my documentary, Long Knife: the Osage Nation, Koch Oil and the new Killers of the Flower Moon. And for that alone, says Chief Gray, the chance it will screen in an Oklahoma school, even a state university, is zilch.

But some states are not shy about creating Black Lists of books to ban. Assigning anti-racist classics Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, could kill a teacher’s career. PEN America counted 3,132 books banned in nine states in the 2022-23 school year.

Cui Bono? Who benefits from historical amnesia? Kemp alone was not the only white boy to make his fortune from a slaver’s whip. Historic amnesia is a profit center covering many historic misdeeds from Jim Crow to union busting to corporate corruption.

I found this out when I was physically ejected from the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. I was having a polite interview with the Society’s in-house historian, Dr. Stan Deaton, who was explaining that the Klan took over control of the South when, in 1876, Republicans lost both the popular vote and the Electoral vote—yet a pact between the Klan-backed Southern Democrats and northern Republicans used a sly maneuver to overturn the vote and install the GOP candidate as President. It came down to one official, Dr. Deaton noted, then added, “We saw Mike Pence in that situation recently.”

The second the historian uttered the words, “Mike Pence,” the door flew open and the Society’s PR man halted the interview and expelled me from the building, saying, “We have to protect the new corporate donors on our board.”

I was curious. Who were these “donors” needing protection from history? I found their gala dinner on YouTube with their tuxedoed corporate money men: Georgia Pacific (owned by Koch Industries), Home Depot (owned by right-wing union buster Ken Langone), and Southern Company, whom I investigated some years ago for racketeering and the inexplicable death of whistleblowers. And the Chairman of the Historical Society? Gov. Brian Kemp.

Just below Savannah, at the Kemp family’s old plantation, I spoke with caretaker and Councilman Griffin Lotson whose own great-grandmother was sold at Weeping Time by Kemp’s progenitors.

Lotson emphasizes the connection between this legally enforced historical amnesia and the fight for voting rights. He says, “Suppressing history is suppressing the vote.”

Back in Oklahoma, the current Principal Chief of the Osage, Geoffrey Standing Bear, explained that if Oklahoma were to admit that its “Sooner Rush” was simply theft from the indigenous owners of the land, then it would force open eyes to what he calls, the “military occupation [of Native land] that continues today.”

Napoleon famously said, “History is a set of lies agreed upon.” Trump’s DCL crusade sees history as a set of truths silenced.

*Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. His latest film is Vigilantes Inc.: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen to be released in September. GregPalast.com

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7 24

Will David Barton Fill Oklahoma’s Curriculum With Lies and Disinformation?

By Kyle Mantyla | July 22, 2024 rww

Earlier this month, Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters announced that he was creating an executive review committee to overhaul the state’s social studies curriculum and that it would be stocked with far-right activists and ideologues.

Among those appointed to the committee was Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, a longtime religious-right activist who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and whose scholarship is so shoddy that one of his books was pulled off the marked by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.”

Barton is notorious for misrepresenting history in order to bolster his right-wing political agenda and for continuing to repeat his false claims long after they have been debunked. Both of these tendencies were on display when Barton appeared on “The War Room” over the weekend.

David Barton Discusses President Trump's "Providential" Head Turn

“According to University of Houston, they did a 10 year study,” Barton said. “They collected the writings the Founding Fathers in the founding era—15,000 they used—and they found in those 3,154 direct quotes. They said, ‘All right, now let’s see who the Founding Fathers quoted.’ The number one source for their quotes was the Bible. Thirty four percent of all those political quotes came out of Bible verses, and the number one Bible book [was] the book of Deuteronomy.”

“So, this is not hyperbole,” Barton insisted.

While it might not be “hyperbole,” Barton’s statement is certainly misleading, as Right Wing Watch has pointed out time and again:

This claim is a deliberate misrepresentation of a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law.

More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.

Undaunted, Barton continued to spread claims that were debunked years ago.

“I was involved in 13 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court,” Barton stated later in the interview. “Even [former Supreme Court Justice] Stephen Breyer said, ‘We all know the due process rights of the Constitution came out of the Bible.”

“The right to confront your accusers comes out of John 8:10,” Barton insisted. “The right to compel witnesses in your behalf comes out of Proverbs 18:17. The right to speak in your own defense [comes out of] Acts 22:1. If you don’t know scriptures, you’re not going to understand how the Constitution works.”

Right Wing Watch first debunked this claim nearly a decade ago, pointing out that what Breyer actually said in his 1999 concurrence in Lilly v. Virginia was merely that “the right of an accused to meet his accusers face-to-face is mentioned in, among other things, the Bible, Shakespeare, and 16th and 17th century British statutes, cases, and treatises.”

The Court’s effort to tie the Clause so directly to the hearsay rule is of fairly recent vintage, compare Roberts, supra, with California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155—156 (1970), while the Confrontation Clause itself has ancient origins that predate the hearsay rule, see Salinger v. United States, 272 U.S. 542, 548 (1926) (“The right of confrontation did not originate with the provision in the Sixth Amendment, but was a common-law right having recognized exceptions”).

The right of an accused to meet his accusers face-to-face is mentioned in, among other things, the Bible, Shakespeare, and 16th and 17th century British statutes, cases, and treatises. See The Bible, Acts 25:16; W. Shakespeare, Richard II, act i, sc. 1; W. Shakespeare, Henry VIII, act ii, sc. 1; 30 C. Wright & K. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure §6342, p. 227 (1997) (quoting statutes enacted under King Edward VI in 1552 and Queen Elizabeth I in 1558); cf. Case of Thomas Tong, Kelyng J. 17, 18, 84 Eng. Rep. 1061, 1062 (1662) (out-of-court confession may be used against the confessor, but not against his co-conspirators); M. Hale, History of the Common Law of England 163—164 (C. Gray ed. 1971); 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *373. As traditionally understood, the right was designed to prevent, for example, the kind of abuse that permitted the Crown to convict Sir Walter Raleigh of treason on the basis of the out-of-court confession of Lord Cobham, a co-conspirator. See 30 Wright & Graham, supra, §6342, at 258—269.

Needless to say, there is absolutely no historical evidence to support Barton’s claims that our due process rights came out of John, Acts, or Proverbs. More importantly, Barton has never even bothered to cite any historical record to support his claim, nor has he ever had any incentive to do so. And this is because Barton has built his career on exploiting the biblical and historical ignorance of his own audiences, knowing that they are unprepared to question his assertions and will get no traction even if attempt to do so.

Now that Barton has been tapped to overhaul the academic standards in Oklahoma, it is entirely possible that these sorts of bogus claims will work their way into the state’s social studies curriculum, indoctrinating future generations with a Barton-esque Christian nationalist worldview that is built on lies and intentional misinformation.

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July 16, 2024 rww

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Oklahoma’s top education official Ryan Walters praises right-wing media figures as among “the best minds” to develop the “best history standards in the country”

07/11/24

On July 9, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters announced that a number of people — many of them key figures in right-wing media — would be rewriting the social studies curriculum in the state. The list includes right-wing hosts with ties to Walters like Steve Deace, Dennis Prager, and Stacy Washington RENTA THOMASINA PJT 21, as well as Kevin Roberts, the head of The Heritage Foundation, which has organized Project 2025. (For more on the right-wing figures helping guide Oklahoma's curriculum, see here.)

Walters appeared on the July 11 episode of Jenna Ellis in the Morningand discussed the plans for a new curriculum, using rhetoric that appears to mirror Christian nationalism and expressing excitement with the group of right-wing figures that will help develop the curriculum.

Oklahoma’s top education official Ryan Walters praises right-wing media figures as among “the best minds” to develop the “best history standards in the country”

JULY 11, 2024

Audio

CitationFrom the the July 11, 2024, edition of American Family Radio's Jenna Ellis in the Morning

JENNA ELLIS (HOST): I’m speaking with Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters, who is overhauling the curriculum for schools to simply reflect the truth of our national heritage, to explain civics.

...

And yet, the left, who clearly they haven't read the Bible because they think that this is just, you know, a bunch of fairy stories that have nothing to do with reality. They don’t understand that the Bible is actually a history text. It’s actually so much more than that that gives a chronology of world history up until, of course, the New Testament, but then we also have Revelation, the end of all things.

I mean, they just think of this as a purely religious text that is trying to push the Christian religion onto students rather than, as you rightly point out Ryan Walters, the Bible actually is so much more than that and should be studied if kids actually want to understand our American heritage.

…

And so talk about this curriculum more that you have proposed, and I know that people like my good friend Steve Deace are already working on this. What was the design for, you know, bringing in some of these really great — I think just civics philosophers — like Dennis Prager, Kevin Roberts, Steve Deace?

RYAN WALTERS (OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT): Yes. What we’ve seen in education is education has been controlled by the radical left, by these left-wing institutions. You see them all the way down. You see it at the federal level with the Department of Education, but you see it all the way down to the local level. You see it embedded in state departments of education.

Jenna, when I came into the office, I fired 130 of the staff there. And we had embedded left-wing bureaucrats. And so we’ve come in and said, listen, you know, the left has completely tried to control everything, all the way down to curriculum.

So what I want is I want folks that understand American history, understand how to articulate that in a way that kids are going to be able to understand it. And we’re going to come in here, and we’re going to have the best history standards in the country. We’re going to find the best minds from around the country to come in here and help us develop out that story of America. We want our kids to be able to truly understand it. We don’t want any of our history censored from our kids.

We want them to truly understand that because, you know, you look at it too — And when the left has taken away any type of moral, religious reference in our history, you know, you look at folks like Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, who were very clearly — you know, you think about some of John Adams quotes about, you know, this constitution was made for a moral or religious people. And part of — so much of what they articulated was an equation that, yes, our rights come from God, we maximize those individual liberties. And there’s also the citizenry has to be moral or religious so that they can self govern. That’s how maximizing individual rights work.

Well, generally, we don’t tell half of that story. We’re lying to our kids. Our kids aren’t getting that picture. And Winston Churchill said the further back you look is the further ahead you can see. And how in the world are we going to move this country forward and continue to be the greatest country in the history of the world if our kids don’t even understand the history of where we came from? And that’s where we are so excited with this group that we have to help us develop these standards.

Related

  1. ### Oklahoma is having right-wing media figures rewrite its social studies curriculum. Here’s what you need to know about them.

07/10/24 1:21 PM EDT

  1. ### Oklahoma state superintendent says pastor and right-wing commentator suggested his new Bible mandate in public schools

07/08/24 9:59 AM EDT

  1. ### Oklahoma's top education official has a cozy relationship with BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who likens public schools to “Satan’s youth ministry”

10/06/23

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rww

Ryan Walters Taps Christian Nationalists and Right-Wing Propagandists To Overhaul Oklahoma’s Social Studies Curriculum

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post_author/kyle-mantyla/)By Kyle Mantyla |}:

Last month, Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters announced that the Bible must be taught in all public schools in the state. Now, Walters is taking things a step further, announcing that the state’s social studies curriculum will be overhauled in order to further promote his Christian nationalist worldview.

“The revised standards will incorporate the introduction of the Bible as an instructional resource that Superintendent Walters announced last week as well as the ensuring that social studies reflect accuracy and not political slanted viewpoints,” stated the press release issued by Walters’ office on Tuesday. Walters’ claim is laughable, given that the state’s new curriculum will undoubtedly reflect the “political slanted viewpoints” of the various far-right activists he has appointed to the executive review committee.

Among the participants is Kevin Roberts, the hard-right activist who has pushed the Heritage Foundation into increasingly extreme MAGA territory and is leading the Project 2025 effort to seize control of the federal government should former President Donald Trump win the 2024 election.

In 2023, Right Wing Watch reported:

In a speech celebrating the 50th anniversary of Heritage’s founding, Roberts said the 2024 election “may be our last, best chance to rescue this nation from a woke, socialist left bent on its destruction,” mocked “non-vaccine vaccines” and “useless masks,” declared that there must be no bargaining with the “woke left,” and asserted that “dismantling the woke and weaponized Administrative State” is a matter of national survival. A Heritage ebook about critical race theory suggests that systemic racism cannot exist because racial discrimination is illegal.

Joining Roberts is Everett Piper, the former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, a right-wing commentator, and self-proclaimed proud “right-wing religious nut.”

In 2017, RWW reported:

Everett Piper is the president of a Christian college who has found success on the Religious Right speaking circuit by attacking the “ideological fascism” of gay-rights supporters and other liberals, who he says area waging a “war against Christians” in academia and the broader culture. Piper gave a rousing culture warrior’s closing keynote to the 2015 summit of the World Congress of Families, which works to restrict LGBT rights and reproductive freedom around the globe. Piper has described WCF’s critics as “a hateful people who hate anyone who dares stand in their way of hating God.” At a 2015 conference organized by anti-gay activist Jim Garlow, Piper described the Obama White House as “seemingly more aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood than Franklin Graham.” Piper was listed earlier this year as a member of the education committee of the secretive far-right Council for National Policy.

Commentator Dennis Prager will be lending his “expertise” as well, which is ironic given that the educational materials produced by Prager’s own organization are rife with disinformation and right-wing propaganda.

In 2023, RWW wrote:

Dennis Prager is a prominent far-right propagandist whose PragerU videos have been viewed billions of times. Prager argued against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the U.S. Capitol. Prager is allied with Christian nationalists and promotes their false claims about U.S. history. When Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress and chose a Quran for his ceremonial swearing in, Prager slammed him for not using a Bible, saying, “If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.”

Unhinged far-right broadcaster Steve Deace has also been named a member of Walters’ committee, despite his repeated calls for violence against his political opponents, including openly declaring that he wants to see “antifa members hanging from gallows in Trump ties.”

IFrame Content

Finally, and most alarmingly, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton has been named to Walters’ committee. As RWW has noted before, Barton is almost single-handedly responsible for creating the Christian nationalist myths that the far-right uses to justify its push to enact harmful public policies that weaken the separation of church and state, undermine women’s rights, and deny legal equality to LGBTQ Americans.

RWW profiledBarton in 2023 after Rep. Mike Johnson, who credited Barton with having a “profound influence on me and my work and my life,” was elected Speaker of the House:

David Barton has built an entire career out ofmisusing, misrepresenting, and outright falsifying history, the Bible, and current events and doing so to promote his Christian nationalist political agenda. He has been highly influential not only within Republican politics, where he has many fans among current and former GOP legislators, but also internationally. On top of that, Barton’s Christian nationalist pseudo-history is shaping both Christian and secular educational institutions across the country.

Barton, who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and personal history, had his book on Thomas Jefferson pulled by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.”

Undaunted, Barton has soldiered on, repeatedly declaring that Christians who share his far-right worldview are supposed to be choosing our elected leaders and ruling the world because everything must operate according to biblical principles.

Barton falsely insists that our Constitution and entire system of government are based on the Bible and thus asserts that everything from the minimum wage to the income tax to the teaching of evolution are unconstitutional because they supposedly violate Biblical teachings. Barton also believes that there should be literally no limits on the Second Amendment, meaning that average citizens are entitled to own tanks, fighter jets, and even nuclear weapons.

Predictably, Barton takes a far-right position on issues like abortion—going so far as to proclaim that life actually begins *before* conception—and on LGBTQ issues, asserting repeatedly that AIDS is God’s punishment for sin and therefore a cure will never be found.

In his press release, Walters’ proclaimed that the “unparalleled expertise” of these panelists “will help craft new academic standards that will serve as a mode for the nation and help Oklahoma students for years to come.” In reality, what will likely emerge from this process is a curriculum warped by political bias and riddled with intentional disinformation designed to indoctrinate students with right-wing propaganda.

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mma 7 24

oklahoma state superintendent says pastor and right-wing commentator suggested his new Bible mandate in public schools

Conservative media figures promoted the new policy as a way to “impose Christian values on the pagans” and encouraged other states to follow suit

WRITTEN BY PAYTON ARMSTRONG

PUBLISHED 07/08/24

Right-wing media figures are praising Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ mandate that the state’s public schools teach the Bible, including declaring that the government needs to “impose Christian values on the pagans” and encouraging other states to follow Walters’ lead.

Following his announcement of the new Bible mandate for Oklahoma's public schools, Walters has spoken with Fox News and other right-wing media to promote the policy, including appearing with a right-wing commentator and pastor who has promised to “embrace Christian Nationalism” and apparently “reached out” to Walters about mandating the Bible in schools. Notably, Walters has a history of taking education policy advice from right-wing media figures.

Video

CitationFrom the July 3, 2024, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

Video

CitationOn the July 2, 2024, edition of Real America's Voice's Just the News No Noise

Video

CitationFrom the June 28, 2024, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night

Video

CitationFrom the June 28, 2024, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante The Right Squad

Related

  1. ### Oklahoma's top education official has a cozy relationship with BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who likens public schools to “Satan’s youth ministry”

:{10/06/23

  1. ### Top Oklahoma education official Ryan Walters cheers conspiracy theorist while appearing on her show

01/02/24 5:10 PM EST

  1. ### Remarks from Oklahoma public schools superintendent mirror far-right extremist talking points on the Tulsa Race Massacre

07/12/23

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July 8, 2024 rww

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rww 6 24

Oklahoma Superintendent Orders Public Schools to Teach Bible as White Christian Nationalists Go ‘On Offense’

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MAGA state superintendent backs chaplains in public schools – but not from all religions - Alternet.org

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yikes influencers get gov’t jobs?!

January 23, 2024 rww

Chaya Raichik—who doesn’t even live in Oklahoma—was tapped for her expertise on the “radical left” and “woke indoctrination.”

The controversial Oklahoma state superintendent of schools suggested, without evidence, that the state teachers union and educators were creating a culture that allowed for rampant sexual misconduct against students.

Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape.

After fist-pumping for Christian Nationalism and running away from the truth, Hawley doubled down on his effort to undo our constitutional system.

A new transcript from a key Hunter Biden witness undercuts many of the claims Republicans are making about “Biden corruption.”

The former president resorted to sound effects when explaining missile defense systems during a campaign rally in New Hampshire.

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Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters campaigned with influencer rejected by school system for video encouraging anti-trans violence | Media Matters for America

Top Oklahoma education official Ryan Walters cheers conspiracy theorist while appearing on her show | Media Matters for America

Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters praised conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine during a nearly 25-minute interview on the December 19, 2023, edition of her show. Walters and Lorraine also spread a conspiracy theory about supposed Marxist infiltration in Oklahoma public schools, and Walters touted his efforts “to ensure that we're running the left wing out” in order “to put folks that share our conservative values in this agency.”

Lorraine is a former Infowars host and failed congressional candidate with a long record of spreading outlandish conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate and the QAnon conspiracy theory. (In recent posts, Lorraine said that “Q is the greatest Psyop ever told” and “we’ve been played.”) She also attended the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and has proposed that we “arm our children” to stop school shootings. Her streaming show, Shots Fired with DeAnna Lorraine, is part of the media network of white nationalist Stew Peters, who has spread extreme and violent rhetoric including calling for the deaths of LGBTQ people, journalists, Democratic politicians, and Catholic charity workers.

As Oklahoma’s state superintendent, Walters has pushed right-wing propaganda into public school curriculum and used far-right media programs to attack the state’s education system and teachers. Walters appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press days before his interview with Lorraine, arguing that he is responding to a “higher education push to drive left-wing, Marxist propaganda into classrooms.” Walters previously suggested that he has taken education policy advice from right-wing media personalities, including the anti-LGBTQ social media account Libs of TikTok and a BlazeTV pundit who disparages public schools as “Satan’s youth ministry.”

In the December 19 Shots Fired interview, Walters claimed that Oklahoma’s “education system has been run by Marxists for far too long” and the host agreed, suggesting there has been a communist plot since the 1950s to take over public education. Lorraine also compared the left to “cockroaches” after Walters claimed that “liberals embed themselves” in government agencies. He referred to the state superintendent’s office under his Democratic predecessor as “a captured entity,” and bragged to Lorraine: “I fired over 100 people from our agency in the first six months, and we are continuing to ensure that we're running the left wing out, and we're going to put folks that share our conservative values in this agency.”

Walters also claimed that George Soros — a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories — has “financed” school boards and “government bureaucratic apparatuses.”

:{Video

CitationFrom the December 19, 2023, edition of Stew Peters Network's Shots Fired with DeAnna Lorraine

DEANNA LORRAINE (HOST): Ryan Walters, I'm excited to talk about you and all of these great wins under your belt. You are just slaying the Marxist left back and forth. Welcome to Shots Fired, how are you?

RYAN WALTERS: (OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT): Look, I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate the work you're doing. And, you know, I mean, that's the thing in education — to get the education system back on track when it's been pulled so far to the left, we have got to operate with a sense of urgency. And so we're playing offense here in Oklahoma. We're going to be aggressive and we're just getting started. But I'm telling you, this education system has been run by Marxists for far too long. Parents know it, our taxpayers know it, and it's time to get going.

LORRAINE: Oh 100%. And some people somehow still believe that this is sort of some big conspiracy theory that the education systems have been hijacked by the Marxist left and, you know, this all sort of happened organically. No, it's not. It's literally in the communist goals. The 45 communist goals for America way back in the 1950s. They state that they want to hide, they're going to hijack the education systems and schools and transform them into Marxist, communist curriculum. So it's not a conspiracy and it's actually happened, and they've been very successful at it.

…

WALTERS: I think that's so important for your viewers to hear is that we are in a very red state, very red state. Every single one of our counties voted for Donald Trump twice, so we are a very red state. But let me tell you, we also have a teachers union who is very well-financed and continue to block legislation and push legislation at the state capital. They have captured a lot of Republican legislators who listen to them alone. And so we've had to fight back against some of them, some folks in our own party who have fought school choice, fought parents rights. We had a legislator that’s Republican that fought to keep pornography in the classroom. And so we have these pockets of influence the teachers union has. But I'm going to tell you, the other thing that's so important is now that I run the education agency is liberals embed themselves in these agencies. So you've seen this with the way —

LORRAINE: Like cockroaches.

WALTERS: George Soros has financed these district attorneys. They've done the same thing with school boards, and they've done the same thing with the government bureaucratic apparatuses. So when I got here, you know, we would pass laws and it wouldn't be enforced because again, my predecessor, a Democrat, loaded this agency up with a bunch of liberals that were never going to hold districts accountable. They were never going to push back on the teachers union. And frankly, this was a captured entity. I mean, the left had captured the state superintendent. So you can pass whatever laws you wanted, they were never going to be enforced on the schools. So it has been a dramatic shift. I fired over 100 people from our agency in the first six months, and we are continuing to ensure that we're running the left wing out, and we're going to put folks that share our conservative values in this agency. And we're going to continue to fight for parents, and we're going to continue to fight — it’s frankly common sense. We're going to keep fighting for common sense to come back to the classroom.

Lorraine and Walters ended the interview praising each other, with the host telling Walters, “You are on fire. I love what you’re up to. I love what you’re doing. Keep going at it because we need strong fighters like you to fight for our schools and our children.”

Walters replied with effusive praise, telling Lorraine, “I love your show, love what you’re doing,” and “I appreciate you fighting for conservative principles and values and your fight for our kids. So really appreciate the time on the show and thank you for the work you’re doing.”

:{Video

CitationFrom the December 19, 2023, edition of Stew Peters Network's Shots Fired with DeAnna Lorraine

LORRAINE: Ryan Walters, you are on fire. I love what you're up to. I love what you're doing. Keep going at it because we need strong fighters like you to fight for our schools and our children. Tell everybody again where they can find you and follow your awesome work and achievements.

WALTERS: Well, I appreciate that. I love your show, love what you're doing.

...

WALTERS: But look I appreciate the time. I appreciate you fighting for conservative principles and values and your fight for our kids. So really appreciate the time on the show and thank you for the work you're doing.

LORRAINE: Thank you so much, Ryan.

Walters promoted the interview on X (formerly Twitter) by reposting a link from Lorraine to the interview with the caption “OK Superintendent of Education is on FIRE slaying the Marxists!”

//

  1. ### Oklahoma's top education official has a cozy relationship with BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who likens public schools to “Satan’s youth ministry”

10/06/23 12:18 PM EDT

  1. ### Remarks from Oklahoma public schools superintendent mirror far-right extremist talking points on the Tulsa Race Massacre

07/12/23 12:06 PM EDT

  1. ### Public schools are the latest target of the right’s con culture

09/07/23

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/bless-your-heart-klansplaining-crt blackburn

 [[ https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/remarks-oklahoma-public-schools-superintendent-mirror-far-right-extremist-talking

https://www.alternet.org/oklahoma-judge-rulsa-race-massacre/ judge toss case 100 yo 3x

https://boingboing.net/2023/07/07/oklahoma-schools-superintendent-says-tulsa-race-massacre-wasnt-um-about-race.html ]]

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https://www.alternet.org/the-right-wing/unconstitutional-oklahoma-superintendent-calls-for-framed-copy-of-10-commandments-in-every-class/

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an 4 23  // alt rt macho shitposting?

https://www.alternet.org/appalled-and-disheartened-oklahoma-governor-demands-resignation-of-officials-who-condoned-and-lynching/

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recall trump hdhs ice head was tracking menstrual cycles

They're whining that "globalists" are trying to control everyone. Meanwhile, the Republicans in Oklahoma are pushing a bill that would create a database for pregnant women so they can track if they get abortions.

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