Donald Trump Humiliates Himself By Getting Common Core Wrong At Republican Debate

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:49 pm

Donald Trump embarrassed himself and demonstrated that he is not fit for office during the CNN Republican debate in Florida.

Jake Tapper asked Trump what his specific objections to Common Core were. Trump showed how unready he is for the presidency by answering, “Education through Washington, DC. I don’t want that. I want local education. I want the parents and I want all of the teachers to get together around a school and to make education great.”

Trump then name dropped Ben Carson, and said that he wants more charter schools. Tapper corrected Trump and said that charter schools were developed and implemented by states and localities. Trump replied that the federal government has taken over Common Core.

PolitFact has debunked the right-wing Common Core myth:

Common Core came out of years of discussion between private nonprofit groups and state education departments. The goal: to better prepare students for college and careers and ensure that students in different states learn the same academic concepts.

The Council of Chief State School Officers — a national organization of public officials who head state education departments — discussed developing common standards during its annual policy forum in 2007, a year before Barack Obama won the presidency. In 2009, that council and the National Governors Association agreed to create Common Core. They developed the standards with the help of teachers, parents and experts.

Although Common Core is voluntary, the federal government has had a role in encouraging states to adopt the standards.

States earned the equivalent of extra points in the competition for grants from Race to the Top, Obama’s signature education program if they had adopted standards to prepare students for college and work. They didn’t have to adopt Common Core, but they were better positioned for federal money if they did.

Common Core is not a mandate, or a federal takeover of education. Trump doesn’t know what he is talking about, but this is what voters get when one party is poised to nominate a candidate who gets his policy information from Fox News.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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