Heather Cox Richardson: Trump Vs. the First Amendment

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2026 //
6

Donald Trump has always hated the media except for those who treated him as a Sun-God. He has always said that he was treated unfairly because the press write things about him that he didn’t like, things that acknowledged his bankruptcies, his failed businesses, his womanizing.

From the time he launched his bid for the presidency, he has made clear his contempt for journalists. If they don’t praise him nonstop, they are “the enemy of the people.” Since his election, he has insulted journalists and the media. They are “Fake News,” they undermine the security of the nation by not praising him. He thinks he IS the nation, so he deserves adulation and exemption from criticism.

Heather Cox Richardson shows how he has again painted himself into a corner. He is already planning to appeal a judgment that will surely go against him, rendered by a judge he appointed in 2017.

She writes:

On September 18, while White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was out of town, Trump suddenly announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose deep unpopularity means he is likely eager to curry favor with Trump, promptly posted that the Defense Department fully supported Trump’s decision. He claimed that the same outlets, which recently have reported that Russia has been helping Iran target U.S. troops and that the Defense Department has not fully accounted for deaths of servicemembers or destruction of U.S. military bases, “endangered our troops with false stories, leaks, and trafficked in fiction and lies about the President, our Warriors, and their mission.”

The next day, reporters from those outlets attempting to enter the White House complex where the press facilities are located were denied entry, and Secret Service agents confiscated their press badges.

On Sunday afternoon, Trump posted an image of three full black trash bags, labeled “CNN,” “MSNBC,” and “Politico,” outside the White House.

This morning, after the weekend’s backlash, he posted: “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”

There’s that “national security” claim again: the same justification he’s using for building his ballroom and now his triumphal arch. It is also, not coincidentally, the excuse President Richard M. Nixon floated for covering up the Watergate break-in in June 1972.

In any case, no one’s buying it. MAGA Republicans have tried to claim that President Joe Biden cancelled 400 press passes. In fact, in 2023 the Biden administration tightened the rules to get a “hard” press pass that allows repeated, unaccompanied access to the press area of the White House. To have one, a reporter had to renew it annually, be employed full-time as a reporter, have a Washington, D.C., area address, and have had recent access to the White House. With that change, the number of White House hard passes fell from 1,417 to 975 because many of those who held passes didn’t reapply. Those people could still get day passes. In any event, these changes regarded individual reporters, not entire media outlets.

The Biden White House did not identify the one journalist whose hard pass application was denied.

Today CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sued Trump, Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung, Secret Service director Sean Curran, and White House chief of staff Wiles for violating both the Fifth and the First Amendments. “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment, nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the lawsuit says. It says Trump banned the outlets and the reporters to retaliate against the reporters for their past news coverage “because he deemed it ‘negative’ and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions.”

They are suing for the restoration of their press credentials for their coverage of the White House.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed by Trump to the bench in 2017, was assigned the case. Although Trump appointed Kelly, in 2018, the judge ruled that Trump’s revoking of journalist Jim Acosta’s hard press pass likely violated his due process rights. Trump groused that the news outlets “have drawn a great Judge, for them, a man who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta.” Apparently anticipating a loss, he has already vowed to appeal.

He ranted that journalists were demeaning the Oval Office by reporting negative stories about him. “Virtually every story about me, or anything having to do with me, is negative, wrong and, in many cases, DANGEROUS for our Country! No matter how GREAT my Achievements, they trivialize and demean,” he posted. “I have an obligation to fight for the Success and Safety of our Country. FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives.”

Podcaster Allison Gill noted that Judge Kelly ordered the government to respond to the lawsuit by tomorrow, and that he has set a hearing for Wednesday afternoon at 3:30.

Perhaps of even more concern to Trump is that the major news networks are refusing to cover him on television, starving him of media oxygen.

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News take turns providing the television coverage of the president, and CNN was supposed to be in charge of the TV pool today. With CNN banned, the other networks refused to take its place, leaving television coverage of Trump suspended. A.J. Katz of The Wrap reported on their joint statement, in which they said: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” 

This afternoon, Trump held an event at the White House, but without a press pool, there was no audio. It was just footage of Trump standing with a group of people and apparently talking.

The White House advertised “The White House App” on social media, claiming users could “[g]et real-time updates and live events streamed DIRECTLY to your phone. No noise. Just the news that matters most—straight from the Trump Administration. DOWNLOAD NOW,” it said.

Users were not kind. One commented: “I’d rather launch my phone into the sun than install a government propaganda app.” Others noted that the administration is eager to get its hands on user information, and only a fool would install what could be spyware on their phone.

Peter Alexander of MS NOW had his own response to Trump’s attacks on the press: “This is not normal. This is not business as usual,” he said.

“What’s happening right now is different. The latest threat against our cherished freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution. The media is not perfect. There’s a debate to be had about who you trust, where you should get your news.

“This is something bigger, though. Among the privileges, the duties of a free press, are to hold power to account, to ask the difficult questions, to document history as it happens. The president says fake news is reporting that is untrue. In fact, it’s reporting that he finds unflattering.

“And here’s the reality. A little more than seven weeks until the midterms, many of the facts are unflattering. Where to begin? Gas prices, now $4.48 a gallon on average, $1.50 more than where they were before the war with Iran began. Ask farmers about the price of diesel, now at a record high, nearly $6.50 a gallon.

“All of it due to a war the president started, a war he vowed would be done within weeks but is now in its seventh month. Eighteen American service members dead, if not more, and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

“A trade war with Canada, an obsession with the Kennedy Center, if it’s not demolished like the East Wing, then there’s the grift, the self-dealing, a Russian oligarch paying for Trump’s son’s wedding party, billions of dollars made by the Trump family.

“Those are the facts. They may be unflattering, but they are not fake.

“I’ve been there since the beginning. Trump’s frustration, this fury, it didn’t happen overnight. On the campaign trail, I remember, before he even took office, he would yell at us in the bullpen in the back of those large rallies, riling up the MAGA crowd. Once elected, he would insult reporters to their face—I’ve been there—and he would call journalists the enemy of the people. As one of my former colleagues described it, Trump is trying to discredit the messenger, to create a vacuum where his version of reality fills that void. 

“But the answer from journalists is simple. To report more, with more sources, more digging, more facts.”

Trump has his own answer. The White House YouTube channel announced this afternoon that at 7:00 tonight it will launch “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station.”

The comment feature on the channel is turned off.

Categories Accountability, Censorship, Democracy, Fascism, Freedom of the Press, Media, Trump

Why You Should Attend the NPE Conference This Weekend!

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2026 //
3

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, explains why this NPE conference will be stellar.

She writes:

A community governs its public schools. Neighbors elect a board, set a budget, and decide what their children learn. That is exactly what privatization threatens, and it is what NPE’s national conference is built to defend. Over two days, September 26–27, at the Hyatt Regency Conroe near Houston, more than 40 sessions take on the fight from every angle. Here’s a taste of what’s on the schedule.

Vouchers and charters. In “Beating Vouchers in Court,” Derek Black, Jessica Levin, Fred Jones Jr., and Sharon Krengel will walk through recent wins in Montana, Utah, and Ohio, where voucher programs were declared unconstitutional. They will also review the live challenges in Tennessee, Wyoming, Florida, and Missouri. In “A View from the Trenches,” two Florida school board members and an Arizona teacher offer a candid account of what universal ESA vouchers have already done to how public education is funded and governed. And a session on the federal tax-credit voucher scheme, set to launch in January 2027, lays out what advocates in opt-in and opt-out states can do right now. 

In “Taxation Without Representation — Using a Conservative Argument to Combat Charter Schools,” Gregory Walace, Alison Chaplar, Betsy Flanagan, Daniel Marcano Jr., and Jennifer Simões will show how that framing sparked a grassroots movement, moved public opinion, and helped drive proposed legislation. “What’s Next for Charter Schools? A Review of Charter Strategies Across State Lines,” Patti Everitt, Gregory Walace, Carol Burris, and Dave DeMatthews lead an interactive look at how charters keep expanding in key states with few guardrails and little public engagement, which national initiatives fund that growth, and the research and messaging advocates can share across state lines to push back.

Takeovers are where democracy gets stolen outright. Houston high schoolers will describe how they organized against the HISD takeover. Parents from Houston (CVPE) and Fort Worth (FORT) share how they are fighting to win their voice back. An Indianapolis panel will dissect the sharpest trick of all — an elected board left in place, but stripped of control over buildings, transportation, and property taxes. “The Struggle to Govern Ourselves” will confront the research showing takeovers overwhelmingly target majority-Black districts, while organizers from New Orleans share hard-won lessons from years on the front lines. And in “The People’s Board,” presenters will take on Student Outcomes Focused Governance, the corporate model quietly sidelining elected members in board after board.

Follow the money. Maurice Cunningham, Mercedes Schneider, Mike DeGuire and David Armiak teach their best techniques for tracing dark-money networks back to the billionaires and foundations bankrolling privatization in two sessions. Other sessions map the private firms profiteering off vouchers and spotlight Wisconsin’s campaign to get voucher and charter costs printed right on taxpayers’ bills. 

The money grabs keep getting more creative. Texas advocates expose SB 1882 “partnership” charters as a fast-track privatization grift. Another panel takes on corporate tax breaks — energy-hungry data centers now the worst offenders — draining billions from schools. And with 17 states cutting or capping property taxes in 2024–25, national and state experts lay out how to defend the local revenue public schools depend on.

Faith, nationalism, and the classroom. Sessions on building school–congregation partnerships and mobilizing faith leaders in hostile states sit alongside a hard look at Christian Nationalism and its playbook for defunding and reshaping public education.

The newest battlegrounds. Randi Weingarten joins experts to debate AI’s role in classrooms — cognition, privacy, mental health, and the environment. A separate panel takes on ed-tech overreach and the lawsuits challenging how it commercializes student data. And student organizers from SEAT share how they’ve carried the fight to school boards, the legislature, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

The skill builder sessions are the reason you will leave with more than notes. Charles Siler, a former Goldwater Institute lobbyist who helped build the privatization playbook before turning on it, joins Manny Garcia to teach what messaging actually moves people. Rachel Coyle and Susan Spicka show how to win over hostile legislators. Others cover new-media strategy, gathering community input at scale, and getting real press traction beyond the press release. 

The keynotes anchor it all: Diane Ravitch and Texas AFT’s Zeph Capo open Saturday; Southern Education Foundation CEO Raymond Pierce speaks at lunch; investigative journalist Katherine Stewart headlines Sunday brunch; and Howard University’s Dean Emerita Leslie Fenwick closes us out.

You’ll meet the students, parents, teachers, clergy, researchers, and organizers who are actually winning in courtrooms, at statehouses, and on ballots. Privatizers have the money. We have the people, the passion and the plan. Register now here, book your room here in the hotel block, and join us in Conroe, Texas, right outside Houston.

I can’t promise that hotel rooms are still open but Carol will help you if you made a terrible mistake and forgot to sign up.

Categories Accountability, Bigotry, Budget Cuts, Censorship, Charter Schools, Childhood, Closing schools, Corruption, Democracy, Education Industry, Equity, Ethics, Failure, Freedom to Learn, Freedom to Read, Funding, Parent Groups, Privatization, Religion, School Choice

FCC Allows Increased Foreign Ownership of U.S. Major Media

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2026 //
1

Until now, the Federal Communications Commission has limited foreign ownership of American media to 25 percent. But the Trump-controlled FCC just increased that number to help out Trump’s billionaire friends, the Ellison family. The Ellison recently bought CBS. They are now trying to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, which includes CNN.

This kind of media consolidation is worrisome, as it portends a narrowing of perspectives.

Oliver Darcy reports in Status, a blog that covers the media:

FCC Clears Ellison’s Foreign Cash: Brendan Carr’s FCC has cleared the way for foreign investors to own nearly half of Paramount s equity as David Ellison moves to finance his proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The agency on Thursday approved Paramount’s request to exceed the 25% foreign-ownership threshold, paving the way for investors from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to collectively hold 38.5% of the company, with total foreign ownership reaching 49.5%. While the approval from the Trump administration removes another regulatory hurdle for Ellison’s acquisition of Warners, it still remains on hold after a dozen states led by California and the Writers Guild, sued to block the merger. 

▶ Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC commission, slammed the agency’s approval. “The FCC just let some of the most repressive governments in the world indirectly control nearly all of a combined Paramount-Warner Bros,” she said. “An investment this large in one of America’s biggest media companies doesn’t just buy equity, it secures influence over what gets said and what gets made.”

Categories Competition, Democracy, Media

Arizona: Vouchers Are Working Well for Religious Schools

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2026 //
0

Gene Glass, one of the nation’s most eminent education researchers, sent me the following perspective on how vouchers are subsidizing religious schools in Arizona.

But first a short primer on why Americans have honored “separation of church and state” until recently.

Until recently, every state and the federal government abided by the principle that public money should not be spent on religious schools or religious education. The term “separation of church and state” was first used by Thomas Jefferson. Like other Founding Fathers, he abhorred the idea that the state should pay the tuition of students at religious schools. Students had the right to attend religious school. But not at public expense.

Today’s advocates of school choice claim that the Founding Fathers had no views about public schools, but they are wrong.

In 1785, the Founding Fathers wrote the Land Ordinance, which described the layout of towns that would be built as the new nation expanded westward. Every new town would have 36 lots, each a square mile. Lot number 16 was designated for a public school, centrally located so it could serve all children. The Land Ordinance of 1785 said: “There shall be reserved the Lot No. 16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within said township.”

Later, the Founding Fathers added lot 36 as a school land, with the understanding that it could be sold off to produce income for the public school.

They certainly showed no preference for public support of private or religious schools.

Today’s voucher movement, as many scholars have documented, had its origins in the resistance to the Brown V. Board of Education decision of 1954. Most whites in the South did not want their children to attend schools with Black children; several Sourhern legislatures passed voucher laws to allow white children to escape desegregation, but federal courts knocked out all those laws.

Vouchers experienced a resurgence in recent decades. But every time they went to a state referendum, they have always lost, usually by large margins. The public doesn’t want to pay the tuition for children at religious schools or at private schools that exclude students because of their race or disability or other characteristic.

Despite the fact that the public opposes vouchers, state after state has adopted them, typically because state legislators want to satisfy religious activists.

Professor Glass sent the following description of what is happening in Arizona. Bear in mind that voters in Arizona overwhelmingly defeated a voucher proposal in 2018. The Republican governor and legislature ignored the vote.

Professor Glass wrote:

Thanks to reporting by 12News, we’re finally getting a clearer picture of which schools are raking in the voucher money.

For those of you who haven’t followed the voucher program closely, a word to the wise: It has been a colossal pain to get information about the program, especially after the Legislature opened it up to every student in the state in 2022.

Sure, state officials bend over backwards to give parents information about how to use the program, as they should. But if you’re a run-of-the-mill taxpayer (or news reporter) who wants to know how your $1.15 billion is being spent, well, you’re out of luck.

Fortunately, Craig Harris at 12News took it upon himself to open up that black box. He and his colleagues have battled with state officials for several years now (and borne the brunt of the outrage from the pro-voucher crowd).

As part of that transparency battle, 12News successfully sued the Arizona Department of Education to get records on 2 million transactions in the Empowerment Scholarship Account (AKA, voucher) program.

The 12News reporters then shared a list of 190 private schools in Arizona that are raking in the voucher money, which is how we’re able to shed some light on how the game is playing out in Southern Arizona.

As we went through the list, one thing became glaringly apparent: Christian schools are dominating the voucher game.

Just look at the Southern Arizona schools that brought in the most voucher money since 2022:

  1. Salpointe Catholic High School: $15.2 million
  2. Pusch Ridge Christian Academy: $8.8 million
  3. Yuma Lutheran School: $7.9 million
  4. Desert Christian School: $7.1 million
  5. Yuma Catholic High School: $6.3 million
  6. Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School:$5.9 million
  7. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School: $5.9 million
  8. Lourdes Catholic School: $5.4 million
  9. Southwestern Christian School: $5.3 million
  10. Calvary Chapel Christian School: $5.2 million (they also have campuses outside Southern Arizona)

Every single one is affiliated with a Christian denomination.

It’s the same pattern throughout the state. Christian schools got the lion’s share of the voucher money, while only two secular private schools brought in enough voucher money to crack the top 50.

Just going by the names of the schools, we counted 52 “Christian” schools, 37 “Catholic” schools, 15 “Lutheran” schools, four “Baptist” schools and three “Adventist” schools, plus a smattering of “parish,” “Bible” and “chapel” schools.

______________
Gene V Glass

Emeritus Regents’ Professor, Arizona State University

Editor, Education Review edrev.asu.edu

Categories Arizona, History, Privatization, Religion, Separation of church and state

Don’t Miss This Brilliant Blast at Trump’s War on DEI!

By dianeravitch
September 21, 2026 //
1

Come to hear Yohuru Williams dissect and eviscerate the Trump administration’s absurd attack on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Such policies are meant to broaden opportunity. They take us closer to our professed goals of liberty and justice for all.

Yohuru Williams is a leading scholar and public intellectual who has often appeared on public television to expound on African American history. He is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Join me on October 6 at Wellesley College.

The event will not be livestresmed but will be available later online.

Categories Academic Freedom, Accountability, Bigotry, Censorship, Democracy, Education Reform, Ethics, Extremism, Freedom to Learn, Freedom to Read, History, Trump

How the Media Should Respond to Trump’s Ban on CNN, MSNOW, and Politico

By dianeravitch
September 21, 2026 //
13

Trump peremptorily declared that he was banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from attending press briefings at the White House.

This is an outrage. He is the President, not a corporate executive. He cannot pick and choose which outlets are allowed to attend press briefings. He indicated that he would probably ban other media, such as The New York Times and The Washington Times.

He doesn’t like their criticism. He calls them “fake news.” He wants only positive press.

Tough.

The Washington press corps should boycott his briefings. He cannot abide being ignored.

What if he held a press briefing and no one showed up?

The press must uphold the freedom of the press or no one else will.

Categories Accountability, Censorship, Fascism, Freedom of the Press, Media, Trump

Texas: Gina Hinojosa Surges, Takes the Lead Against Greg Abbott in Governor’s Race

By dianeravitch
September 21, 2026 //
7

The biggest political news of the past few days is that the nonpartisan, highly respected Siena College poll reported that Democrat Gina Hinojosa is leading rightwing Governor Greg Abbott in Texas by four points, and Democrat James Talarico is leading Republican extremist Ken Paxton by six points in the Senate race.

This is the first major poll that shows the momentum of the Democratic candidates in Texas. if the trend continues, and if Texas flips blue, it would be a political earthquake. It would be a major defeat for Trumpism and the hard-right extremists who have run the state for the past three decades.

Texas is the state to watch in the 2026 election. It is a very conservative state, where political spending is overwhelmingly dominated by oil and gas billionaires and evangelical Christians, a few of whom are oil and gas billionaires. Texas has not elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994.

The Governor’s race is exciting. Republican Governor Greg Abbott is running for his fourth term. He is in cahoots with the oil and gas billionaires and with evangelicals. He delivered for both, with tax cuts for the rich and vouchers for religious schools.

His opponent, Gina Hinojosa, is the real deal–a mom who got into politics when state budget cuts threatened to close her son’s public school. She is the only major candidate in the country who has made public schools the centerpiece of her campaign. She believes that public schools are essential for democracy, and she has built her campaign around that issue. She has received support from MAGA Moms who don’t understand why Governor Abbott is contemptuous of their local public schools. She is also drawing strong support from independents.

Abbott is sitting on a campaign fund of $60 million. Gina has raised $6 million.

In the 36 hours after the Siena poll was released, showing that she has caught up with Abbott, Gina raised over $1 million.

Abbott is running on culture war issues. He opposes transgender athletes in women’s sports. He fought to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the state. He fought to get vouchers for anyone who wanted one, regardless of family income. He relentlessly accused public schools of “indoctrinating” students, without a shred of evidence, while his voucher plan pays students to attend religious schools whose very purpose is indoctrination into their faith.

Gina Hinojosa is campaigning on two big issues: saving public schools and affordability for working Texans. She talks about issues that directly affect the quality of life of working families, like health care, rising prices for electricity, the cost of living, and data centers.

Gina wants to bring people together and improve their ability to afford a good life. Abbott wants to target someone they can hate, to distract them from the cost of gasoline, rent, and food.

Gina has opposed data centers, while Abbott first supported them, then said he would conduct a study of their impact on power and water when he saw the bipartisan opposition to them.

Latino men, who supported Trump in 2024, are rejecting the Republican Party and Abbott because of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric. They have seen friends snatched away and disappear. Gina was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, which is heavily Hispanic. She is, of course, bilingual and can count on Latino support and excitement about a Latino governor.

Gina’s campaign ads are as fearless as she is. In one, she says: “I’m Gina Hinojosa. My pronouns are Mom, Texan and, soon to be, governor.”

Many people think she can’t win, because Democrats haven’t won in Texas in so many years. Abbott will say she is a “Communist,” a “Socialist,” a “radical leftwinger,” etc. She is none of those things. Abbott will insult and attack because he doesn’t want to discuss the issues that affect people’s lives.

Gina does bring those issues front and center.

The fact that he has so much more money than she does might make you feel pessimistic.

But even though he is sitting on $60 million, even though he is outspending her 10-1, she just surged ahead of him in the polls.

Gina is taking it to the people and telling them the truth: They don’t have to accept corrupt politicians who gin up inane culture war battles and ignore people’s need for good jobs, a decent living wage, high-quality childcare, affordable housing and food, good access to medical care, and strong public schools.

I have contributed to Gina’s campaign (and to James Talarico as well). I will give as much as I can. The corrupt politicians like Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton must go. It’s time to elect honest, hardworking people who care about every Texan, not just their billionaire donors.

It’s time for a change.

Here is Gina’s website. Contribute whatever you can.

Gina came to the Network for Public Education conference in Columbus, Ohio, in April 2025.

Categories Education Reform

Joyce Vance: A Week of Political Craziness

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2026 //
6

Joyce Vance is a former federal prosecutor who writes a terrific blog called Civil Discourse. In this post, she summarizes the major political events of the past week.

She writes:

What happened:

After a hearing Tuesday morning, Judge Christopher Cooper blocked the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees from returning Trump’s name to the building. “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.” That includes proposals to add “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” on the main building or renaming the campus the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

You can read Judge Cooper’s full opinion here.

Why it matters:

The administration has acted in bad faith on this one, stretching the court’s patience thin. In today’s order, the Judge noted that “the drama at the Kennedy Center continues.” The administration flirted with defying a court order when it delayed the removal of Trump’s name after the first court order. It then draped the front of the building in an apparent childish move akin to Trump announcing that if his name couldn’t be there, no one else’s would be visible. But there was absolutely no justification for Trump’s more recent efforts to get the Board to return his name to the front of the Center after the Judge had already entered an injunction. Had the administration moved forward, it would have been flagrant defiance of a court order. 

It matters when a court tells this particular litigant that it meant what it said and that compliance isn’t optional. “To obtain relief enforcing a prior order, a plaintiff must demonstrate that ‘a defendant has not complied with a judgment entered against it,’” Judge Cooper wrote. Then he ordered the relief the plaintiff requested—enforcing the injunction that the President refuses to comply with and sending a message that he had no intention of letting Trump get away with the semantic gymnastics when he’d attempted to put his name back up with President Kennedy’s.

What comes next:

Of course there will be an appeal. But the oxygen has been sucked out of the room. Trump cannot put his name back on President Kennedy’s memorial. The distraction value of this case is over. 

This decision, like so many others, was a no-brainer legally. The case has so little merit that one wouldn’t even expect a neutral Supreme Court to touch it on certiorari; they’d just let the Court of Appeals decision stand. Unless the Supreme Court wants to wake up one morning to discover they have been rebranded as the “Donald J. Trump-Improved Supreme Court” they would do well to follow Judge Cooper’s lead. 

But there’s still a cautionary tale: the destruction of the East Wing. We know how Trump operates. The lawyers may need to go back to court to seek an injunction to prevent him from tearing the Kennedy Center down. Today he told the press, “For me to go and fix it and subsidize it, I think the Trump administration should have recognition. If we don’t do that, it’s going to close and get ripped down.” It doesn’t get much more clear than that.

Tuesday, after the Court’s decision, Trump posted on Truth Social, making it sound like the Kennedy Center is falling apart. It is an older building, and it always needs some work. Just because Trump happens to be in the White House when repairs are done doesn’t mean his name belongs on it. Adam Klasfeld nailed it when he wrote: “Congress appropriated $250M+ in taxpayer money last year for Trump’s wish-list renovations for the Kennedy Center, inserting no language about holding the whole thing hostage if it’s not a shrine to Trump.”

But you get the tenor of how irrational Trump is about this whole affair in a lengthy Tuesday Truth Social post:

Shockingly, a Judge appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, Christopher Cooper, ruled that The Kennedy Center, which was going to close in early July for largescale renovations and construction due to years of neglect, decay, and poor maintenance, and which was to be transformed by the Trump Administration into the Finest Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World, is not allowed to close for these renovations, which would not be possible to properly do without such a closure. Additionally, Judge Cooper ruled that the 36 Member Board of Trustees, which unanimously voted to add the name “TRUMP” onto the former Kennedy Center, making it The Trump Kennedy Center, did not have the right to do such an addition, and the name, “TRUMP,” must be removed.

…

Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of, much as I have done, in many cases, throughout my life, and recently, with all of the construction, renovations, and ‘fix ups’ that we have completed.” He concludes in vintage Trump fashion: “There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country.

You may not have had a constitutional crisis over the naming of the Kennedy Center on your bingo card for this year, but here we are. Any of the actions Trump seems to be contemplating here would run afoul of the court’s order.

Also Worth Noting Today:

Oral argument took place yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a case involving whether Lindsey Halligan, a Trump attorney with no experience as a prosecutor, was properly put in place as his US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. (Halligan was appointed after the incumbent in that position was forced out in the debacle over the first—and now dismissed—indictment of Jim Comey.) The lower court’s ruling that Halligan was appointed illegally also led to the dismissal of federal charges against New York AG Letitia James. At least two of the judges on the panel seemed inclined to believe that the administration had broken the rules and the lower court’s decision should stand. 

In other news, Laura Weiss at Punchbowl reported on Kash Patel’s Tuesday outing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that it became “incredibly tense – not just between Patel and Dems.” Senators Grassley and Booker tussled after Patel insulted Vermont Senator Peter Welch, calling him “a complete and total fraud” during questioning. Patel accused Democrats of “attacking him for campaign ads.” But it got worse for Patel, who all but begged Grassley to end the hearing during questioning from Senator Adam Schiff. That line of questioning recalled Schiff’s time as a federal prosecutor—he knows how to handle a difficult witness. Schiff grilled Patel about firing every agent who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation (reminder: agents don’t get a choice which matters they work on; they’re assigned). 

Schiff to Patel: “I will remind you, director, because you probably need reminding, that while this Congress is not going to investigate the wrongful termination of potentially hundreds of agents, the next Congress will. And you have an obligation as FBI director to ensure that none of the [documents] are destroyed.” Patel, who reportedly tried to pack up his things and leave, appealed to Grassley for help: “I would appreciate it if you concluded this hearing.”

Although Patel’s exchange with Louisiana Senator John Kennedy over bestiality and FBI hiring garnered the most media attention, the more important exchange was the one with Welch, who accused Patel of being “more than willing” to use the FBI to advance Trump’s personal grievances over election losses, saying, “My concern is that this means what you are willing to do for the president in this year’s midterm elections that the president is already saying are going to be rigged if he loses.” He asked Patel about sending agents to the polls and whether he would promise to “not in any way interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November.” Patel responded, “I have pledged unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies.” That’s not exactly a no.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump seems to have found more crazy. Frantic for a new distraction, he is accusing the Biden administration of mishandling the investigation into one of the assassination attempts on him in Pennsylvania. You’ve just got to read this one to believe it.

This is what we can expect between now and the midterms, and likely beyond, especially if Trump is perceived as the cause of Democratic gains. It’s Steve Bannon’s “flood the zone with sh*t.” Remember that they want you to feel overloaded and incapable of coping. Take some time for yourself, and then remember we have work to do. There will be another “No Kings” event on October 17 to help us get out the vote, and we will be okay because we have each other.

I’m grateful you’re here with me at Civil Discourse. If you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you! If you’re not, today is a great day to become one and support a community that believes well-informed citizens can save a democracy.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Categories Democracy, Deregulation, Discipline, Disruption, Elections, Ethics, Extremism, Stupid, Trump

John Thompson: Republicans in Oklahoma are Worried About the Election

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2026 //
2

John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, keeps us up to date about the political winds in his state.

He writes:

My Congresswoman, Stephanie Bice (R-OK), has been getting national attention since the Bulwark revealed an audio of Bice telling Republican students “that President Donald Trump’s unpopularity and freewheeling executive actions were hurting the party and even endangering seemingly safe seats like hers.”

Rep. Bice was quoted as saying:

“The challenge that we have is that we have to get over the narrative that ‘I don’t like this guy, so I’m going to vote for the Democrat,’” said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), according to audio obtained by The Bulwark. “Because I’m telling you right now, I’m hearing it already.”

She also said:

“And what happens is that’ll impact me because . . . two things will either happen,” Bice added. “They’re going to vote for the Democrat and they may split [the] ticket and vote for me and a few others, or—this is my bigger fear right now—people don’t go vote.”

The Bulwark reported that Bice provided a “rare glimpse into the gloom some elected Republicans feel about the impending midterms.” And, she explained, “I was at a board meeting yesterday with a group, and one of the execs said to me, ‘I’m a Republican, I’ve been a Republican for a long time, but I have Trump fatigue.'”  

Bice later argued that she was just “relaying a comment made by someone else and discussing the importance of Republicans turning out and voting for the entire ticket. Any suggestion otherwise takes her comments out of context.” 

In fact, after quoting the Republican who complained about “Trump fatigue,” Bice said, “It’s a fair statement, you know?” 

She also said, “We’re not helping ourselves when we decide to rename Lake Ontario Lake America. This does not help the case.” 

Most polls predict Bice will be reelected. But, the national news regarding Bice only reported a third of the story. There are a couple more narratives that make the case that Republicans will likely lose this seat, and many other seats.

First, the national news is also full of coverage of other conservative, Republican incumbents who are falling behind Democrat challengers. 

And perhaps the most positive part of the story is how and why a poll  found the charismatic Democrat, Jena Nelson, Oklahoma’s 2020 Teacher of the Year,  leading by 4 points. 

The 5th Congressional previously elected a Democrat congresswoman, Kendra Horn. Yes, Horn was defeated in 2020 by less than five points. Because Oklahoma City was growing more progressive, it’s hard to believe that Bice would have won in 2022 if the district had not been dramatically gerrymandered. 

And, as Nelson explained in 2026, “It’s been almost five years since her [Bice’s] last in-person town hall on August 25, 2021.” 

And, in a recent discussion, Bice didn’t seem to have taken a clear enough stand to win over the “61 percent of respondents who said that data centers are a threat to local resources or wanted a full ban on the facilities. An additional 20 percent said they wanted more regulations on the centers.” 

Similarly, if Bice listened to Oklahomans, why would she justify her opposition to raising the minimum wage above $7.25 per hour, by claiming it would provide “a broad range of benefits with no regard for the actual level of need of those on the receiving end of funding.” 

As the Oklahoma City part of the 5th District has continued to become more progressive, Jena Nelson, has also invested months of time, introducing herself, and listening to people in the conservative rural areas. 

At the same time, Bice has done herself no favors by giving muddled answers as to why, for instance, she voted for Trump’s issues like his cutting 1 billion dollars of hospital reinbursements in her district. 

Nelson’s polling reveals that in July 2026, 50% viewed Trump very unfavorably and 4% somewhat unfavorably, while 31% viewed Trump very favorably and 10% somewhat favorably. That means that, “His overall favorability is underwater by 13 points.” 

Moreover, “Voters respond positively to Nelson’s biography (61-12), while Bice’s profile produces a net-negative response (40-42). And, Bice “also gains 13 points among self-identified independents, reaching 65%. Among Moderate Republicans, she rises 13 points to 26%.” 

And, I would add that when watching Nelson interact with crowds, it is easy to understand why she was selected Teacher of the Year. Her ability to listen, her empathy, her enthusiasm are combined with her knowledge and intellect. Her audiences not only see the damage that Bice helped Trump impose, but they see and feel the principles and the solutions that Jena is committed to.

Epilogue: There seems to be no evidence that Bice attended Trump’s Midterm convention, or that she has made a statement about it.  

Categories Elections, Oklahoma, Politics

Tennessee: Voucher Students Get Lower Test Scores than Peers in Public Schools. State Drops Testing Requirenent.

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2026 //
3

William Phillis has been leading the battle to protect public schools in Ohio for many years. Now retired, he was Deputy Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Education.

He forwarded the followings news about Tennessee:

Tennessee voucher school students registered lower scores and performed worse on state tests in 2026 than their public school peers. So, what is the Tennessee legislature’s solution? Drop the test requirement.

Four years into the Tennessee voucher program, voucher students performed worse on state tests in 2026 than their public school peers. The legislature perfected a solution. The testing requirement for voucher students was discontinued.

Years ago, it was generally believed that there was a private school advantage (i.e) private schools outperformed public schools. Research has shown that when demographics are inserted into the equation, public schools outperform private schools.

The Tennessee voucher project outcomes seem to support that conclusion.

Political officials throughout the nation have the mindset that private is better, even in view of the facts to the contrary.

TN voucher students lag in ELA, math proficiency

  • Knoxville News Sentinel
  • 20 Aug 2026
  • Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.

When the Tennessee House approved the state’s Education Savings Accounts program by a single vote in 2019, some Republican lawmakers supported the program on the condition that students be required to take the state TCAP exam — so the state could exercise oversight.

The ESA program offers low-income students taxpayer-funded scholarships to attend private schools. Advocates said voucher students coming out of public schools might lag behind academically, but in time their achievement would take off.

Four years in, that hasn’t happened. Tennessee students who attended private schools through the state’s Education Savings Accounts voucher program performed worse on state tests in 2026 than their public school peers. Fewer voucher students were proficient in math and English this year than were last year, new state data shows.

Just 17% of ESA voucher students met or exceeded math proficiency expectations on the TCAP this year, while 24% met or exceeded expectations in English, according to new state TCAP data obtained by The Tennessean through a public records request.

In public schools, 40% of students — more than twice as many — met or exceeded proficiency expectations in math, while 42% achieved proficiency in English.

Tennessee sorts student achievement levels in four categories, measuring a student’s proficiency as “below,” “approaching,” “meets” or “exceeds” expectations. Under Tennessee’s third grade retention law, public school students are required to “meet” or “exceed” reading expectations by third grade, or face retention.

Over the past three school years, the achievement gap between state-funded students attending public schools and private schools gradually widened.

In Hamilton County, ESA students’ ELA proficiency has dropped seven percentage points in three years, from 32.2% proficiency to 25.2% proficiency. Public school students there grew slightly, from 39% to 40.3% proficiency this year.

In past years, Shelby has been the only county where ESA students have outperformed their public school peers. But this year, nearly 3% fewer Shelby County ESA participants met or exceeded English proficiency compared to last year.

In a statement to The Tennessean, Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds pointed to a 14.6-point reduction in the number of ESA students performing “below expectations” as a sign of the program’s efficacy.

“Students enrolled in the program continue to make meaningful gains on TCAP,” Reynolds said in a statement to The Tennessean. “For example, in 202223, 51.6% of ESA students were performing below expectations in math, compared to 37% performing below expectations in 2024-25.”

Education Savings Accounts participants get about $10,100 to attend private schools in Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga. To qualify for a scholarship, students must be previously enrolled in public school or entering kindergarten, and their family must have an income of less than $83,590 for a family of four.

Another, statewide school voucher program, Education Freedom Scholarships, offers $7,300 state-funded scholarships for students to attend private schools. EFS recipients have never been required to take the TCAP, though some schools have done so voluntarily.

Test scores aren’t everything. While voucher students have consistently underperformed on the TCAP, parents have said the choice has offered lifechanging opportunities for their children to get out of bullying situations, or access academic opportunities that would otherwise not be financially possible.

This is the last year we’ll have this data.

Lawmakers voted to end required TCAP testing for voucher students this year after a scathing audit of the program.

Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, studies school voucher policies and accountability across the country. He said it’s common for school voucher participants to score lower on standardized tests than their counterparts in public schools.

But instead of working to improve achievement results, he said other states have opted to stop requiring state achievement tests for voucher students – just as Tennessee has.

“States have basically done what your state just did – which is stop testing,” Cowen said.

After this year, Tennessee voucher recipients will be able to take any national standard test to measure their academic achievement – but there will be no apples-to-apples comparison to track the voucher recipients’ academic growth.

“When they stop administering the state exam, then the lobby groups and the voucher supporters can just yell about how great it is for everyone and no one calls them out on it anymore,” Cowen said.

Reynolds said that the TCAP is not the only measure of the student’s academic success.

“TCAP provides valuable information about student academic performance, but it is one measure of student learning and program outcomes,” Reynolds said, noting that in the future, other testing options will be available for voucher students.

“The department will continue to evaluate student outcomes and other measures of program success to ensure Tennessee families have access to educational options that are meeting their students’ needs,” Reynolds said.

In her campaign for the Tennessee governor’s mansion, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has pledged to work to expand Tennessee’s school voucher programs “until no parent has to win the lottery to have a say in their child’s education.” Republican legislative leaders have echoed similar commitments.

But without a universal testing requirement, Cowen said, effective state oversight of the taxpayer-funded program will be virtually impossible.

“If these results showed good things, they’d be the first out there in the press conference yelling ‘scoreboard!’ ” Cowen said. “The reason they aren’t testing is because they don’t want to see the answer.”

As lawmakers debated ending TCAP requirement for voucher students this spring, Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, said requiring the TCAP for the original voucher program was “a mistake.” He said the TCAP is “not an accurate assessment for some private schools,” because they are not required to follow state standards.

Democrats who opposed the idea said Tennessee should not hold public and private students to different standards.

While nationally normed tests differ, Cowen said all are aimed at testing students’ mastery of the subject fundamentals.

“[If ] a private school takes a decent nationally normed exam that tests basic arithmetic, you’re not going to see a kid perform really poorly on that and then ace the TCAP – or vice versa,” Cowen said.

Choosing not to have a like comparison, he said, definitely stifles oversight, but wouldn’t necessarily test what students are learning more closely.

A better way to measure a student’s academic growth would be to compare students’ TCAP scores while in the ESA program to their TCAP scores from prior public school enrollment, Cowen said.

But when that’s been done in other states, the results have shown a gap. In 2023, just 14% of students in Louisiana’s voucher program met state achievement targets, compared with 24% of low-income students in public schools.

Voucher advocates frequently point to parent satisfaction as the “ultimate metric” of the program’s success. Reynolds said 99% of ESA families surveyed by the Department of Education this year reported being satisfied with the program.

Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, who opposed ending the TCAP requirement, pushed back.

“While I do agree parent satisfaction is important,” Akbari said, “parent satisfaction doesn’t get a child into college or help them get a job: achievement does.”

Article Name: TN voucher students lag in ELA, math proficiency

Author:Vivian Jones Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.

Categories Education Industry, Failure, Tennessee, Vouchers
« Older Entries