Jeff Sharlet (“The Family“) knows a thing or two about fundamentalism. He posted a long tweet thread on its influence on Donald Trump’s interest in “patriotic education.” Not civics education, mind you. Indoctrination, emphasis on doctrine. Let’s skip through a few:
This is why I get irritated with people who think the presidential race is the be-all and end-all of each election. Down-ballot races matter. Way down-ballot races matter:
Jon McNaughton paints works of conservative fiction depicting Donald Trump in heroic settings and American founders flanked by Jesus. Critics call his work “kitschy, sycophantic, and a parody of itself.” It is black-velvet art without the black velvet. But they reinforce the fundamentalist view of the country’s Christian origins, with a series of “great men” sent by god (Trump included):
“Aha! Now we see the violence inherent in the system!” a mud-caked Michael Palin said in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So it is with American Jesus.
There is more. We are beset by a flood of future-anxious white people intent on repurposing education to secure their places atop a multicultural country they insist is not.
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