THE WAR ON PUBLIC EDUCATION: TRUMP'S ATTACKS, TEACHERS' RESISTANCE, AND THE COWARDS IN BETWEEN
Donald Trump doesn’t believe in fixing what’s broken. He believes in smashing things apart, tossing the pieces over his shoulder, and demanding a medal for “cleaning up the mess.” His latest stunt — signing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education — is less about education reform and more about his pathological need to bulldoze anything that isn’t named after him. But this time, Trump isn’t just gutting a department. He’s declaring war on America’s public schools.
While Trump and his billionaire wrecking crew play demolition derby with the education system, teachers like Sarah Inama are fighting back in classrooms across the country. Inama’s crime? Hanging a poster that said "Everyone is welcome here." In Trump's America, even that is considered a threat.
THE TEACHERS WHO WALKED IN — AND THE PRESIDENT WHO WALKED OUT ON THEM
On March 19, 2025, teachers, students, and parents staged a coordinated nationwide walk-in. There were no burning effigies, no tear gas canisters, and no dramatic standoffs with riot cops. Just thousands of exhausted educators standing outside their schools, rallying for basic resources, and marching back inside together — a quiet but powerful act of defiance.
They weren’t asking for beachfront condos or private jets. They wanted schools to have functioning lunch programs. They wanted funding for special education. They wanted resources for students who can barely keep their heads above water. These are the kinds of things a halfway decent society would provide without question.
But Trump, in his infinite wisdom, decided that feeding poor kids and helping students with disabilities was a “woke” conspiracy. So the next morning, he tried to blow the whole system to bits.
TRUMP'S EXECUTIVE ORDER: DUMB, DANGEROUS, AND DESIGNED TO FAIL
Barely a day after teachers protested his reckless education policies, Trump marched to a podium, puffed out his chest like a prize turkey, and declared that he was dismantling the Department of Education.
The announcement itself was classic Trump — a blustery mess of half-baked bravado, buzzwords, and attacks on imaginary enemies. He claimed the department was “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material,” a talking point so lazy it could take a nap standing up.
In reality, Trump’s plan has nothing to do with protecting kids from “woke” teachers and everything to do with gutting resources for public schools so he can shovel more money into private institutions and religious academies. It’s a grift — plain and simple.
But here’s the part Trump isn’t telling you: his executive order can’t actually destroy the Department of Education. Dismantling a federal department requires Congressional approval, and with Republicans barely holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, it’s unlikely to pass. Even if Senate Republicans back it, they’ll still need 60 votes to push it through — and they don’t have them.
But that’s not the point. The point is chaos. Trump doesn’t need his plan to succeed; he just needs to blow enough smoke to leave public schools scrambling for stability. Even if the department survives, the layoffs, funding freezes, and general panic will leave permanent scars.
ELON MUSK AND THE DOGE UNIT: WHEN TECH BROS PLAY GOD
Because no Trump disaster is complete without an insufferable billionaire grinning in the background, Elon Musk’s fingerprints are all over this mess. Musk now runs the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — a bureaucratic wrecking ball designed to hack government agencies to pieces under the guise of “efficiency.”
DOGE’s latest victim is the Department of Education. Last week, Musk’s crew announced plans to lay off half the department’s workforce — roughly 2,100 employees — by March 21. Some were pushed into early retirement, others were fired outright, and those who remained were told to brace for reassignment or termination.
For Musk, this is just another billionaire side project — like building flamethrowers or renaming Twitter. But for teachers, parents, and students, this is a direct attack on the lifeline that keeps public schools afloat. Cutting thousands of employees doesn’t just kill bureaucratic bloat — it eliminates the people responsible for allocating funding, supporting special education programs, and managing federal student loans. It’s a bloodbath disguised as “efficiency,” and the people who will pay the price are the ones least able to afford it.
THE IDAHO INCIDENT: WHEN "WELCOME" BECAME A FIGHTING WORD
While Trump and Musk were busy turning the Department of Education into scrap metal, a sixth-grade teacher in Idaho found herself at the center of a controversy so absurd it belongs in a Coen brothers movie.
Sarah Inama, a World Civilizations teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School, hung a poster in her classroom that said "Everyone is welcome here." That’s it. That’s the whole story.
But thanks to Idaho’s Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act, her district claimed the message wasn’t “content-neutral” and could “create division.” Apparently, welcoming everyone is now considered political warfare in some corners of America.
Inama initially complied when her principal ordered her to remove the signs. But the whole thing felt wrong, so she quietly put one back up. For that act of defiance, the district threatened her job.
Inama has been teaching for over 15 years — a well-respected educator who has spent her career making sure students of all backgrounds feel safe in her classroom. She isn’t some activist chasing headlines — she’s a teacher who put kindness before cowardice. And for that, she’s now being treated like a political radical.
This wasn’t a controversy — it was a farce. Telling students they belong is not a radical political statement. Pretending otherwise is a coward’s way of pretending that inequality doesn’t exist. The people attacking Inama aren’t fighting for “neutrality.” They’re fighting to erase any reminder that marginalized kids exist at all.
THE COWARDS HIDING IN THE BACK
Trump may be the most obvious villain in this circus, but he’s far from the only one. The real power behind this crusade against public education is a coalition of cowardly politicians, bureaucrats, and opportunists who would rather watch the system collapse than risk alienating the far-right base.
The West Ada School District caved without a fight, pretending that a poster about kindness was some dangerous manifesto.
Idaho’s GOP lawmakers weaponized vague language like “neutrality” to bully teachers out of promoting even the most basic message of human decency.
Elon Musk, the self-styled genius who treats government institutions like science projects, is gutting programs that protect students and families — all while pretending it’s about “efficiency.”
And of course, Ron DeSantis and the other Republican governors who lined up behind Trump at his executive order signing, pretending that torching public schools was some grand act of heroism.
These people aren’t leaders — they’re parasites, feeding off fear and confusion while pretending their war on education is some noble crusade.
THE REALITY CHECK
Trump’s executive order will probably die in the Senate, but the damage is already done. Schools are losing funding. Teachers are being forced to choose between their jobs and their principles. And the students — the ones these cowards claim to care about — are being abandoned in the crossfire.
But here’s what Trump’s crew doesn’t understand: teachers are tougher than he thinks. They’re used to fighting uphill battles — surviving broken HVAC systems, shrinking budgets, and overcrowded classrooms. They’ve been fighting for their students long before Trump wobbled into politics, and they’ll still be fighting long after he’s dragged out of office like a screaming toddler in a Walmart.
The teachers aren’t just fighting for themselves. They’re fighting for their students — and for the soul of public education itself. They’re still standing. And they’ll need all the help they can get.