My Warning To Dems About MAGA and Schools This Fall
I sent this memo, and other versions of it, to leading Democrats across DC in late July. Enjoy......
"Friends, a quick note on something that I’ve shared with others but starting in a few weeks the biggest national and local news story may be the struggles communities are having over reopening schools due to delta, and in some places CRT and other MAGA stuff. The politics on this in many places could get very rough, and interfere with other messages we are trying to convey, including the most important of all – that we’ve successful managed the COVID challenge.
As this will play out differently in every school district, I don’t know how much you can do other than to encourage parties/electeds to get ready and not be surprised by it when it comes. We could be facing a period where local school politics is like the busing fights of the 70s – locally driven, but with a national overlay. GOP Chairwoman already leaned in on twitter last night about masking kids under 12. I think this is going to be hardest in those districts closer to a 50/50 Dem split.
What kinds of things could happen? Protests over mask requirements. Refusal to submit to regular testing. Massive protests when schools shut down to exposure. MAGA kids taunting kids who wear masks. MAGA kids protesting teaching of race in classrooms. Vaccine/mask refusniks. My guess is there is organizing going on right now on the right to radicalize MAGA high school students themselves to carry out some of this work. We could also see similar fights on college campuses, particularly in public universities. And we could see the counter too – vaccinated parents demanding all kids get vaccinated to be in school. We also already know some teachers are not willing to return to classrooms with unvaxxed kids. Could go on……..
The bottom line is the ugly politics of COVID/MAGA are not behind us, and this could be a rough fall for many.
Happy to discuss more at your convenience."