“62 million Americans voting for a president who tells people to drink bleach might be the best argument I have ever heard to fund public education more.”
—Tweet by David Hogg. [I don’t know who he is, either, but it’s hard to argue with his observation.]
Louisiana Voice 
Trump went to private schools – well, the best schools & you see how he turned out. Fund public education, because private didn’t teach our president – except to teach him how to pay his way out of trouble.
It was almost 63 million, but the count didn’t ultimately matter since he won in the EC. IF that same number of people vote for him this year, we will at least have compelling evidence his support base either learned little during this administration, or applaud his actions. In either case, and despite the desperate need for better education, I don’t think it would help or hinder his approval. As a guy from another country, butchering an American idiom (but making it better) once told me, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him think.”
And let’s not forget Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education under Trump, who has spent over three years doing harm to public education and pushing for the privatization of schools (a la Piyush Jindal). She was barely confirmed (Pence broke the tie), has no background in education, and has tried to slash the education budget as much as $9 billion. Her list of regressive actions is long. She has 24 hour armed security expected to cost taxpayers $26 billion by the end of her term. And on and on. Another Trump incompetent loyalist.
Make that $26 million, not billion.
Yes. How any person can watch and hear her and think Trump is “draining the swamp,” demonstrates how greatly he/she was brainwashed and how poorly one was taught critical thinking skills. It is so disheartening.
By “her” I meant Secretary of Education Devos.
I believe David Hogg is one of the StonemanDouglass H.S. survivors now active in gun control advocacy.
Denaryd: You are correct. David Hogg is one of the brave and wise young people that survived that horrific mass shooting and told this Trump Administration and GOP NRAers that they were full of BS! Remember?
You and others below are correct. I apologize for not recognizing his name immediately. David Hogg is a true patriot—unlike some of the people we’ve sent to Washington who like to pay hollow lip service to democracy—like Clay Higgins, Donald Trump, David Nunes, Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham and Moscow Mitch.
David Hogg is the Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor who became the face of the protest against inaction by adults that allows mass shooting massacres to take place at schools and elsewhere. He was a senior at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas HS on Feb. 14, 2018 when his school was attacked and 17 people were slaughtered. He rallied in his community and others around the country joined in holding A March for Our Lives, including a march in Baton Rouge that was well attended (I was privileged to have helped the young organizers with publicity). David is all of 20 years old now. While we all have a vested interest in the success and efficacy (not to mention safety) of public education, few of us are actually doing anything to improve it and ensure that the less advantaged receive opportunities for education adequate to prepare them for post secondary and career options. David Hogg is a force to be reckoned with. His words have meaning – and impact.
Correct earthmother on all points
I hate to be negative, but I am afraid that no teacher, even teaching critical thinking skills, can overcome parents passing their brainwashing on to their kids: don’t believe anything unless your hear it from conservative sources, don’t believe government statistics, etcetera.
That is the most frustrating and concerning issue of our times. We have identified the issue as brainwashing by the conservative media, but have yet to hear of any way to fix it in our free press democracy.
David Hogg is a Parkland high school survivor and became a leader in their effort to turn out the vote in 2018.