Trump

Trump Ends Radical Indoctrination, Promotes Education Freedom

President Donald J. Trump signed two significant education-related executive orders on January 29. The first aims to increase educational freedom for families, while the second is designed to stop the indoctrination of children into “radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”

The Executive Order Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families directs the Department of Education to “issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives,” and it directs the DOE to prioritize education freedom “in discretionary grant programs.”

The directive explains the need for greater freedom for parents to improve their children’s academic success and provide “the best education for their children”:  

Too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school.

According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math.

When only 30% of students are mastering basic subjects like reading and math, something is desperately wrong.

The order goes on to state that when schools fail to educate students, “It hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities.”

The executive order provides more momentum for the growing educational freedom movement. The goals of this movement include giving teachers and schools freedom to innovate, encouraging school transparency, holding schools accountable for educational outcomes, safeguarding parental rights in education, and expanding school choice.

School choice is a vital aspect of educational freedom, offering parents a variety of options for how and where to educate their children. Options include traditional public schools, magnet schools, homeschooling opportunities, charter schools, online learning, private schools and hybrid models, which combine several alternatives.

States that support parents’ rights in education provide funding for these choices through different means, such as scholarships, vouchers, educational savings accounts, tax credits and tax deductions. The best option for parents is when states allow funds to follow students to their schooling choice.

While the federal government doesn’t control state legislatures or boards of education, which set policies, regulations and guidelines in each state, it does provide education dollars to states through a variety of programs. States can’t be forced to increase educational freedom, but the order offers incentives to improve educational freedom through funding from different federal departments.

The second order, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, first explains some of the activist ideologies that have swept across our educational system and why they are damaging. The order states that parents entrust their children to schools to provide them “with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.”

Instead, the directive explains, “Parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.”

The order indicts false, immoral and divisive ideologies like critical race theory and gender ideology, explaining their effect on students:

In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.

These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.

The order goes on to direct several agencies to collaborate with the attorney general to develop a strategy to end “federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.”   

In addition, federal agencies must monitor schools that receive federal monies, ensuring that they hold an annual educational program, teach students about the U.S. Constitution on September 17, Constitution Day.

Finally, the executive order reestablishes the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which Trump launched in September 2020, appointing Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry P. Arnn to serve as chairman.

One goal for the revived commission is to promote patriotic education, while a second is “to advise and promote the work of the White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday (“Task Force 250”) and the United States Semiquincentennial Commission.”

Related articles and resources:

Focus on the Family’s free parenting resource Equipping Parents for Back to School explains issues like educational freedom, parental rights in education, and religious freedom and free speech in schools. It’s a terrific resource for parents who want to advocate for their children and guide them toward academic success.

Department of Education Blew $1 Billion on DEI – Here’s Why It Matters

Focus on the Family: Putting Children First in Education

Focus on the Family Parenting: Thriving Student

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Protect Parental Rights: ‘Parents Know Their Children Best’

Monique Duson: Responding to Critical Race Theory with Grace and Truth

The National Education Association Wants to Indoctrinate Children Across the Country

President Trump Ends Radical DEI Programs, Fires All DEI Personnel

President Trump Signs Order Protecting Children From Transgender Medical Interventions

Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’

Trump’s Promise to Shutter Dept of Education Could End Woke Agenda in Schools

What’s Happening in Schools? Why We Need Educational Freedom

Image from Getty.

Trump Signs Executive Order Limiting Taxpayer Funds for Abortion

Shortly after addressing last Friday’s March for Life via video, President Donald J. Trump signed  an executive order enforcing the Hyde Amendment and a presidential memorandum reinstating the Mexico City Policy, both of which limit taxpayer funding for abortion.

The Hyde Amendment was passed in 1976, forbidding any federal funding for abortion. It was later amended to include exceptions to save the life of the mother and to allow for cases of incest and rape.

The Mexico City policy prohibits funds from federal departments going to organizations or programs that perform or promote abortions. The policy was first enacted by in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan.

In his video address last Friday, the President thanked marchers “for turning out once again to show your extraordinary love and compassion for the unborn.”

He added, “To all of the very special people marching today in this bitter cold, I know your hearts are warm and your spirits are strong because your mission is just very, very pure: to forge a society that welcomes and protects every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our Creator.”

The executive order Enforcing the Hyde Amendment states, “For nearly five decades, the Congress has annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice.”

It explains that the previous administration “disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.” The order revoked Biden administration executive orders that violated the Hyde Amendment.

Then, the executive order says, “It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”

The executive memorandum reinstating the Mexico City policy states:

I direct the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the extent allowable by law, to implement a plan to extend the requirements of the reinstated Memorandum to global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies.

I further direct the Secretary of State to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.

A White House fact sheet about the executive order and the memorandum explained the significance of these two policies, saying, “Federal overreach and taxpayer dollars will no longer force violations of faith and conscience or impede the ability of states to determine life policies through a vote of the people.”

Pro-life groups praised the president’s actions. Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erin Hawley said in a press release:

Every innocent life deserves to be protected. Ensuring that taxpayer dollars don’t pay for abortions has saved lives, and it’s a policy that continues to receive bipartisan support from a majority of Americans. Government-compelled participation in abortion has no place in our country. American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund abortions or to export and promote them abroad.

Religious freedom legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel also applauded the actions. Founder and Chairman Matt Staver stated, “Through these pro-life executive actions, President Trump is protecting the most vulnerable and returning the federal government to the side of pro-life.”

Every child is made in God’s image and precious. The Daily Citizen is grateful that federal funds will no longer be used to pay for abortions at home or abroad.

Related articles and resources:

House Passes Born-Alive Bill to Protect Babies Who Survive Abortions  

New Poll: 67% of Americans Support Limits on Abortion

Thank you, Jeanne Mancini

Trump, Vance, Other Republican Leaders All Speak at March for Life

VP Vance Addresses March for Life: ‘Every Child is a Gift From God’ WATCH: Teens Sing Hymn to Babies Lost From Abortion at Illinois State Capitol

Image from Shutterstock.

Trump Executive Orders Target Illegal Immigration, Troops Sent to Border

In President Donald Trump’s inaugural address, he announced he would “sign a series of historic executive orders,” adding, “With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense.”

The newly inaugurated president listed the Southern Border as his top priority, saying, “First, I will declare a national emergency at our Southern Border.” Then he listed some actions he would take, including halting all illegal entry into the country, ending “the practice of catch and release,” and sending “troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”

The president made good on this promise, signing a flurry of executive orders related to illegal immigration and sending more troops to the border.

It’s difficult to get a solid count on how many people have entered the country illegally, but the House Committee on Homeland Security released a factsheet, “Startling Stats,” that details U.S. Customs and Border Protection border encounters with undocumented immigrants. The agency reported 3 million encounters from 2017-2020 and 10.8 million from 2021-2024.

Those numbers don’t include those who may cross the border without encountering an agent. The factsheet adds:

  • Roughly 2 million known gotaways have evaded Border Patrol agents since FY 2021.
  • Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows that, as of July 21, 2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens were currently on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket (NDD) and roaming free in the interior.
  • Since FY2021, 9,055 pounds of fentanyl were seized between ports of entry by Border Patrol, compared to just 1,604 pounds from FY2017-FY2020.

As far as how many illegal aliens actually live in the U.S., the Center for Migration Studies recently stated, “The total undocumented population increased to about 11.7 million in July 2023, an increase of about 800,000 compared to the previous July.”

But the actual number may be much larger.

A study from three Yale-affiliated researchers, using a different data set, estimated  “there are 22.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.”

And that was back in 2018. Undoubtedly, given the influx of undocumented aliens over the last six years, the number is higher today.

So President Trump is acting to deal with this issue. First, he signed an executive order rescinding orders and actions from the Biden administration that opened our borders to illegal immigration, such as an order “to address the causes of immigration” and “manage migration throughout North and Central America.”

Then, he issued a slew of executive orders and actions, including:

Of course all illegal aliens aren’t violent, but some are, and safeguarding the border and following immigration laws already in place is a way to protect citizens and reduce harms.

Related articles and resources:

American Immigration System Loses Contact with Tens of Thousands of Migrant Children

The Border Crisis and the Deafening Silence of Women’s Groups

Burgeoning Border Crisis Spirals Out of Control, Officials Fear ‘Mass Migration Event’

Familial DNA Testing on the Southern Border Shouldn’t Have Ended

Fentanyl Overdoses Rise, Connection to Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigrant Arrested in Murder of Maryland Mom

Illegal Immigrant to Appear in Court for Death of Texas Teen, Illustrates Violent Trend

It’s Compassionate to Oppose Illegal Immigration. Here’s Why.

Laken Riley Murdered After Killer Took Taxpayer-Funded Flight

Laken Riley Act Passes Senate

Talking to Your Kids About Illegal Immigration

U.S. Border Patrol Encounters 239,416 Illegal Immigrants in May, Highest in U.S. History

Violent Gang Takes Advantage of American Immigration Policy

Here’s What Donald Trump’s Reelection Means

Your country, your convictions and your ability to live – unapologetically – by common sense and biological facts, have been given back to you this week. Actually, you took them back, through your vote, your conviction and our democracy.

It is vitally important we all fully appreciate just what this election and inauguration means for our lives, our nation, our children and the truth. Redemption does not come through elections, but renewal can be expressed through them. It is why we fight so dearly for the freedoms we possess as Americans.

After a peaceful transfer of power, cemented by a decisive national election, President Trump got very busy signing a stack of very important executive actions and orders. Some undo a great many harms intentionally inflicted upon each of us and our country by the previous administration, driven by some very pernicious ideologies and beliefs.

We must celebrate:

See below:

One executive administration is waving good-bye to another.

It represents the moment our nation shifted, very intentionally, from dangerous nation-destroying ideologies to common-sense and security. That is a hard truth, but it is true. You know it is.

It is the emblematic waving goodbye to the cover-up and manipulation of what so many of us have been seeing clearly with our own eyes, but were told at every turn, in every way, to ignore it. We were told we were wrong. Not only wrong, but bad. Very bad.

We were called xenophobes, racists, bigots, fascists, homophobes, transphobes, hateful, Nazi-sympathizers, responsible for young people taking their own lives because we “denied” them their newly adopted sexual or gender identity.

These regular accusations left a deep mark on all of us, in our psyche and our soul. Sometimes they came from our own children and family members.

So, what does this week, and the changes it has brought, mean for all of us?

  • Now is the time to once again start living in unapologetic confidence in truth and reality.
  • None of us should ever allow ourselves to be bullied or apologetic for believing male and female are true, biological qualities, the only two options for being human.
  • None of us should ever be pressured into thinking or acting as if “trans” is what some people are.
  • We should no longer give any respect nor credibility to gender ideology, preferred pronouns, and coded language which demand allegiance to things we all know are false.
  • We should never feel shame or apologize for believing in a biblical sexual ethic or in natural marriage as the foundation of the family.
  • We should never feel ashamed for the color of our skin, being bullied into thinking it makes us categorically culpable for serious sins of the past. We are now to be judged on our personal character and our actual treatment of our neighbors and fellow citizens.
  • We should no longer tolerate being tarred as hateful, racist or uncaring because we desire a secure border and a working, legal immigration system.
  • None of us should ever be bullied for our deepest convictions just because some authority tells us it’s mis- or disinformation. We are no longer subject to this kind of manipulation by government or media.
  • We should never apologize for being thankful patriots of this exceptional country.
  • None of us should be persuaded to doubt what we clearly see with our own two eyes.

We are now, as a people and a nation, are done with all of this untruth and manipulation.

We have collectively thrown off its shackles and put our ideological enslavers on notice. This fact is actually the substance of the great feeling of relief so many of us collectively feel, now that this fog of deception and oppression has been cast off.

Some of feel uncomfortable admitting this because our new president is a polarizing figure and we don’t want, as people, to be polarizing. But this feeling of freedom and relief exists because of something bigger happening.

It has two parts.

First, it is the genuine result of so many of us collectively realizing that we have been lied to about so many things that we knew were true. Day in and day out, we were systematically manipulated. By our leaders, by media professionals, by authorities. That is not an accusation. It is a fact.

Slowly, we came to realize we are’t crazy nor malicious for believing there are only two sexes; compassion means secure borders; our convictions are not misinformation; personal character and merit are more important than diversity and inclusion; patriotism is not xenophobic. We were aggressively pressured to not question multiple narratives that we knew to be false and destructive in so many ways.

Second, many Americans realized they were not alone in feeling manipulated and denigrated. They came to see and realize that millions of their fellow Americans – of various political stripes and backgrounds – were also tired of manipulated and being lied to.

They gained tremendous strength from this realization and a movement started.

It was a movement to take back our nation from falsehoods and accusations, to tear down strongholds carefully crafted and brutally enforced. Plenty lost their jobs and reputations for resisting. Many have not yet recovered. But we formed a movement to become, once again, the people we know we must be. The people we were created to be.

These are people who love our God, the truth, humanity and common sense and our nation; its leadership role of hope, prosperity and safety in the world – a city on a hill.

These two men and two women, two young and two old, two foreign and two native, are happily waving adios and hello to significant things. We all know in our hearts, from our own experiences, what those are.

We must joyously wave goodbye and hello as well.

Our job now is to fully recognize and walk in this new freedom and realization. It has been hard fought for. It brings so many of us together and sets us on a hopeful path toward a new future.

Let us continue to strongly and unapologetically resist the manipulations that have been systematically cast upon us, and live under the truth and light of what we know to be right and good.

A better, brighter more peaceful and truthful tomorrow awaits us all if we do.

Carrie Underwood, Donald Trump and a Grace Note on a Historic Day

It’s an old idiom that speech is silver and silence is golden, but not usually for a singer charged with performing before a global audience of countless millions.

Standing in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol yesterday for the 60th inaugural festivities, singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood stepped up to perform “America the Beautiful” following President Donald Trump’s address.

One major problem: the accompaniment never started. 

A technical issue prevented the music from beginning on cue, though a distant strain of it kicked in for a very brief moment before cutting out and never starting again.

Ever the professional, Carrie Underwood waited patiently, smiling and nodding, ready to begin singing just as soon as the music began.

But it never did.

“I can just sing it,” she gracefully told a technician who had come forward to confer with the Country superstar.

By “sing it” she meant a capella.

“You know the words, help me out here,” she then told those gathered before beginning in perfect pitch.

Everyone sang along.

Prior to Monday’s ceremony, Underwood had been criticized for accepting the invitation. “The View’s” Joy Behar accused the singer of normalizing President Trump by showing up to be part of the even. But Underwood was unapologetic, pointing to the unique nature of the moment.

“I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,” she wrote in a statement. “I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.”

Indeed, during President Trump’s inaugural address, the 47th commander-in-chief said, “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be. A peacemaker and a unifier.”

In an especially poignant section of his message, President Trump declared:

Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization. So as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights of victory and success. We will not be deterred. Together, we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease free.
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.
And it’s the lifeblood of a great nation. And, right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other. There’s no nation like our nation. Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth. No one comes close.
Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness. They crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted millions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand. If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.

As a child in Checotah, Oklahoma, Carrie Underwood had her share of big-sized dreams.

“Growing up on a farm with loving parents and our church family defined my values,” Underwood said. “A small town with good people helped form me. I was rooted in something solid before I got to spread my wings.”

A professing Christian, the singer and her husband, former NHL player Mike Fisher, have suggested their faith in Jesus Christ to be the cornerstone of their lives, marriage, and the raising of their children.

Many commentators are suggesting Monday’s technical flub produced one of the more memorable and teachable moments of the Inaugural ceremony.

There will be plenty of times when the metaphorical music doesn’t play in our lives.

We can gripe, groan and grouse.

Or we can just sing – and invite others to join us.

Well done, Carrie Underwood.

Image from Getty.