Welcome to the Tweep Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette. Hey, girl.
And you are tuned in to Tweep Trends. It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Today I want to talk about Glenn Yunken. Let's get started.
This past Saturday in Richmond, Virginia, businessman Glenn Yunken was sworn in as the 74th governor of the state of Virginia. He's the first Republican to hold the office in nearly a decade. Now, the reason I want to talk about him is because shortly after the inauguration, he signed several executive orders. And to me, some of them are a little bit disturbing.
Now, to be honest though, his campaign was disturbing to me. It seems as if businessmen who want to then switch over to politics, what they do to try to get people to rally behind them is to be experts in fear mongering. Yep, I said it and I'm not taking it back. He is a fear monger.
He was fear mongering throughout his campaign. Why do I say that? I've got receipts. He, as a matter of fact, me back up, one of the first executive orders that he signed after being inaugurated, was one that he calls divisive concepts, including critical race theory.
We all know that was the big talk around the country and still is. So what he's saying is that this is a ban from having any of these divisive concepts included in teacher diversity trainings, as well as all guidelines, websites, best practices, and other materials that are produced by Virginia's Department of Education. And on top of that, he ordered a review of school curriculum for critical race theory related content. He ran on this.
This was one of his main points. But if anyone had done their homework during the campaign season or even before it started, they would have known, found out, understood that critical race theory does not appear in Virginia's K through 12 curricula. What did he do? He put the fear of critical race theory in people's hearts, in their minds, and therefore they came out in droves in these rural areas to vote for him.
Not a fan of that. And I guess the thing that I'm having trouble understanding here, as well, these divisive concepts, to me, that's very vague, because we're talking about teacher diversity training. Well, if we think about the diversity in classrooms and how we have to be mindful of where the students are coming from, what their backgrounds are, and how to then reach them, I don't understand. I don't understand what these divisive concepts are.
So needless to say, I'm going to have my ear to the ground listening to hear what types of shenanigans he's going to have going on while he is in office. So let's see, what other stuff? There's the other thing. This one bothers me because I'm a parent.
I have a child in grade school. And he signed an order to end a mask mandate for public schools. And on top of that, scrapped a vaccine or weekly testing mandate for state employees who this order had been put in place by the previous governor, Ralph Northam. Now, the problem that I have with a businessman making decisions on stuff related to health is that he has no understanding of this type of thing.
How can I say that because he's a businessman? He's not a doctor. Whereas former governor Ralph Northam, he is a doctor. Now, you may be wondering still, like, why in the world are you so upset about this?
And it kind of goes back to the inauguration in little clips and pieces from what he said. Like, one of the things was, no matter who you voted for, I pledge to be your advocate, your voice, your governor. Politics would become too toxic. Soundbikes ever play solutions.
All of these different things, removing politics from the classroom. But then as a politician, you're jumping into the classroom. You're going in there and trying to make changes so that the parents don't have the voice, the juice claim, that you want them to have. He was saying that he wants parents to be able to have a say in what is taught in schools.
And yet, here you go, saying, but this can't be taught. But this can't be taught. Is that not political? And then on top of that, there's the first black woman, Lieutenant Governor, Winsam, what's her last name?
Winsam, Winsam, Winsam, Winsam Sears. The two of them together have been on this former president, 45, tip, with claiming that equity programs and schools that are designed to address systemic racism are actually pitting students against each other and painting an overly pessimistic portrait of United States history. And I struggle with this concept. I struggle with the idea that they're basically misrepresenting the reality of what goes on in the classroom, especially here in Virginia.
They've made it seem like critical race theory was a thing. And that issue does not exist. So it's things like that where I guess maybe my issue isn't so much with him. It's with the people that rally behind him.
And it's like, did you actually do your homework? Did you bother to read? Did you bother to figure anything out prior to coming to the conclusion that he is the guy? So like I said, I'm all in my feelings, all kind of ways upside down backwards forwards.
And like I said before, I'm going to be keeping my ear to the ground to hear what is going on, what's going down, and figure out what way I can try to affect change. All right. Well, that was today's episode of Tweet Trends. Thank you for joining me and listening to me as I stomp up and down on my soapbox.
I think I'm a little bit better now. And I think I'm ready to listen and see what I can do to have my voice heard in this new government leadership that we have. Do me a favor, check me out. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook at hey, event.
That's at a y, e, v, e, t, t, e, or just look at the hashtag tweet trends. Do me a favor, share the information with a friend. If you have any friends in Virginia, I would love to know what their thoughts are as well. Or let me hear what's going on in your state.
All right. Take care. And I will be in touch.