They are coming for the kids episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 27, 2026 · 47 MIN

They are coming for the kids

from On Democracy with FPWellman · host Fred Wellman

Donald Trump promised to get rid of the Department of Education. The far right conservative movement has seen it as an enemy for decades against their mission to dismantle public schools and transfer more money to their private and religious schools. There hasn’t been a despot in history that hasn’t targeted education of their nations youth as the place to start to create lasting power. From Mussolini to Mao, authoritarians want to shape the youth for their own malign ends. This moment is no different from relentless attacks on so-called “DEI” to increasing Christian Nationalism, our public education system is under constant attack. Derek Black is an expert in Constitutional and education who is documenting the attacks on public education and the efforts by Trump and others to undermine this foundation of our nation. He and Fred sit down to discuss Trump’s efforts to eliminate DOE, the limits to which he can go, and how Congress can stop this increasing assault on our future. Derek is an expert on education law and director of the University of South Carolina’s Constitutional Law Center. His most recent book is called DANGEROUS LEARNING (Yale University Press, January 2025) and is available everywhere you get your favorite books.      Sponsor Mack Weldon: Go to MackWeldon.com and get 20% off your first order of $125 or more, with promo code: FRED

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 27, 2026

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They are coming for the kids

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