The movement against critical race theory helped hand Republicans resounding victories all over the country on Tuesday, especially in Virginia. The rejection by voters of this toxic racialist ideology has left Democrats bewildered that a plurality of people don’t think we live in a racist dystopia that makes it impossible for nonwhite people to succeed.
And it is important to remember one of the pioneers fighting against this ideology was former President Donald Trump. He was called a racist for it, but he persisted, and he was correct to do so.
Last September, Trump ordered Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget at the time, to “stop funding training on critical race theory for federal employees” and labeled critical race theory a “propaganda effort.” NBC News covered this in May with an article appropriately titled, “How Trump ignited the fight over critical race theory in schools.”
It was the parents, activists, journalists, and voters who did the hard work afterward — this goes without question. However, it was Trump who brought the issue to light. Trump denounced this racialist belief system long before it was popular — even to the chagrin of many Republicans at the time.
Vought’s memo stated:
The President has directed me to ensure that Federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions.
The controversy over Virginia schools using this postmodern racial essentialism to train teachers and form curricula for children shows how Trumpism is effective at winning elections. Even when Republicans shied away from vigorously attacking cultural issues, Trump did not. This was a large part of the reason Trump became the Republican nominee and then president in the first place.
So don’t be too quick to dismiss Trump or Trumpism as a major factor in Tuesday’s elections. Whatever your personal opinion of him is, he deserves credit for his early involvement in fighting critical race theory.
