Newsmax host rages Dems only win because public schools ‘dumb down’ kids

Newsmax host Chris Salcedo took aim at public education Thursday in a rant about his preference for school choice, arguing that public schools and their “indoctrination and dumbing down” of students were “the only reason” why Democrats win any elections.

“(President Donald) Trump backed school choice in education freedom because he knows the only reason anti-American, violent and totalitarian Democrats continue to get elected is because of the indoctrination and dumbing down of our children in gov-ed,” Salcedo said Thursday, speaking on Newsmax’s "The Chris Salcedo Show."

Specifically, Salcedo was praising Trump for his recent endorsements of Texas lawmakers who backed the state’s $1 billion school choice program, among the largest in the nation.

A top priority in recent years for Republicans, school choice programs allow for states to divert funds earmarked for public schools toward private schools, religious schools, and other public school alternatives through things like school vouchers or Education Savings Accounts.

Supporters of school choice argue it empowers parents with more options and doesn’t harm public school budgets, since funding would ideally decrease in proportion to declining student enrollment.

The issue, data has shown, is that a vast majority of school choice program participants are parents with children already in private schools or public school alternatives, essentially making the programs a “coupon for the wealthy,” as described by Texas Democratic State Rep. Chris Turner, at the expense of public school dollars.

In Arizona, for instance, around 75% of participants in the state’s school choice program two weeks in were parents with children that had no record of public school enrollment, and in Florida, about 69% of the 122,000 early applicants to the state’s school choice program were already enrolled in private school.

Nevertheless, Salcedo could not hide his disdain for the public school system, which he continued to label as “failed.”

“President Trump has promised to prioritize parents and kids, doing all he can to rescue our children and this nation's future from the failed gov-ed system,” he said.

Watch the video below or use this link.