Trump Begins 2024 Presidential Campaign With Focus on Education

Former President Donald Trump outlined a key issue for his 2024 presidential campaign— to “Save American Education and Give Power Back to Parents”— in a five-minute video posted on the @TrumpWarRoom Twitter account.

The Details: Trump's plan for education starts by cutting “federal funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.” Along with calling for DOJ investigations into potential race-based discrimination in schools and added rules to “keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump wants to create a new “credentialing body that will be the gold standard anywhere in the world to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values.”

For Context: Education has become a core issue for many prominent Republicans in recent years. Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is speculated to be considering challenging Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, passed the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which banned the teaching of critical race theory. Earlier this month, Florida rejected a new AP course titled “AP African-American Studies,” determining it lacked “educational value.”

How The Media Covered It: Trump’s plan for education was moderately covered. Politico categorized Republican politicians’ focus on education as a “culture war” issue that has “animated conservatives.” The Daily Caller determined that education will be a core issue moving forward in Trump’s 2024 campaign, akin to his 2016 campaign’s rallying call to build a wall along the U.S. southern border.