Election lies coming to a North Carolina school near you

You know, there are times when I start to write a new column, that I feel just like Mafia gangster Michael Corleone in “Godfather III.”

 I truly don’t want to mention the name “Trump” even once when I scribe my weekly opinion, but the harder I try not to do so, the most likely something happens concerning him that I just can’t ignore.

 What’s that famous Al Pacino line from the movie? “Just when I thought I was out, they PULL me back in!”

 Yep, this is one of those times.

 As I’m writing this, I’m in New Haven, Connecticut for my youngest daughter’s graduation from Yale University. She’s worked hard these past four years for her BA, and has earned every accolade and honor coming to her. So her mother and I are extremely proud of her accomplishments.

 Suffice it to say, given my purpose for being here, education is very much on my mind right now, and how important it always has been for inspired young people to achieve a good one as they continue through life.

 So when, in the midst of my trip, I read that the Oklahoma state school superintendent is mandating that beginning next school year, all students there, K through 12, will study conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, I was floored.

 To be clear, state Supt. Ryan Walters is not pushing for Oklahoma students to learn about the big controversy concerning the 2020 presidential election that was quickly disproven, and why. A purely analytical social studies exercise would be too much to ask for!

 No, Walters, a devout MAGA follower, wants all public school students in his state to be taught, and ultimately believe as fact, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump by Joe Biden and the Democrats. And that Trump did not lose that election.

 Apparently, this is all part of conservative Walters’ continuing campaign to wipe all “wokeness.” off the face of the planet.

 Or at least wipe the part of the planet’s face that Oklahoma occupys.

 “The left has been pushing left-wing indoctrination in the classroom,” Supt. Walters told the Associated Press. “We’re moving it back to actually understanding history ... and I’m unapologetic about that.”

 Lord, please give me strength!

 Further quoting from that alarming AP story about this foolishness:“The previous standard for studying the 2020 election merely said, “Examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome.” The new version is more expansive: “Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

 For the record - and honest election observers, legal experts and court judges have been through all this stuff since the Biden-Trump 2020 contest ended years ago - there is absolutely NO credible evidence of any malfeasance connected with that election.

Especially by Biden and the Democrats.

But that didn’t stop Trump from claiming so, even to this day, because the man simply can’t stand ever to be called a loser. The only way, according to mythology, that Trump can lose anything is if it were  “stolen” from him, as he has repeatedly reminded us. 

 Apparently, Supt. Walters is a true believer in that fairy tale…so much so that he wants to literally indoctrinate the children of Oklahoma with what ultimately amounts to a bald face lie about history.

 The political word for this crap is "propaganda," but when it comes from Trump, it has a cheaper, darker, more sinister tone to it. Sinister because we know what King Trump is up to in his quest to rule everything that exists. Very sinister because I suspect that Ryan Walters is just the first of many MAGA elected officials across the country who will also try to pull the same stunt of indoctrinating children with the same false belief that their supreme leader was ripped off in 2020.

 This is all part of the Project 2025 playbook. Kill programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion; rewrite history every place you can so that you have a firm grip on the next generation of young minds (I think they call that brainwashing); and finally, promote the legacy of Donald J. Trump in every way you can, over all else.

 That’s why scrubbing the history books of Joe Biden’s decisive 2020 victory over Trump is so vitally important to these folks

Charming!

 And it’s also why l fully expect the Cracker Jack Republican retro-minds we have in our state legislature to attempt to pull the same stunt here. All they have to do is pass a law mandating that that lie be taught as fact from now on in North Carolina public schools .

 Trust me, this is in the cards. Any political party that would pull the Jefferson Griffin stunt, followed by grabbing control of the state Board of Elections from the governor, is belly low enough to attempt this foolishness.

 If anything, Republicans here are just waiting to see how the lawsuit against what Supt. Walters is doing in Oklahoma turns out. But once that’s settled, you can bet your bottom-dollar…assuming Trump’s tariff-inspired inflation leaves you any dollar - top or bottom- at all to bet, that we’ll see it here in the Old North State.

 And if that happens, it will be another descent into the sad, sad, world of right-wing MAGA madness we all have to suffer through.

 Election lies soon coming to a North Carolina school near you!

 Gee, where is Michael Corleone when you need him most?