Democrats are starting to fight back against the bludgeoning they've taken since the Republicans seized on socially charged issues to help win this fall's midterms.
Why it matters: Recent research has shown the barrage of "culture war" messaging — on everything from critical race theory to bashing LGBTQ communities — is working, and Democrats now realize they can't ignore it any longer. They want to make 2022 a referendum on MAGA nation and its agenda.
- President Biden himself got more aggressive while traveling to Ohio last Wednesday to honor 2022's Teacher of the Year: a history instructor who teaches courses about oppression and Black history.
- "Today, there are too many politicians trying to score political points trying to ban books — even math books. I mean, did you ever think ... that when you'd be teaching, you'd be worrying about book burnings and banning books? All because it doesn't fit somebody's political agenda," the president said.
- "We ought to stop making them a target of the culture wars."
The American Federation of Teachers — along with 214 other parent groups, student groups, and unions — is also placing ads in more than a dozen newspapers, including the New York Times, across 13 key states this week to coincide with Teacher Appreciation Week, Axios has learned....
- “We’re saying we are grateful, your work matters and you need support to help our kids recover — not attacks from political extremists who make your job harder," AFT president Randi Weingarten told Axios.
- Fox News has talked about what's being taught in schools over 1,000 times since January 2021, per the Washington Post.