Anthony Leonardi of the Washington Free Beacon reports one high-profile Texas senator‘s reaction to the New York Times‘ dubious 1619 Project.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz defended President Trump’s decision to eliminate “propaganda” from public schools.
Cruz criticized 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones, who said Trump’s pledge to redirect funds away from public schools that teach the project was an example of “cancel culture.” The Texas Republican fired back, calling it Marxist propaganda.
“Calling out lies is not silence. NYT explicitly admits the 1619 project is revisionist history: ‘It aims to reframe our country’s history.’ It is filled with serious errors — which have been called out by top historians — but the NYT doesn’t care. You’re not after truth. You’re engaged in propaganda,” Cruz tweeted.
The project was selected for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for commentary but was widely criticized by historians as containing inaccuracies, including the assertion that the Revolutionary War was an effort by colonists to preserve slavery rather than declare independence from the British monarchy.
“Why should the false revisionist history not be used as the basis of K-12 education across the nation? Not because of ‘cancel culture,’ which you support. But because it wrong & deliberately deceptive,” Cruz continued, adding that academic work should aspire to accuracy and withstand scrutiny.
“So, no, I don’t want to ‘cancel’ the NYT. I want y’all to stop behaving like Marxist propagandists, stop peddling falsehoods to children, and behave instead like real journalists.”
Trump’s move followed White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announcing on Friday that the president ordered him to ensure federal agencies no longer taught or conducted training on “critical race theory,” an academic theory criticized for a variety of reasons by scholars, including its rejection of classical liberal thought.
“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 announcement said.
