Chris Rufo Demonstrates the Danger of Politicized Education Appointments

What can we do about it?

CW: Transphobic language, coded racism.¹

Now, no one can eat his cake, and have it, too, and it is late in the day to attempt to penalize black people for having created a language that permits the nation its only glimpse of reality, a language without which the nation would be even more whipped than it is.

-James Baldwin, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” (1979)

To get universal school choice, you have to operate from the premise of universal school distrust.

-Chris Rufo, “Laying Siege to the Institutions” (Hillsdale College, 2022)

A few weeks back, I wrote about Oran P. Smith, a “think tank” guy with a history of pushing neo-Confederate narratives and publishing at least one very influential white supremacist.

SC Governor Henry McMaster nominated Smith for appointment to the state Higher Education Commission, along with Mick Zais, South Carolina’s former Superintendent of Education.

Zais’ claim to fame during his tenure in SC was when he rejected $140 million i…