CSPAN - Washington Journal Open Phones
Aired: 2025-09-02
Duration: 08:58


=== Why Donald Trump Released Epstein? (08:04) ===

[00:00:00]  And Democrat, good morning, Jim.
[00:00:03]  Hi, this question is about Epstein.
[00:00:06]  I'd like to know if there's any MAGA Z out there that could call in and explain to me why Donald Trump, a good friend of Epstein, why he would turn her loose from maximum security prison and put her into a club, club bed, they call it.
[00:00:25]  Basically, like a just little getaway camp for why would Donald Trump do that?
[00:00:31]  And don't say Pam Bondi was responsible for this because Pam Bondi does whatever Donald Trump wants her to do.
[00:00:38]  So please, MAGA, call in.
[00:00:40]  Let me know, because I'm a little bit confused here.
[00:00:43]  Why would Trump do that?
[00:00:44]  Thank you.
[00:00:47]  Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
[00:00:48]  We'll start with a Hill article, and this is the headline.
[00:00:53]  Public schools in a bind amid enrollment declines.
[00:00:57]  It says that K through 12 enrollment is on the decline between a combination of dropping birth rates and more school choice options, putting schools in a bind.
[00:01:09]  It says the public school system is expected to see a drop of millions of students over the next five years, a hit that will affect schools financially and potentially lead to the closure of more districts.
[00:01:21]  Ways to combat this phenomenon are limited, as experts say schools will have to look at scaling down operations or competing with other educational institutions.
[00:01:32]  And let's take a look at the poll results that I mentioned.
[00:01:36]  This is the PDK poll.
[00:01:40]  They take a poll every year.
[00:01:42]  This is their 57th annual poll.
[00:01:44]  That's been since 1969.
[00:01:46]  Let's take a look at Americans who give public schools an A or a B grade.
[00:01:53]  So when asked about their local schools, they rate those as 43%.
[00:02:02]  Now, it was in 2013 that that number went to its highest level, which was 53% for their local schools.
[00:02:10]  When asked about public schools nationally, how they would grade those, only 13% gave a grade of an A or a B, and that is the lowest number since the poll's history.
[00:02:26]  Another question they asked was about public funding for private or religious schools.
[00:02:34]  So here's what the question was.
[00:02:37]  They said, if you were offered public funds to cover at least a portion of the cost to send your child to a private or religious school instead, do you think you would keep them in public school or would send them to a private or religious schools?
[00:02:53]  So overall, the number said 59% that they would send to private or a religious school if part of that, at least part of that money was paid for by the government.
[00:03:07]  Let's see broken down by party and its independents that were the highest number.
[00:03:13]  That was at 84%.
[00:03:16]  71% Republicans said that they would send their kids to private or religious schools and 47% of Democrats.
[00:03:26]  Let's take a look at what President Trump said in a cabinet meeting about education and his administration's policy.
[00:03:35]  So we're bringing education back to the states, to put it in a more simple fashion.
[00:03:41]  We're going to let the states educate our children again.
[00:03:45]  And you know, we're rated out of 40 countries with 38, 39, or 40.
[00:03:52]  So obviously, it's not working what they've been doing for the last 30, 40 years.
[00:03:57]  And if you go back, the best are like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, some of the other Finland.
[00:04:07]  They're very highly rated.
[00:04:09]  If you go back to just take a look at anything you want to do, you just look at us in the past.
[00:04:15]  If we gave Iowa or gave Indiana or gave, and I don't say every one of them, you know, a guy like Gavin Newscomb is not going to do well.
[00:04:26]  Certain states won't do well.
[00:04:28]  But even California, you cut it up into sections.
[00:04:30]  You have Riverside, you have this, you have that.
[00:04:33]  You cut it into five sections.
[00:04:35]  And, you know, if you had a good governor, you'd be able to do well.
[00:04:38]  But certain states will be able to compete with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and everyone.
[00:04:44]  It'll be just as good.
[00:04:46]  So I figure you have close to 40 of those states.
[00:04:50]  And then you have 10.
[00:04:52]  You have five that won't be very good.
[00:04:53]  You have five disasters.
[00:04:55]  And we'll have to work on those disasters.
[00:04:57]  But for the most part, we will have education that will go zooming up in those charts just like we have in everything else we've done.
[00:05:05]  And I think it's one of the most important things we're doing at this table.
[00:05:09]  Getting your thoughts on your confidence level in America's public schools.
[00:05:14]  And we'll start with James, who's a Republican in Kataning, Pennsylvania.
[00:05:19]  Good morning, James.
[00:05:21]  Yes.
[00:05:22]  I just don't have much faith in the public schools or very little.
[00:05:32]  It seems that my life is an example of public schools.
[00:05:43]  There's no accountability.
[00:05:48]  Children are left on their own.
[00:05:51]  I mean, the schools need parents to be involved.
[00:05:58]  And I never had that.
[00:06:01]  And, well, that's all I'm going to say.
[00:06:08]  But we need the alternative of vouchers or people being able to choose their schools because there's no competition to a huge degree if you're at a bad school.
[00:06:26]  All right, James.
[00:06:27]  Here's Arthur in Florida, also a Republican.
[00:06:30]  Good morning, Arthur.
[00:06:32]  Yes, ma'am.
[00:06:35]  Basically, I don't have that much confidence in the public schools.
[00:06:41]  Part of the reason being that we have kicked God out of the public schools.
[00:06:47]  And also, it's almost like the parents are being told, you don't have anything to say about what we're doing.
[00:06:55]  So right there, that hurts any faith in the public school system.
[00:07:02]  And by the way, when my daddy went to school, this was a little one-room school up in the mountains.
[00:07:12]  They didn't have all that money for everything, but they taught them the basics of free R's, taught them morals, taught them to be good citizens.
[00:07:24]  I mean, now I don't know what they're teaching in the schools.
[00:07:28]  That's all I've got to say, Bob.
[00:07:31]  The Texas Tribune says that Texas will require public school classrooms to display Ten Commandments under a bill signed by the governor.
[00:07:41]  It says that Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional.

=== Social Sciences Bias (01:08) ===

[00:07:49]  Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.
[00:07:54]  And here is Drew in Chicago, Illinois, Independent.
[00:07:58]  Hi, Drew.
[00:07:59]  Hi.
[00:08:00]  Can you hear me?
[00:08:01]  Yes, I can.
[00:08:04]  Right.
[00:08:04]  So, about the public schools, like, well, I myself am a student, and I go to a public school in Chicago.
[00:08:12]  And just what I've noticed is, I mean, in relation to core subjects, like math and reading and science and stuff like that, usually it's okay in relation to just like it's not, I don't know.
[00:08:30]  The big problem that I really see is in the social sciences, where for me personally, it's like a lot of the time it seems like it's just extremely biased against the United States.
[00:08:44]  It seems like there's constantly this drive to make people kind of hate ourselves and to kind of villainize ourselves.
[00:08:54]  And I think it's having a really bad effect.
[00:08:56]  What grade are you in, Drew?