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Feb. 21, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
31:37
Dismantling DoE - February 20th, Hour 3
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Our toll-free art number is 800 941 Sean.
If you want to be a part of the program, the president said that the Department of Education will be shut down, but that does not mean what it what it really means is there are better, more efficient ways to educate our kids.
It's really that simple.
Now, whether it's vouchers where parents are giving given money directly, and they get to choose what schools they're going to send their kids to.
I guarantee you the schools they're going to want to send their kids to are the schools that are teach reading, writing, math, science, and history, and and put kids in uniforms and have discipline.
And uh I I'm pretty sure those are the schools most parents would pick, or whether it's vouchers letting, you know, state and local officials handle it, although I think there'd be a lot of waste fraud and abuse on the state level, especially in big blue states.
We spend more per capita per child on education than any industrialized country, we have the worst results.
I mean, more than any other country, and we come in like thirty-seventh in in reading and and forty of the math.
It's pathetic.
It is you can't do a worse job, and I believe a lot of it's rooted in this unholy alliance between the teachers' unions and the Democratic Party.
Here's the president calling for the Department of Education to be shut down.
Oh, I'd like it to be closed immediately.
Look, the Department of Education's a big con job.
Uh we're ranked so they ranked the top 40 countries in the world.
We're ranked number 40th, but we're ranked number one in one department costs per pupil.
So we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we're ranked number 40.
We've been between 38 and 40.
The last time I looked, it was 38, and then I looked two days ago, it came out the new list.
It came out at number 40.
So we're ranked 40.
Norway, uh Denmark, Sweden.
I hate to say it, China, as big as it is, it's ranked in the top five.
And uh that's our that's a primary competitor.
We're ranked number 40.
So if we're ranked number 40, that means something's really wrong, right?
Uh yeah, that means something's very raw, especially with the amount of money we're spending.
Nicholas Giordano's with us, campus reform higher education fellow and professor of political science at Suffolk Community College.
That's out in Long Island, New York.
He's the host of the PAS uh report podcast.
Erica Donald's is with us, faculty at the Leadership Institute, CEO of Optimum Ed, and uh the America First Policy Institute, by the way, happens to be married to our friend and a friend of the program, uh Congressman Byron Donalds.
Welcome both of you.
Erica will start with you.
And you know, listen to what the president has said.
I mean to me the ladder to success in life is education.
And we are failing our kids spectacularly, even though we spend more money than any industrialized country.
There's got to be a better way.
I know there are better ways.
We've talked for decades about vouchers uh at block grants to the states.
It never happens.
I think now it's gonna happen.
It is gonna happen, and I believe Donald Trump is gonna be the school choice president.
I was at the White House at his school choice round table just a couple of weeks ago where he expressed support for school choice initiatives at the federal level, including the Education Choice for Children Act, which could show up in reconciliation as you probably know.
But the Department of Education has done nothing to advance academic achievement in this country.
It has wasted untold amounts of money.
We're finding out about a lot of those details now as DEI programs are being exposed and cut, thankfully.
And there are better places uh for things to go in the federal department, such as the Justice Department handling the Office of Civil Rights.
Hopefully we uh move the student loans off to the private sector, not even moving those to treasury, but certainly we want to execute on the president's vision to eliminate the failed department of education and expand school choice across our country to give parents the choices that they deserve for what academic environment is gonna work best for their children.
You know, it's so important what you're saying, and and you're right on every level.
It is amazing that our state of Florida is has the number one is ranked number one in terms of public school education, and it doesn't even have a state income tax.
It is pretty spectacular and a great achievement of Governor DeSantis and Rick Scott before him.
And I'm sure if you if if Byron runs, he would continue that obviously.
Nicholas, let's get your take.
Well, uh in your previous home state of New York, we spend about thirty thousand dollars.
By the way, put the put the key word on previous.
We spend thirty thousand dollars a year to educate a student, and yet we perform twice below the basic proficiency levels uh on the national assessment.
So you see where it goes.
But the Department of Education And by the way, in New York City, it's even more it's thirty-six grand per student.
Correct, going up to thirty-nine thousand per student in the next fiscal year.
But when you look at it, the Department of Education has spent over a billion dollars on diversity equity inclusion over the last couple of years, 200 million of which went to counseling programs for microaggressions, whiteness, white privilege, anti-racism, as student proficiency rates have plummeted.
So it it's the Department of Education has become nothing more than a racket to fund money to left-wing organizations to indoctrinate our children.
And I think that the American people are sick and tired of spending more money than any other country to educate students, and yet we keep on dropping in the proficiency rankings.
And it gets even worse at the higher education level.
A campus form, we've reported how the the government is funding colleges to develop tools, $5.5 million going to University of Wisconsin and a few other colleges to s develop tools to silence and censor Americans.
Enough is enough with the wasting of tax dollars.
We need an education system that actually promotes American values, American exceptionalism, teaches students how to read and write, and getting rid of the Department of Education is just one small piece of fixing the problems that we're seeing.
We need to get rid of the ideologically uh driven curricula.
We need to institute school choice where people aren't held hostage by their zip code and could choose a succeeding school as opposed to the failing school.
And we need to demand accountability, and I think that's the most important thing that this administration is seeking to do, where block grants will flow with student achievement.
If the school's not performing, they should not be receiving more money from the tax doll from the taxpayers, and and if they're teaching anti-Americanism within their schools, well, why are we funding that?
Yeah, I mean, you you raised such a good point, and and Eric, I'll go back to you.
I mean, yeah, the word education, and I went to a seminary in high school and I had to study Latin, although I was never any good at it, and I and I studied theology and I went to mass every day, and it actually ended up being a very good thing in my life.
And the root derivative of education from the Latin means to bring forth from within.
To me, that's predicated on an idea that God put talent in every child on this earth.
And you gotta provide the sunlight, the water to bring that talent out of them, and this is where education is failed.
And I'm not saying that kids shouldn't have to study and memorize, etc., etc.
I am saying that we're not finding their talents, and we're not we're not building those talents and and nurturing those talents so that they turn that into a way to be their best self later in life.
Is that a fair analysis?
Absolutely.
And our schools, our monopoly of public education has been utilitarian for many years.
It is not bringing out the best passions of a child to help them succeed in life.
It's not teaching them cultural literacy to take forward our republic to the next generation.
So it's not achieving even the aims of education in the true sense as you just uh referred to.
We used to say they were test preparation factories, but they're not even doing that anymore, as we've seen in the NAPE scores of the National Report Card, where half of our students are failing, and and only a third are actually reading and doing mathematics on grade level.
So it's failed in every sense of the term.
And Nicholas hit the point.
Every parent needs the opportunity to choose a school that is working best for their child, but more Importantly, that will give rise to a free market that's going to bring new innovation, access, and the type of schools that you and I are looking for for our children and grandchildren out into the marketplace when we eliminate the education monopoly that's currently in place.
All right, quick break, right back.
We'll continue more with Nicholas Giordano and Erica Donald's on the other side as Donald Trump now pledging to eliminate the Department of Education and what does that mean for parents?
What does that mean for states?
How soon do you want the Department of Education to be closed?
Oh, I'd like it to be closed immediately.
Look, the Department of Education's a big conjur.
Uh we're ranked so they ranked the top 40 countries in the world.
We're ranked number 40th, but we're ranked number one in one department costs per pupil.
So we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we're ranked number 40.
We've been between 38 and 40.
The last time I looked, it was 38, and then I looked two days ago, it came out the new list.
It came out at number 40.
So we're ranked 40.
Norway, uh Denmark, Sweden, I hate to say it, China, as big as it is, it's ranked in the top five.
And uh that's our that's a primary competitor.
We're ranked number 40.
So if we're ranked number 40, that means something's really wrong, right?
All right, our final moments with Nicholas Giordano and Erica Donald's as we discuss, you know, the disaster that is the American educational system and President Trump's desire uh to get rid of the Department of Education and block grant money and vouchers to families in states and let local municipalities do a better job with it.
A while back, and and maybe Nicholas, you'll find this interesting.
A while back, I ran into a young person who had a dream and a desire for a certain profession.
I don't I don't want to give too many clues away here.
I don't want them to know I'm talking about them to be honest.
And this person, you know, had decent gr good, you know, decent grades in high school, went to college four years, and it was obvious that this dream was never gonna come to fruition based on you know, practice testing, etcetera, for advancement.
And I I literally asked this person, do you know how to study?
And I happen to know somebody that is probably one of the greatest tutors of all time.
And here's a person that had gone through it got gotten a full college degree, and it ended up that the person's very, very bright, but the person never learned how to study, you know, twelve years of school, four years of of you know, college, and they still couldn't study for a fundamental exam, you know, when they want to pick up a specific profession.
And it took a little outside help to get them over the hump.
But I mean, I mean, that's a lot of kids today.
I don't think I'm overstating that, am I?
You're not overstating it.
The truth is that our education system has devolved into one that simply cycles students through.
Whether or not they mastered the material is irrelevant.
They just get pushed on and on and on, and then we created this myth that in order to be successful, everyone has to go to college.
When the truth is, I mean, listen, in my classroom, I have about 50% minority students, yet every student, almost every student fails the citizenship exam when I give it the first day of the semester.
And it really is uh a sad state of affairs when the students know little about the country that they come from.
You know, Common Core was implemented, coerced to the states by the Department of Education in 2010 based on the idea it's gonna improve students' critical thinking skills, that they're gonna perform better on exams.
We have the data.
It failed.
It was a miserable failure.
Student proficiency is at the lowest level.
Students don't know as much as they used to, and they are unable to think critically.
So we have to get to the root of the problem because as the world sole superpower, how long can we remain that way if we have a bunch of students that are graduating, yet they can't read, write, or think.
They can't solve problems.
And that's what it's become.
That's the challenge that we face, and we need serious people to make serious reforms and fix this problem before it's too late.
You know, I I I agree with you.
You know, there was an interesting article, Erica, that I think it you and Byron would find interesting about, you know, the the next generation of millionaires.
And you know who they were talking about?
Trades people.
Can you imagine?
I mean, and I've encouraged young people that don't like school.
They don't like studying.
They don't like they they don't like regurgitation.
They they love working with their hands.
I enjoyed the ten years I spent in the construction business.
I loved my time in the restaurant business.
That was 20 years of my life doing both.
And is the best thing I think I ever did, and then I I got behind a radio microphone and the light goes on and it changed my life.
But you know, that was serendipitous.
That was not that was not by design.
And but long story short, I think that that's that's gotta be a consideration too.
We don't ever even factor that in anymore.
Well, you gotta go to college, you gotta go to college.
And and I was as guilty as any parent because I insisted my kids go to college, whether they liked it or not.
Well, and many parents are waking up to this, especially with the level of anti-Semitism that is on college campuses.
Parents are looking for alternatives for their children to succeed in life, whether that means going through trades or being entrepreneurs themselves.
American ingenuity and capitalism is what made us the leader of the free world.
And if we do not unleash that ingenuity and innovation in the education space, we will continue to fall further and further behind.
As Nicholas said, we cannot be the world leader.
We cannot continue to maintain our place in the world if we cannot educate our children.
We have already fallen too far behind, and we have to bring a free market capitalistic principles into education, give parents power, and eliminate the monopoly and bureaucracy in order to propel us forward.
I appreciate what both of you uh are doing, and you're raising the level of conversation we can approach like everything else, national defense, peace in the world, energy, uh border security and safety, law and order.
We have to look at everything anew and fresh, with fresh a fresh set of eyes and and innovative ideas.
Uh Nicholas Giordano, thank you.
Eric Adonalds, we always appreciate you coming back.
Thank you for being with us.
800-941-SEAN is our number if you want to be a part of the program.
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All right, let's get back to our busy phones.
Uh so many of you have been so patient today.
Uh Doug is in Louisiana.
Doug, thank you for your patience.
Glad you hung in there.
And what's on your mind today?
Uh thanks, Sean.
Look, I I I think we've officially moved from Trump derangement syndrome to Musk derangement syndrome.
It's obvious that those on the left have just absolutely lost their mind where Elon Musk is concerned.
And I think that's nowhere more evident than them saying that he is not qualified to be running Doge.
When I think that he's possibly the singly most qualified individual on the planet to be doing this job.
And I think what he did at Twitter is just proof of that.
You know, he comes in, he buys one of the most successful companies on the face of the earth, and then within an incredibly short period of time analyzes the situation, synthesizes that uh um um information, and then cuts eighty percent of the workforce.
And I don't know about you.
My tweets still went out after 80% of the workforce was gone.
Uh you know, no loss of productivity, no loss of efficiency.
Uh so the guy obviously is very, very good at what he does, and and he's doing it for us, the American people.
I mean, it really is amazing.
And and one of the reasons I'm I was so happy to do this interview is because look, there were obligatory questions that I if I didn't ask the media would go crazy, right?
What do you do if there's a conflict?
I already knew the answer, but I I have to ask it.
And but and it's a fair question to be honest.
It's that's that is a fair question.
I always thought it was a stupid question, but I knew if I didn't ask it, you know, the media Hannity didn't ask the most important question, who's in charge?
I'm like, okay, I'll ask the stupid question, but just to get it out of the way.
And and then there were a few other, you know, are you going to take grandma and grandpa's social security away?
And then no, the answer is no.
And but beyond that, that's not what fascinated me and interested me the most about him.
The fact that he's doing this for free and we got into in this interview which we we played part you know more of it today, part two today.
And that is his desire to advance humankind.
You know not not many of us wake up in the morning and start thinking about you know how we can put plants on Mars and and put men and women on Mars.
Most of us don't wake up in the morning figuring out well how can we have communications in a hundred countries that are only have you know sporadic communication capability and and that's what Starlink does.
You know most of us can never be the the chief engineer of SpaceX and figure out a way to retrieve retrieve the rocket as it's landing on Earth so you can reuse the thing and save a fortune.
You know nobody really has has ever gone as deep into robotics and artificial intelligence and this whole project of Neurolink that he's involved in which might be able to he's hopeful he seemed very hopeful actually like inspiringly hopeful that you know that that might be able to help the blind to see again or people with spinal cord injuries to walk again.
And then he'll work for free.
And the president said, this is the most important work I'll ever do because he's and then he went into this long explanation about how we need to save our country.
And as I'm listening back to this and I'm I remember sitting there kind of like, wow, we're lucky to have people like him in our country that are willing to serve in spite of all of the name calling and cursing and singing and ranting and raving and raging that has gone on.
hysteria that has been associated with him you know trying to get this country's but budget under control so we don't rob from our kids and grandkids and and stop robbing from the American people.
That's what fascinated me.
Did you find the same thing?
Absolutely and you know the the one of the signs of a great leader is to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you are and that's exactly what President Trump has done in this case he's surrounding himself with the best of the best and the fact that the the left continues to fight against it if we cannot agree on getting way rid of waste and fraud and abuse in in our federal government I don't know what we'll ever agree on.
It's it's it's maddening to me that they are screaming and moaning about this.
It it just shows how far they have gone they did they've they're completely off the charts.
They really are it's unbelievable actually it really is.
You made great comments thank you for being out there we we're grateful to all of you um let's go to Paul in Texas God bless Texas.
What's up Paul?
How are you?
Glad you called sir I'm gonna start out by saying you migrated from New York to Florida.
I migrated from Illinois to Texas and like you made a good choice uh the Texas was definitely in my my eyesight.
It was no doubt about it.
I just I just like being near the water a little bit more probably than you do.
I got you I I I feel like I have moved to a different country.
It's just spectacular so I by the way I feel the same way.
I uh and I explained you know I'll take what I explain.
I've had many friends now come visit me especially during the winter months and they come here and they're like what the hell am I staying up there for?
What am I doing?
And and they see and I live in a townhouse I don't even live in you know I used to have this big sprawling six and a half acre spread in Long Island New York I I don't have that anymore.
I don't want it.
And and trust me I'm I'm so happy and um I just like waking up I like being able to sleep with my windows and and doors open.
Don't worry, I'm protecting myself, and not have to and feel you know, a cool breeze at night and not be freezing my you know what off.
I totally agree.
And when it's when it's eighty degrees in February and and blue sunny skies, and I'm nothing better in Chicago.
Yeah, it's it's it's amazing.
It's just amazing.
I wish I could move down here 30 years ago.
And that that's that's the purpose of my phone call today.
I have a campaign strategy.
I want to share it with you and and just get your thoughts.
So my opinion, Republicans have never had a greater opportunity to make inroads into the inner cities.
Why?
For thirty years I've lived in Chicago, and the democratic policies have failed those citizens, and now you see what's coming out with Doge.
You're finding the tax hours wasted, aid going across the globe, and and not to our own citizens in our own cities.
This is unacceptable.
So here's my thought.
You have a non-traditional strategy in 24 where the president and JD went on podcasts and it paid off in earning many votes.
My tr non-traditional campaign strategy for 25 is right now the president and JD should be holding rallies in the inner cities of the blue swing states.
Start right now and do it in 25, 26, and 27.
There are many votes that can be earned in 28 in these traditionally blue cities that have not been available before.
Here's how I see it really simple.
These blue cities and citizens are now powder kegs.
They are primed for change.
And the Democrats with their bad policies and the subsequent doge findings have gifted Republicans the powder to blow up the map.
Here would be my ask.
Is it as you were in conversations with the powers to be?
Um don't fly over those blue cities and those blue states anymore.
I left them, but I know what's going on there.
And I think there are votes to be found for two thousand and eight.
But we gotta do the work today in two thousand in in twenty-five, twenty.
I don't think it's a bad idea.
Um however, I I would say this.
The problem with states like California, New York, and Illinois, and and I I wouldn't even include New Jersey.
I think New Jersey might have a glimmer of hope and your strategy could be successful.
Um I I would hope that the same would be for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and I'd put them on the map.
I'd add them to the, you know what, we gotta we gotta get to work.
The problem that we face, and and uh I have articles about New York today.
For example, in New York, they are now going to require in newly constructed homes that contractors um you know put in a sprinkler mandate.
Now I know because when I had a home in Long Island, I had a sprinkler mandate when I did some construction on the third floor of my home.
And it costs a fortune because it costs as much as thirty grand to put this in a house.
And that that it's killing the opportunity of people.
It's like a tax on people.
And most homes don't need sprinkler systems.
They just don't.
And it's too costly.
You know, and that this is the type of thing that has chased people away.
And the people that might be more otherwise more open to new ideas are not going there because they've left people like me.
You know, I I had one governor Cuomo.
Um it's not personal.
If you're one of those conservatives that is, you know, pro-life and pro-sec assault weapon, and he says anti-gay, I'm not anti-gay.
I'm not anti anybody.
Live your own life.
You're an adult, I don't care.
You know, you're not a New Yorker, and you have no place in the state of New York.
They have no place in the state of New York.
That's not who New Yorkers are.
And we're here to say that the era of Trump and Zeldon and Molinaro just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong.
Okay.
Get out of town.
Get out of town.
Because you don't re you don't represent our values.
You are not New Yorkers.
All right.
I I guess I I fit that definition, don't I?
That's that's just insane.
You just played.
And Sean, I'll give it to you.
Maybe it's not New York, Illinois, or California, but is it Virginia?
Is it Michigan?
Is it Arizona?
Is it Nevada?
We prove we could win Michigan.
We we prove we can win Pennsylvania.
We prove we can win Wisconsin.
We prove we can win Nevada.
We prove we could win Arizona and Georgia and North Carolina.
But these states are closer than I would like.
I think as as this migration, remember, the migration is not stopped.
It slowed since COVID.
But baby boomers are still working.
So you got at least another 10, 12, 15 years of migration where people are going to retire and they're going to take their money and they're going to sell their homes and they're going to go to states like yours and states like mine and Tennessee and the Carolinas, and they're going to get out of Dodge.
And then they're going to go to Nevada and they're going to go to Arizona and they're going to leave.
And they're going to leave for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to save money.
Right.
So safety, security, and prosperity.
I think that's it's really simple.
That's that's why I packed up in Barbara Streisand said she was going to Europe and people talked about going to Canada or you know that.
I packed up my family, and we left Illinois and moved to Texas because of what was going on in the state of the communist state of Illinois.
So we're thrilled to be here, and we think Governor Abbott's doing a great job.
I love Governor Abbott.
I think he's awesome.
I think he's great.
They're doing a great job.
And my governor DeSantis is great too.
He is then you have other governors.
Uh I'm gonna forget some, but I mean there we we do have great Republican governors in the country and real leaders, and you know, especially what Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott and uh uh did in turn it was the greatest political jujitsu move ever when they took illegal immigrants that they denied were actually coming into the country because they lied and said the country was the borders were secure and closed, and then they said, Okay, really?
Well, fine, you're a sanctuary city, you're a sanctuary state.
We're gonna send the your your beloved illegals to you.
And they they spent money, but they saved a fortune in the end, and they sent them to New York City and California.
My favorite was Governor DeSantis and where did he send them to Matha's Vineyard?
By the way, they were off that island in less than twenty-four hours.
Amazing.
Liberals are, you know, they're generous with other people's money.
You know, they're all they're all pro-Sanctuary City and and town and state, except if it's theirs.
Then they want no part of it.
Um you raised great points.
I I think it's your long-term strategy is a good one.
And I think we you know, let's get the country fixed.
They'll have plenty of time for campaigning.
We're gonna be back in a year, we'll be in campaign mode again, believe it or not, uh, for the midterms, and we're gonna need everybody's help again.
Everybody's help.
Anyway, God bless you, God bless Texas, 800-941 Sean.
If you want to be a part of the program, this country was founded on freedom, freedom from a country that forced us to buy overpriced tea and then tried blockading us when we dump their tea into the ocean.
It didn't work out well.
Well, it's time to throw your overpriced big wireless contract.
Thoughts and prayers go to the families in Israel that are receiving the bodies of their loved ones that were held hostage and killed and murdered by Hamas.
Uh, how sad has that got to be for them?
We'll have more on that tomorrow uh as well.
We'll talk about the Ukrainian war and why it needs to end with Putin tonight.
Hannity Nine Eastern, we got a great show for you.
All right, the crazy, insane, radical left democratic party.
James Carvel's not feeling it.
We'll check in with him tonight.
It's always fun to have James on.
Uh also Steven Miller schooling uh CNN and the rest of the media again today, two epic, you know, showdowns that he's had uh in as many days.
Also, Ted Cruz tonight.
And remember Mark Wayne Mullen, Senator from Oklahoma, uh, and he went head to head with the head of the Teamsters, both of them together.
This is gonna get fun.
That'll be epic.
Nine Eastern, set you D VR tonight, Hannity on Fox.
We'll see you then back here tomorrow.
Thank you for making this show possible.
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And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
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