The head of one of America’s largest teachers unions said Wednesday that Donald Trump is creating “bullying environments” in schools nationwide that will take decades to repair.
Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.6 million member American Federation of Teachers (AFT), made her remarks during a conference call with reporters set up by the Democratic National Committee.
“What we’ve seen with Donald Trump is that there is now a new phenomenon in schools called the ‘Trump Effect,’” Weingarten said. “It will take decades to overcome the way Donald Trump speaks and promotes violence, xenophobia and racism. This is creating bullying environments in schools across the country.”
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“As teachers, we’re going to have to work harder to help an entire generation of children recover from the hateful rhetoric that Trump has aimed at immigrants, Muslims and Black Lives Matter protestors,” she added.
Trump has been connected to some alleged bullying incidents in school, though this sometimes consists of schools or activists classifying Trump support as de facto bullying. In February, a high school in Indiana sparked a scandal when students at a basketball game taunted an opposing school by waving a blown-up photo of Trump’s face chanting “Build a wall.”
Weingarten also denounced Trump on a variety of other educational matters, slamming him for his role in Trump University and for advocating the abolition of the Department of Education.
“It’s a disaster to our nation if Trump is selected president,” she said.
This report, by Blake Neff, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
