Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' Crash & Burn Interview On 60 MINUTES

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled mightily last night in a sit-down interview with 60 Minutes journalist Lesley Stahl to answer even simple questions about public school' performance.

Even on questions about schools in her home state of Michigan, where public schools there have gotten worse, DeVos admitted she hadn't "intentionally visited schools that are underperforming."

Stahl's response? "Maybe you should."

DeVos became Education Secretary as reward for her family's huge donations to Republican campaigns and causes. She married an heir to the Amway fortune and has made destroying the public school system the cause of her life.

DeVos says her actions have been to champion "choice" but in truth her goal is for religious schools to take over education in America.

Rather than address the issues with traditional public schools, DeVos' battlecry is to allow parents to take their children out of public school systems, give them funds in the form of a voucher and then let the parents enroll their children in private religious schools. The problem is that the funds pulled out of public schools cause those schools to slide even further in decline.

And since the vouchers don't cover the full cost of private schools, lower income families are left behind with the remains of a decaying public school system.

Put simply, DeVos is a huge threat to public education and the separation of church and state in America.

Like the rest of Donald Trump's cabinet, DeVos is a champion of deregulation. As Secretary of Education she is tasked with overseeing guidelines that protect the civil rights of students.

But mere days after being confirmed, she rescinded Obama-era guidelines that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice. What a surprise.

Here's a link to the full transcript of last night's debacle.

Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos struggles to answer fairly basic questions on school performance on 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/lFVq3USwUW

— Axios (@axios) March 12, 2018

Just watched the whole @60Minutes piece on Betsy DeVos. Pretty rough. @LesleyRStahl seemed to know more about the nation’s public schools than the education secretary.

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) March 12, 2018

MAGA people are rushing to defend Betsy DeVos, who was ambushed by unfair gotcha questions like “Have you ever been in a cafeteria” and “What do you think schools do”

— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) March 12, 2018

We all expected a controversial blonde woman to embarrass the Trump administration on 60 minutes, we just thought it would be Stormy Daniels not Betsy DeVos.

— Adam Best (@adamcbest) March 12, 2018

Personally I think Betsy DeVos' appearance on 60 Minutes tonight did more damage to Trump than a Stormy Daniels interview could ever do. He put an actual imbecile in the most important job in his cabinet. That's not just screwing a porn star, thats screwing all of our children.

— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) March 12, 2018

Betsy DeVos wasn't asked what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. She was asked basic questions about education and had trouble answering them.

Also, saying that we shouldn't invest in school buildings is stupid. Dilapidated & unsafe buildings affect learning. https://t.co/4FQVHYVn73

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 12, 2018

Betsy DeVos can't answer questions about improving the educational system because her goal is to raze it to the ground. She's a saboteur. https://t.co/V9Ebu3xe4M

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) March 12, 2018

Betsy DeVos only visits pet charter schools that took funds from public schools.

Lesley Stahl: Perhaps you should visit public schools that have lost funding to charter schools and aren’t doing so well.

DeVos: Perhaps I should.

DeVos is completely unfit to serve.#60Minutes pic.twitter.com/ygUmQE8EIg

— PassMeAPickle (@CeeLeeMusic) March 11, 2018