Donald Trump Just Hired A Sketchy Person To Oversee Education

January 18, 2025 1:53 pm

What if I told you that President-elect Donald Trump just appointed someone to an important position in Education who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and interned for former U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)?

And what if I also told you that this same appointee, during her time as commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), proposed that state officials go to people’s homes to perform wellness checks on children?

Oh yeah, she’s also, at best, lukewarm on fighting Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools.

You’re not too fond of this idea, are you? Maybe you’re asking whether Trump showed the same kind of judgement here that he showed when he selected Hershel Walker to run for the U.S. Senate out of Georgia?

Brace yourselves.

Trump announced Saturday morning on Truth Social that this appointee in question, Penny Schwinn, will serve as the U.S. deputy secretary of Education.

“Penny has a strong record of delivering results for children and families,” Trump wrote.

“She previously served as the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education and, at the Texas Education Agency, as the Deputy Commissioner of Standards and Engagement, Deputy Commissioner of Special Populations and Monitoring, and Chief Deputy Commissioner of Academics. She was also the Assistant Secretary of Education of Delaware, and holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins, as well as a Ph.D. from Claremont.”

Many people in Tennessee who awoke Saturday morning and learned about Schwinn’s appointment were less than enthused.

Former Nashville mayoral candidate and former Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain, who allies herself with Trump, said this on X Saturday:

“Mr. President, I hope you will listen to conservative voices in the state who led the battle against critical theory and DEI supplanting traditional educational practices. Whoever recommended Ms. Schwinn hasn’t told you the full story. She is a friend of Governor [Bill] Lee. Tennessee’s educational system has not been improved by any of Governor Lee’s past or present nominees.”

Five years ago three former high-level TDOE officials criticized Schwinn. Those employees left voluntarily. Speaking anonymously, they said Schwinn, among other things, mocked and ridiculed Lee, her boss, at a staff meeting last year. They said she also lied to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to avoid appearing in public with then-U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

According to the Tennessee Star at the time:

Two of the three sources said they witnessed Schwinn disparage Lee at a staff meeting last year. TDOE assistant commissioners and other higher-ups attended that meeting, the first source said.

“It was a Friday. The day before Schwinn had been at the [state] capitol for the governor’s cabinet meeting. She started the meeting by mocking the governor. She said ‘I was at the cabinet meeting yesterday, and the governor really wants you to know that he is a conservative outsider businessman.’ She just started laughing. And she repeated that phrase. She rolled her eyes. That was pretty indicative of her behavior, mocking him for being a conservative and that he didn’t know what he was doing,” the first source said.”

The second source said Schwinn gave off “an elitist attitude.”

“It felt like she had the attitude that she was saving us from ourselves, and everywhere else she had been was better,” the second source said.

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Two and a half years ago, The Star reported the following:

“TDOE Commissioner Penny Schwinn served as the only representative of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s cabinet while meeting with First Lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at the University of Tennessee, as an apparent endorsement of the American Rescue Plan.

Schwinn has been under fire in recent years over a number of issues, including lawsuits and allegations. For example, the Commissioner was criticized after it was revealed that her husband works for the company that benefited from an $8.06 million reading initiative contract. Additionally, in 2021, Schwinn was part of a group that came out in support of President Joe Biden’s executive order on vaccine mandates.”

This is concerning, is it not?

Special thanks to Warhammer’s Wife proofreading this story before publication to make certain there were no misspellings, grammatical errors or other embarrassing mistakes and/or typos. Follow Warhammer on Twitter @Real_Warhammer