Betsy DeVos is alarmingly stupid.
Let me begin by first mentioning that there is nothing wrong with being incredibly stupid. I, for example, am a huge dumbass almost all of time and no one is knocking on my door to arrest me. I am free to live my life as a idiot, just like millions of my fellow mouth-breathing Americans.
There is, however, a problem with being incredibly stupid AND being picked to head a Cabinet within the United States government. There’s an even bigger problem when that Cabinet within the United States government is the Department of Education. Enter Betsy DeVos.
Make no mistake: Betsy DeVos is a monster of a woman. The billionaire heiress to an auto parts manufacturing company (and whose husband is the heir to the largest legal ponzi scheme in the United States), she has spent her adult life fighting to privatize education. Despite never attending public school in any capacity, DeVos’ has made it her life’s work to dismantle public education and champion for-profit charter schools in both her home state of Michigan and the United States at large, to disastrous results. Her family is among the largest donors to the Republican party in the country (going so far as to admit she does so in order to buy influence) and has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT charities across the country, including those that support conversion therapy.
But in these regards, DeVos is not even particularly interesting. Elites have long tried to exploit children for profit, and the uber-rich donate to right-wing causes all the time.
No, what is interesting about Betsy DeVos wasn’t brought to the mass public eye until this afternoon’s confirmation hearing for her potential role as Secretary of Education. What’s interesting about DeVos is that she is incredibly stupid. I’ll repeat: Betsy DeVos is incredibly stupid. She is alarmingly dumb. I’m honestly surprised she was able to find the room the hearing was in. I wonder if she had a team of handlers to assist her.
Take, for example, this exchange with New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan. Please bear in my while watching this that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has been a federal law since 1975, serves more than 6 million kids, and that Betsy DeVos is interviewing to become Secretary of Education.
Ignorance of a specific law, however impactful to your potential position, may seem forgivable. Any run of the mill dummy could not know a law. But consider this back and forth with Senator Al Franken. For this, bear in my that growth vs proficiency is one of the central debates among leaders in education and that Betsy DeVos is interviewing to become Secretary of Education.
DeVos is completely unaware of an entire debate within the education community. That is impressively dim-witted. You would think that in her years of decimating Detroit’s school system, she would have at least heard other people arguing about this.
But still, this seems like run-of-the-mill idiocy. To truly understand how unwaveringly dense Betsy DeVos is, watch this Q&A on gun control. Please bear in mind the Chris Murphy is a senator from Connecticut, home to the deadliest school shooting in the history of the United States, and that Betsy DeVos is interviewing to become Secretary of Education.
That was as close to a lay-up as you’ll see from an opposing political party, and instead she kicked the ball into the stands, sat down at half court, and tried to eat her sneaker. I encourage all of you to watch the entirety of the hearing, and marvel at the empty smile, the utter confusion at basic questions, and the bumbling attempts at ham-fisted pivots. Truly, this woman’s idiocy is something to behold.
When we talk about the politically influential elite in this country, we use a lot of words. Evil, conniving, back-handed, manipulative, puppeteer. But in using such terminology, we endow those same elite with at least a base level of intelligence. After all, an idiot couldn’t covertly engineer a national platform to further enrich the 1%. They simply don’t have the mental bandwidth.
And that’s why today’s hearing with Betsy DeVos was so important. Thank you, Betsy DeVos, for reminding us regular, everyday Americans that stupidity is not just reserved for our ilk. That even billionaires can be huge fucking dumbasses. That one of the richest people in the world, who had been working her entire life for this moment, with limitless resources and weeks to prepare, still can’t hide that she’s an utter moron. Thank you Betsy.
PS Please don’t destroy public education.
