Education Secretary Betsy DeVos late Thursday became the second Cabinet member to submit her resignation this week, a move teachers unions and lawmakers denounced as a spineless effort to sidestep widespread and growing calls for Vice President Mike Pence and top administration officials to use the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.
“Resigning 13 days before the end of this administration does nothing to erase the harm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has done to this country’s students, their families, and educators,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA), said in a statement. “She has failed our students yet again when they needed her most. Her complicity, cowardice, and complete incompetence will be her legacy.”
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second-largest teachers union in the U.S. behind NEA, had just two words for the education secretary as she heads out the door: “Good riddance.”
In a letter (pdf) announcing her resignation, effective Friday, DeVos called Trump’s incitement of the violent right-wing mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol Building earlier this week “the inflection point” and said there is “no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation.”
But watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said late Thursday that expressions of moral outrage ring hollow coming from officials who quietly accepted or enabled Trump’s most dangerous behavior in the years preceding Wednesday’s attempted coup.
“If you stood by Trump after Charlottesville, you’re not resigning now out of disgust,” the group tweeted. “You’re resigning to avoid having to deal with the 25th Amendment.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday that because DeVos “has never done her job to help America’s students,” it is not surprising that she would “rather quit than do her job to help invoke the 25th Amendment.”
“Good riddance, Betsy,” added Warren. “You were the worst secretary of education ever.”
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $120,000 in one-time donations and to add 1383 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy