Fox News got its Holy Week knickers in a twist this weekend after a Georgia sixth-grader recorded her teacher saying that Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America great again,” was never meant to include racial minorities.
In the real world, we call that facts. But over in Faux News land, it’s a cause for outrage.
On Saturday, Fox News host Abby Huntsman invited Hampton Middle School sixth-grader Josie Orihuela on her show to talk about audio she had recorded of her teacher, Johnetta Benton, talking about the president.
“When my president says ‘Let’s make America great again,’ when was he talking about?” Benton is heard saying on the tape. “He must be talking about when it was great for Europeans. Because when it comes to minorities, America has never been great for minorities.”
The sixth-grader said she was disappointed that her teacher made those statements and used her platform as an authority just so people “could be on her side.” Huntsman nodded solemnly as Josie voiced her frustrations.
Missing from the conversation was the fact that Trump supporters have made pretty explicit what they believe “MAGA” means, and it’s in line with Benton’s comments in the classroom. Just last year, Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, a man embraced by Trump and his MAGgots, responded thusly when asked exactly when he thought America was last “great”:
I think it was great at the time when families were united—even though we had slavery—they cared for one another. ... Our families were strong, our country had a direction.
Interesting. The last time a Republican judge thought America was great was when human bondage was legal. “Our families” were stronger, he claimed—surely, he didn’t mean black or Native American families.
Of course, it isn’t until a teacher points out what Trump’s ilk have been saying all along that Fox News finds offense.
Josie says that her teacher made the comments before introducing a video that celebrates Black History Month. A spokesperson for the Henry County Schools district, located outside of Atlanta, said that the incident was “extremely unfortunate,” adding that the “matter was addressed” once the tape had gotten out, Fox News reports.
Meanwhile, a teacher in Florida who allegedly ran a white supremacist podcast on the side and told her students that some races naturally have a higher IQ than others is still being “investigated.” Curiously, the good folks at Faux didn’t have much to say about that.