We’ve become accustomed to crazy in the Trump era, but yesterday was ... well, the words I want to use are not appropriate for this message.

Donald Trump confessed that he is willing — eager, actually — to risk the lives of our nation’s nearly 60 million elementary and secondary school students, more than 3.5 million teachers, and countless additional support staff so that he can say things are back to normal before the election.

Vice President Mike Pence and billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also called for sacrificing children, teachers, and others to boost Trump’s election chances.

We should understand this for what it is:

The president of the United States would endanger every school-age child in America — along with their teachers and other school workers, along with their families and communities — to satisfy his deranged craving to pretend the coronavirus emergency is over because he knows how catastrophically he’s bungled his response to it.

Now, we all want children to be able to resume their in-school educations. But it must be done safely — for the kids themselves and for everyone else in their lives.

That’s why the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed science-based guidelines for reopening our nation’s schools this fall.

The truth is, those CDC guidelines are woefully inadequate. They are far too vague in establishing standards for when schools should open and close, and what specific standards schools should meet if they are open.

But even the inadequate CDC guidelines are too much for Trump, who said yesterday that he “disagrees” with the CDC’s guidelines and threatened to “cut off funding” to schools that don’t open, even if opening would put lives in jeopardy. Apparently, Trump wants the CDC guidance to say, simply, “open.”

After Trump’s diatribe, Pence said the CDC would revise its instructions. In a desperate face-saving move, CDC Director Robert Redfield says the guidelines will stay in place, but the agency will publish “additional reference documents.”

Don’t let Donald Trump throw our nation’s children under the school bus.

Tell CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield:

Do not give in to Trump’s bullying and do not weaken — directly or through “additional information” — the guidelines for safely getting kids back in school. Resign before you put kids and teachers at risk.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

Stay safe.

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. Public Citizen — like many nonprofits and other small businesses — is feeling the financial strain of the coronavirus emergency. If you can, please consider donating to support the critical work we’re doing together. Thank you.
 
 
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