“The most effective way to destroy people is to obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
It’s been seven years since I first read the novel “1984” by George Orwell, the author of the aforementioned quote. That book has been on my mind ever since. But, as I grow up in this period in American history, I feel as if Orwell was writing specifically to prepare our generation for the coming years. The United States is morphing into a fascist state as Trump attacks DEI, the Department of Education, and pulls money from schools and research. But what strikes me is the lack of subtlety: Trump is attacking our very arsenals of defense– our respect, our education, our critical thinking, and information. In every war that he wages against a culture or an institution – he is showing us what threatens his grim vision for the future of America – he’s showing us exactly how we can challenge him. This is where our role as students brings us to the frontlines of the fight: it is absolutely crucial that students take their education seriously under a leader who harvests the ignorant for his personal gain. He knows it better than anyone, there is no greater threat to Trump than an educated American.
Recently, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating the dismantling of the Department of Education, labeling it as “government overreach.” But, if government overreach was a real concern, it would make more sense to fight for women’s rights to bodily autonomy or working to separate corporate influence from politics. Instead, the president is targeting education—under the false pretense of combatting a “misguided curriculum”—even though, as the BBC notes, the Department of Education doesn’t even dictate curriculum. That power lies with states and local governments. What the Department does do is administer Pell Grants, manage student loan programs, and fund resources for low-income students and students with disabilities. An attack on education is part of a broader, strategic assault on low-income Americans, disabled Americans, immigrants, people of color, women, and anyone who exists outside the wealthy elite.
Republicans have long advocated for abolishing the Department of Education under the guise of “states’ rights.” But that raises the question: a state’s right to do what, exactly? To rewrite history? To minimize the brutality of America’s past? To reassert control over the narratives we teach, and to re-entrench systems of oppression?
Trump’s real aim isn’t bureaucratic reform—it’s cultural erasure. His administration has accused the Department of indoctrinating students with DEI initiatives and “woke” values, effectively attempting to roll back decades of anti-discrimination protections secured during the Civil Rights Movement. This isn’t just a political strategy; it’s a larger crusade to suppress historically marginalized communities. For centuries, people of color, women, and other marginalized groups were told they couldn’t succeed because of their identities. Now that these groups are finally empowered to reclaim and celebrate those identities, their self-respect is being reframed as a threat.
But DEI isn’t just a culture– DEI programs give working women maternity leave, builds ramps for wheelchairs in workplaces and cities, as well as offers therapy for people dealing with trauma or sexual harassment in the work or school. But no – if people realized that culture wars are useless and that intelligent policy making is the way to raise the standard of living (a much more pressing issue), Trump would not be in power. Trump and his friends are the top one percent of “earners”, and the only way he can control the other 99 percent is by keeping them distracted by their hate and ignorance. Statistically speaking, the 99 percent should have more power than the 1 percent. But as long as the masses are steeped in debt, anxiety, frustration, culture wars, and the fallacy of their own success, the billionaire elite will be safe in their exploitation.
In destroying a culture of equality and freedom, Trump attacks the main vessel of education: language. He shamelessly uses Orwellian tactics to censor federally funded research. Recently Trump released a list of banned words that include words like “gender”, “science-based”, “accessible”, “privilege”, “birth”, “clean energy”, and a chilling “anti-racism”. There are a total of 110, and counting, words that many Americans themselves identify with. Trump is not a president for the American people, and if you still believe he is, just wait until your name is on the list.
The word “woke,” which by definition means an awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, is able to be weaponized by the right simply because their base has forgotten US history. They have forgotten the patterns of the past and the dark memories that reverberate through our towns and cities: how hatred and anti-diversity sentiment led to the KKK and Nazi ideology. By attacking wokeness and DEI, they are attacking equality, freedom, education, and the very bedrock of our nation, reverting us back centuries. The truth is that, at its core, Trump is capitalizing on the very worst of our country. He is exploiting the angst of young men, the addiction economy, and demagoguing the left while harvesting the hate he provokes.
But the strategy of defense is clear: Trump is defunding colleges– so go to a college and study everything you can. Trump is defunding NPR – so listen to all the NPR shows you can get your hands on. The best thing you can do is to study the history he censors, go to colleges he threatens, read the books he bans, and become his enemy. Then you’ll know you are one of the good guys.
