Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart obsessively used the words “target” and “targeting” when describing GOP efforts to advance parental rights in education on Friday’s PBS NewsHour, claiming the whole thing is just a cover for going after “trans kids.”
Showing that he does not have his finger on the pulse of conservative thought, Capehart asked himself “Well, to me, when I hear parental rights, I keep thinking, what happened to the PTA, parent-teachers associations? Why, all of a sudden, is this an issue?”
Proceeding to answer himself, Capehart alleged “I think it's an issue, given who they're targeting, because they need a foil. The far-right needs a foil. That's not to say that parents don't have concerns about what their kids are learning in classrooms. It just seems like…they have a problem specifically with trans kids.”
Further deploring the state of the GOP, he added that “what I have a problem with is that the party of life, the party of respect for family and individual freedom has no problem putting a target on the backs of trans kids and their families. And so, when I hear parental rights, I think parental rights for whom?”
Fellow Friday panelist, New York Times columnist, David Brooks initially began by repeating the typical media nonsense about what these bills do, “Yeah, well, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in schools, a lot of the book banning, stuff like that, the not teaching black history and things like that and so I want to bracket that aside and say that stuff is outrageous.”
Brooks proceeded to move on to more solid ground as he continued, “Nonetheless, there is a core problem here. It's that during COVID, a lot of parents got a look at what their kids were doing because the classroom turned into the living room and they didn't like a lot of what they saw and so public school enrollment is down by $1.4 million.”
He would also correctly point out that “if a school is keeping important things about kids secret from the parents, that's going to destroy trust and you’re going to get the reaction we’ve seen.”
Host Amna Nawaz apparently believes Capehart is well-qualified to give the conservative perspective on the topic of states banning “gender-affirming care” for minors, because she would ask, “I'm wondering why you think this particular issue resonates so deeply right now.”
Capehart naturally gave a ridiculous answer, “Because it makes people feel uncomfortable. Let's just be perfectly frank about it. It makes people uncomfortable. But just because you're uncomfortable doesn't mean that you then target what makes you uncomfortable. And by target, you're targeting kids. You're targeting the families of those kids, making it impossible for them to get health care in their own home state, making it almost impossible for them to go out of state, criminalizing, in some cases, going out of state to get care.”
He would add that all they want is a “classroom environment where there's neither a target on their back or they're not being denied the full history, the full curriculum that they're supposed to be taught” and that “they need allies to rise up with them to add to their numbers, because there are more people who care about those children and care about their education than the rabble-rousing parents who are putting the targets on their backs.”
It is not “rabble-rousing” to say that boys are boys and girls are girls and that teenagers should not be given hormone treatment, but it is rabble-rousing to say that they should.
This segment was sponsored by viewers like you.
Here is a transcript for the March 24 show:
PBS NewsHour
3/24/2023
7:33 PM ET
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, to me, when I hear parental rights, I keep thinking, what happened to the PTA, parent-teachers associations? Why, all of a sudden, is this an issue?
And I think it's an issue, given who they're targeting, because they need a foil. The far-right needs a foil. That's not to say that parents don't have concerns about what their kids are learning in classrooms. It just seems like, from, you know, Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, to Governor Huckabee in Arkansas, to the, you know, the Republican-led House of Representatives, it seems like they have a problem specifically with trans kids.
And what I have a problem with is that the party of life, the party of respect for family and individual freedom has no problem putting a target on the backs of trans kids and their families. And so, when I hear parental rights, I think parental rights for whom?
AMNA NAWAZ: David, What do you think about that?
DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, well, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in schools, a lot of the book banning, stuff like that, the not teaching black history and things like that and so I want to bracket that aside and say that stuff is outrageous.
Nonetheless, there is a core problem here. It's that during COVID, a lot of parents got a look at what their kids were doing because the classroom turned into the living room and they didn't like a lot of what they saw and so public school enrollment is down by $1.4 million. Sixty-odd percent of parents say they want more control over their kids’ learning. It used to be Democrats had a solid advantage in who do you trust in schools. That advantage is gone and so there’s been some sort of seismic shift on—a lot of parents were disillusioned, but most are fine with school, most hate it when politics gets put in the school, but there is a sense there is something they want more control over and so that's the legit part of this.
And I think what the core problem here-- reference to this bill is parents and teachers have to be in cooperation and there has to be trust and I understand the cost, but if a school is keeping important things about kids secret from the parents, that's going to destroy trust and you’re going to get the reaction we’ve seen.
NAWAZ: Can I just go back to the thing you wanted to bracket out. All those other issues, they are bracketed in. They are under the umbrella of this issue.
BROOKS: Yeah. Right, no, and so I’m saying that—I mean—I-- you got to go parent-by-parent
You have to go case-by-case and so there is a lot of clearly wedge issue stuff going on here, but there’s also a lot of parents who legitimately think the values of my school are different than my values, I just want some representation here or I want some say in how my kids are being taught and they don't feel they are getting it.
So you can have-- it's a bunch of different issues all at once.
NAWAZ: There is, when you take a broader look, Jonathan to your point, this is all happening against the backdrop of a number of Republican state legislatures nationwide proposing and pushing through bills that do center on transgender youth. This is a map, just out this week, from the Human Rights Campaign. They now estimate, of all the transgender kids across the country, age 13-to-17, just that age group, more than half of them now live in a state where they have either already lost access to or could lose access to gender-affirming care. It's over 50% now.
And Jonathan, I want to turn to you on this because that's a striking number first of all when you think of the sheer volume of children who are impacted by that, but I'm wondering why you think this particular issue resonates so deeply right now.
CAPEHART: Because it makes people feel uncomfortable. Let's just be perfectly frank about it. It makes people uncomfortable.
But just because you're uncomfortable doesn't mean that you then target what makes you uncomfortable. And by target, you're targeting kids. You're targeting the families of those kids, making it impossible for them to get health care in their own home state, making it almost impossible for them to go out of state, criminalizing, in some cases, going out of state to get care.
All these kids and their families want are for these trans kids to be able to go to school like everyone else, learn like everyone else, and be left alone like everyone else, if possible, and to be able to learn in a classroom environment where there's neither a target on their back or they're not being denied the full history, the full curriculum that they're supposed to be taught.
The problem I have with what's been happening in the states, and particularly with this congressional bill, is that the language is so vague. In that report, the person said, it doesn't specify names of books and things. Well, no, it leaves it up to the discretion of whoever the person is complaining.
And so I think what needs to happen is that people need to — those really concerned parents, not only do they need to keep rising up. They need allies to rise up with them to add to their numbers, because there are more people who care about those children and care about their education than the rabble-rousing parents who are putting the targets on their backs.
