In an interview about the state of education in the U.S., Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called out parents he says are “misbehaving in public” and “acting like they know what’s right for kids.”  He further noted that he doesn’t respect their actions, particularly at school board meetings.

This illustrates a truly remarkable—and dangerous—combination of hubris, hypocrisy, and ignorance. Cardona is blind to the fact that he is acting like a parent…to the parents he is accusing of “misbehaving in public.” And he simply assumes he knows what is right for them...and their children. Cardona, like all authoritarians, also assumes that those in government, whether they happen to be parents or not, somehow know better than the citizens they supposedly represent…how those citizens should live their lives. This is first-level asshattery.

Meanwhile, Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom, a parent himself, recently expressed concern about his son’s interest in Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. In a recent interview Newsom stated:

I really worry about the misinformation, disinformation, about what’s happening with our country, but I really worry about these micro-cults that my kids are in. I say micro-cults because I don’t know if there's a better way to describe it. My son is asking me about Andrew Tate, Jordan Petersen [sic]. And then immediately he’s talking about Joe Rogan. And I’m like, here it is, the pathway.

Newsom presides over a state covered in homeless camps, human feces, and spent syringes. The erstwhile Golden State is beset with poverty and unemployment and racked by crime, violent and otherwise. And he is troubled that his son is listening to Jordan Peterson?! He should be thrilled. Newsom speaks of Rogan as if he is some sort of gateway drug, a conduit to even worse broadcasters. (Like, maybe, Rachel Maddow or Joy Reid?)

Listening to Rogan or Peterson doesn’t put one in a micro-cult. Micro-cults are the domain of transgenders, groomers, Marxists, and Antifa, Gov. Newsom. You of all people should know that. Your state is full of them. And crap.

Image: Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.