President-Elect Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of education said she will ask that funding for higher education be dramatically cut in hopes of decreasing the number of college students in America.

Ernestine Bass said that she believes that colleges and universities are bad for both the country and the Republican Party.

"Americans are too smart for their own good," Bass told reporters.

Bass served as an advisor on education issues for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the vice-president elect. If confirmed by Congress, Bass will become the first education secretary without either a college or a high school degree.

Bass said college teaches people to think for themselves and to question authority, which, she added, runs contrary to the principles of democracy, where people are better served by doing what their leaders tell them.

"Liberal college professors lecture about free speech and equality and fairness and compassion and all that hooey," Bass said, "but what good is any of that in the real world?"

Bass blamed colleges for spreading what she called "socialistic" propaganda about issues such as global warming, recycling, and evolution, and, in addition, fabricating the dangers of industrial pollution, deregulation, cigarette smoking, asbestos, and texting while driving.

"Young people are taught that corporations hurt the environment and that football causes concussions," Bass said. "They're taught that our country discriminates against blacks, Mexicans, and gays. Honestly, what good comes out of such foolishness?"

Bass then shook her head and added: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Bass said she learned everything she needs to know from the Bible.

"The Bible tells us that 'ignorance is bliss,' " she added.

When told that the phrase was not in the Bible, Bass smiled and said, "It's in the Republican Bible."

Bass attributed the election of Donald Trump as president to uneducated people and said if there were fewer educated people, Republicans could remain in power forever.

Philomena Frump, a professor of political science at Wossamotta University in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, agreed.

"Trump himself said, 'I love the poorly educated,' and they obviously love him," Frump said.

Frump said statistics showed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won each of the 15 states in the country with the highest percentage of adults with at least a bachelor's degree. She also won 17 of the 18 best-educated states.

By contrast, Trump won 29 of the 32 states with the lowest percentage of adults with college degrees.

Frump added that Trump's largest margin of victory came in states with some of the worst-educated people such as West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Louisiana.

When asked to explain how this happened, Frump cited what she called the "Colbert Effect," named for comedian Stephen Colbert. Colbert created the word "truthiness," she said, to characterize a truth that people come to believe because it "feels right," even though it conflicts with evidence, logic, thought, or even facts.

"America has moved into a strange new world, where truthiness has taken the place of truthfulness," she said, "and the brain is becoming the new appendix."