
Donald Trump couldn't find time to discuss education during his State of the Union address, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently showed why he might have been reluctant to do so.

DeVos did a round of local news interviews this week, in an attempt to sell Trump's agenda to local news reporters.

It did not go well.

In one interview broadcast Sunday morning, local Ohio television station WTVG reported on DeVos' claims, saying "with new opportunities that have been developing with the passage of tax reform, those opportunities, [DeVos] says, will naturally extend themselves to our country's schools."


"We are focused and committed to continuing to look at ways to support those at the most local level with innovating and creating new opportunities for the students they're serving to meet all of their needs," DeVos told the station.

But when asked for specifics, DeVos had "no comment."

The absurd claim that the Trump tax scam could have any impact on education was vividly illustrated on Saturday when Speaker of the House Paul Ryan pathetically touted one teacher's $1.50-a-week increase in take home pay. The only noticeable impact of the tax bill will be to hand over a trillion dollars to billionaires, then cut programs for everyone else when the deficit balloons.

In another interview with a local Maine reporter, DeVos was repeatedly pressed over whether there would be any additional federal funding for education, and could only promise the gutting of federal education regulations.

Trump's policies may go over well on Fox News, but in the local markets where people are actually being hurt by them, Trump isn't fooling anyone. And neither is his Cabinet.