Earlier this week, an American military classroom had a lesson censored when a showing of the biopic Malcolm X was feared to violate a White House executive order prohibiting certain anti-racism education.

Programmed by actor William Jackson Harper for the Arts in the Armed Forces Initiative, the acclaimed film was seen

by some cadets as a potential violation of Trump's decree.

And how does basic education get subverted by presidential fiat?

Because Donald Trump decided to react to the anguish of racial injustice and the elevation of Black Lives Matter

by declaring race, truth, and reconciliation as defeat in the culture wars. Defeat redeemed only by

restoring a traditional and patriotic brand of history, which means, of course, a nationalist,

jingoist, whitewashed narrative of pure heroism

and virtue, and one that treats the educational cure as worse than the disease.

The same refrain mouthed by the authoritarian strongmen of Russia, Poland, Hungary, Turkey,

and Brazil. Trump can't directly influence the public school

curricula he's railed about, but as Georgetown law professor Paul Butler wrote this week in

the Washington Post, the federal workforce is his to manage. Paul, welcome to on the media.

Thanks, Bob. It's great to be here. Tell me about the executive orders from last month and what they specify, what they

prohibit.

President Trump authored executive orders that ban diversity training in federal workplaces

that includes discussions of concepts like white privilege or microaggressions or critical race theory.

His concern apparently is based on what he heard on Fox News, which for the last month has been

railing against critical race theory, calling it un-American.

So according to the Washington Post, Trump saw one of the

cable news programs, and he asked his assistance, what's going on? Or as the Post says, he said,

what is this crap? And he summoned one of the Fox News guests into the Oval Office, and shortly thereafter, we have a flurry of

...