Trump Education Chief Gives Stunning Reply To ‘Holocaust Denier’ Question At Hearing
Trump Secretary of Education Linda McMahon gave a stunning response when she was asked if a “Holocaust denier” should be protected under the principle of “viewpoint diversity.”
McMahon testified Wednesday at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on the Department of Education’s priorities, one day after McMahon faced questions at a Senate hearing.
So-called “viewpoint diversity” and President Donald Trump’s feud with Harvard University came up at both hearings, and is part of McMahon’s list of demands to Harvard.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) used his time to question McMahon on the issue in a contentious set of exchanges that included McMahon’s jaw-dropping reply to Takano’s hypothetical.
Asked if refusing to hire a Holocaust denier counts as an impermissible “litmus test,” McMahon replied “I believe there should be diversity of viewpoints relative to teachings and opinions on campuses”:
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): Now, Madam Secretary, what are the limits of this viewpoint diversity that the administration is trying to enforce? Under these demands, for example, would the Harvard government department be compelled to hire faculty that believe the 2020 election was stolen?
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: I believe that there are rights to freedom of speech– there– in the–.
On campuses and universities of colleges and universities across the country, freedom of speech should be allowed. There should be open debate. There should different viewpoints. There should be different viewpoints!
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): The limits of viewpoint diversity cited in this letter. You demand that Harvard would be compelled to hire faculty. I mean, well, you’re saying that there has to be viewpoint diversity.
I’m just asking, would the government department be compelled the hire faculty that believe the 2020 election was stolen? As an example of viewpoint diversity?
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: However, one of the things that Harvard Crimson and by its by its own–
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): OK, I think you don’t really have an answer. So I’m going to move on to other questions. (CROSSTALK) Reclaiming my time, Madam Secretary, the current secretary. Would the Harvard Medical School, who is looking to hire an immunologist, would that person need to adhere to HHS Secretary Kennedy’s view on the efficacy of vaccines?
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: We all know that we should have our universities look at what all the programs are–.
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): I don’t think you really thought through this viewpoint diversity issue.
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: So the political ideology that you’re trying to put forth is a false narrative. And the funding is a privilege, it’s not a right.
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): Madam Secretary, recall, reclaim my time. Does refusing to hire a Holocaust denier as a member of Harvard’s history department faculty count as an ideological limit test?
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: I believe that there should be diversity of viewpoints relative to teachings and opinions on campuses.
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): Well, what about this situation of Harvard’s history department, and they’re looking for another department member, would being a Holocaust denier count as–?
SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON: I do know that Harvard did replace its head of Middle Eastern studies even before we looked at it because they believed that they needed to make changes already.
Watch above via House Education and Workforce Committee Democrats.
