Trump’s Education Takeover: From Book Bans to Curriculum Control
How the right is rewriting history and reshaping what kids learn.
For years, conservatives fought to ban books they claimed promoted “woke” ideologies. But while book bans made headlines, they were never the real goal.
Now, that fight has escalated:
Moms for Liberty is declaring victory, announcing the shutting down of their book-challenging database because book bans are now written into law in multiple states.
Trump’s Executive Order 14190, titled "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools," has gone beyond book bans, replacing independent education with a state-approved, nationalist curriculum.
Higher education is under siege, with universities losing funding and facing direct federal intervention if they don’t conform to the administration’s demands.
This isn’t just about what students read—it’s about what they’re allowed to know.
Book Bans Peaked in 2021. Now, the Fight Has Shifted
In 2021, school book bans hit their peak, with thousands of titles challenged, especially those by Black authors, LGBTQ+ writers, and historians covering systemic oppression. But as the public backlash grew, the strategy evolved. Instead of fighting individual battles over books, conservatives started rewriting entire curriculums.
Moms for Liberty is officially shutting down BookLooks.org, their database for tracking and challenging school library books. The reason? They don’t need it anymore. Book bans are now state law in multiple places, and schools have begun self-censoring to avoid lawsuits. The battle has moved from libraries to classrooms, intending to ensure students only learn a state-approved version of American history.
See our reporting on book banning here:
Executive Order 14190: Rewriting U.S. Education
On January 29, 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14190, a sweeping overhaul of public education designed to reshape how history is taught in American schools.
This order:
Bans discussions on systemic racism, gender identity, and other "divisive concepts."
Threatens schools with federal funding cuts for noncompliance.
Reinstates and expands the 1776 Commission, now called the "America First Curriculum."
The America First Curriculum: A Nationalist Rewrite of History
This rebranded “patriotic education” initiative eliminates perspectives that don’t fit a nationalist narrative:
Systemic oppression is erased from textbooks.
Slavery and labor movements are downplayed or reframed.
State-approved textbooks must follow strict "patriotic education" guidelines.
Compliance isn’t optional for schools—those who refuse to adopt the America First Curriculum risk losing federal funding. The message is clear: teach Trump’s version of history or pay the price.
At the same time, Trump’s Department of Education itself is being gutted. Since February 2025, over 1,300 DOE employees have been fired, and an additional 600 have resigned, cutting the agency’s workforce in half. These job reductions cripple federal oversight of Pell Grants, student loans, and civil rights enforcement.
See our ongoing reporting on the degradation of the US education system here:
Moms for Liberty’s New Role: Enforcing the Curriculum & Taking Over School Boards
With book bans secured, Moms for Liberty has pivoted to ensuring teachers and schools follow the new curriculum. Their new priorities include:
Mandating "patriotic education" in red states.
Lobbying for "parental rights" laws that allow parents to sue teachers.
Pushing for the defunding of “woke” programs like AP African American Studies and IB World History.
At the same time, Moms for Liberty has begun infiltrating school boards, endorsing candidates who will push their agenda at the local level. In 2023, they endorsed 198 school board candidates across 10 states. While nearly 60% of their candidates lost, the ones who won immediately pushed conservative policies, leading to book removals, changes in curriculum oversight, and new restrictions on discussions of race and gender.
By controlling school boards, pressuring state legislatures, and weaponizing parent reporting systems, Moms for Liberty isn’t just influencing education. They’re taking it over.
At the same time, the administration is attacking public service loan forgiveness and removing qualified and aspiring teachers from the field.
See our reporting here:
Trump’s Higher Education Crackdown: Defunding & Controlling Universities
The effort to reshape education doesn’t stop at K-12 schools. Trump’s administration has expanded its crackdown on universities, punishing institutions that fail to align with his agenda.
The most high-profile case has been Columbia University, which was stripped of $400 million in federal research grants after the White House accused the school of failing to control pro-Palestinian protests.
But the administration didn’t stop at funding cuts. Officials have issued an ultimatum demanding sweeping policy changes by March 20, 2025, including:
Banning masks on campus.
Transferring disciplinary power from faculty to the university president.
Placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies departments under federal oversight for five years.
While Columbia has been the biggest target so far, other universities have also faced threats:
DEI Programs Under Attack: Trump’s DOE has begun pulling federal funding from universities that maintain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Public universities in Texas and Florida have already eliminated DEI offices to comply with new laws.
Conservative Oversight Boards: In states like Florida and Ohio, Republican lawmakers are appointing political allies to university oversight boards to control faculty hiring and curriculum decisions.
Banning AP & IB Courses: Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, particularly in history and social sciences, are being rewritten or banned outright in multiple red states.
With research dollars challenged and Trump’s growing list of banned words, studies and documents are disappearing, and many are self-censoring and abandoning long projects to avoid censure.
See our reporting here on the digital devastation of publications and websites:
A Playbook Taken from Authoritarian Regimes
This isn’t the first time an authoritarian movement has tried to reshape education. It is a common tactic because he who controls the next generation's minds can manipulate the future.
Nazi Germany (1933-1937): Rewriting History to Serve the State
Schools were required to teach Nazi-approved history and ideology.
Books by Jewish, socialist, and modernist authors were burned.
Students were encouraged to inform on teachers who deviated from state narratives.
Trump’s version? Ban discussions of systemic racism. Remove books that challenge white nationalist ideology. Reward students and parents for reporting teachers.
McCarthyism (1940s-50s): The Purge of Leftist Educators
Teachers and professors were blacklisted for being suspected communists.
Universities were forced to conform to Cold War-era nationalism.
Hollywood and the media were purged of left-leaning voices.
Trump’s version? Force schools to adopt a nationalist curriculum. Fire teachers who don’t comply. Defund universities that allow student activism.
Conclusion: What Happens Next?
This isn’t just about a few banned books.
It’s a systematic restructuring of American education, from kindergarten to college. The fight for education is a fight for the future. We must stand with teachers, educators, and academics and fight back against the war on intellectualism and education.
Support your local educators. Speak up. Run for your local school board. And tell your elected officials that we will never accept this re-education (indoctrination) of our youth.
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Bibliography:
"Why All 3 NYC Library Systems Are Standing Against Censorship" – Time, February 15, 2025. https://time.com/7094434/nyc-library-systems-book-bans-protest
"Historians Condemn '1776 Report' as Politically Motivated and Inaccurate" – American Historical Association, January 20, 2021. https://www.historians.org/news/aha-oah-joint-statement-on-federal-censorship-of-american-history/
"Aspiring Autocrats Like Trump Are Always More Dangerous the Second Time in Office" – The Guardian, February 6, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/06/autocrats-dangerous-trump-office
"AHA–OAH Statement on Executive Order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling” – American Historical Association, February 5, 2025. https://www.historians.org/news/aha-oah-statement-on-executive-order-ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/
"Trump limits a student-loan forgiveness program for millions of public servants in a new executive order" – Business Insider, March 9, 2025. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-limits-public-service-loan-forgiveness-program-pslf-education-department-2025-3
"Trump Administration Dismantles Key Student Loan Protections" – Forbes, March 6, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2025/03/06/trump-administration-dismantles-key-student-loan-protections/
“Moms For Liberty Is Shutting Down BookLooks–But Why?” - Book Riot, March 10, 2025. https://bookriot.com/booklooks-shutting-down/
“Moms for Liberty's Justice played role in Dept. of Ed's End-DEI portal” - USA Today, March 5, 2025. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/03/05/moms-for-libertys-justice-played-role-in-dept-of-eds-end-dei-portal/81167730007/
“Liberal and moderate candidates take control of school boards in contentious races across US” - AP News, November 8, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/school-board-elections-moms-liberty-progressives-1e439de49b0e8498537484fb031f66a6
“Turmoil at Columbia University as Trump admin demands changes” - NPR, March 14, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/nx-s1-5328589/columbia-university-trump-letter-funding
Wonder if they will get rid of American Indigenous people’s history too? Any books, customs, regalia or ceremonies may also soon be on the block. What he is doing is creating an all white eugenics program, Project 2025. This is based on the Heritage Foundation and Musk’s Neo Nazi beliefs.