PHILADELPHIA — Former President Donald Trump vowed to move the Department of Education “to the states” in his rally at Temple University’s Liacouras Center on Saturday.
This move would likely entail abolishing the Department of Education, which was created in 1979, to empower each state’s own department or agency that oversees public education.
“We’ll be able to cut [spending on] education in half and get much better education in some of the states,” Trump said. “We’ll have the best education anywhere in the world.”
However, he continued, “Some won’t do as well. There are a couple of states like, I would say, Gavin Newsom [and California] will not do well.”
Trump noted that the United States spends more “per pupil” than any other country, yet “we’re at the bottom of every list.” He asked, “What the hell do you have to lose?”
Such a change would be unprecedented, as no Cabinet department has ever been dissolved without being reorganized in some way. The last time a department changed names came under President Jimmy Carter in 1979, when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare became the Department of Health and Human Services and the Education Department was established.
It is extremely rare for a federal executive department to be abolished. The last time that happened was under President Jimmy Carter in 1979, when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was dissolved.
Abolishing the Department of Education is part of a collection of Heritage Foundation policy proposals for the next presidential administration called Project 2025. The change would limit, but not entirely remove, the government’s federal education policy.
Trump mentioned that he studied in Philadelphia at the Wharton School but admonished President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders for allowing the City of Brotherly Love to be “ravaged by bloodshed and crime.”
“Few communities have suffered more under the Biden regime than Philadelphia,” Trump said, before referencing two recent murders as part of a wider murder and crime epidemic in the city.
He voted to “stand up to Soros-controlled DAs like Philadelphia’s despicable Marxist prosecutor Larry Krasner,” who he said has “the blood of countless men, women, children on his hands, including thousands of African American citizens” over his “refus[al] to prosecute people.”
Trump additionally hammered Biden on inflation, immigration, and foreign policy in his nearly 90-minute speech. He said America’s enemies “laugh at us” since he left office and mentioned what he calls a “new” crime category: “It’s called the Biden migrant crime rate.”
Before the rally, Trump told reporters he had made up his mind on his running mate. He previously said he made his decision, before later revealing that several prominent Republicans were on his short list of vice presidential candidates.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Washington Examiner spoke to Trump supporters at the event, and the crowd preferred entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). One Trump supporter, James Freeman, 40, argued that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is the best choice because “she’s a fighter, she’s never wavered, she never backs down.”
Chris Vinsmoke, 21, said he would prefer a black candidate for vice president. Vinsmoke, who praised Trump for helping free his cousin, rapper Kodak Black, from prison, said Kanye West would be his first choice, followed by former president Barack Obama. He expressed disapproval for Vice President Kamala Harris, however, despite that she is black.
