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Patriot Mobile PAC Deploys Bartons' False History to Inspire School Board Takeovers
In 2022, right-wing cellphone company Patriot Mobile launched a political action committee through which it spent over $600,000 supporting school board candidates in Texas. All 11 of the candidates it backed won election, prompting Patriot Mobile President Glenn Story to brag that because of their efforts, Christian conservatives “took over four school boards.”
In March, Patriot Mobile, which bills itself as “America’s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider,” organized an “Equip and Educate” event in Grapevine, Texas, that focused on “The State of Public Schools in America.” While Patriot Mobile claims that the event was organized “to equip citizens with the tools needed to preserve our union and educate them on all facets of important issues facing America,” the company’s choice to have Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and his son Tim Barton serve as keynote speakers suggests that providing the audience with accurate information was not a primary concern.
Predictably, the Bartons teamed up to deliver a presentation on “The History of Public Schools in America” that was rife with the sort of disinformation and false history for which they are known.
Tim Barton, who shares his father’s penchant for blatantly misrepresenting history, did precisely that by repeating his father’s false claims about the public school curriculum in New Jersey in the 1800s.
As Right Wing Watch reported in 2022, David Barton routinely cites a document from 1816 that he claims shows that all public school students in New Jersey were required to memorize Bible passages, hymns, and sermons as part of the state’s public school curriculum. Barton’s claims are nonsense, as the document he cites was produced by the board of directors of the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town, which was an organization that oversaw Sunday schools in the state, not public schools.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/patriot-mobile-pac-deploys-bartons-false-history-to-inspire-school-board-takeovers/
In March, Patriot Mobile, which bills itself as “America’s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider,” organized an “Equip and Educate” event in Grapevine, Texas, that focused on “The State of Public Schools in America.” While Patriot Mobile claims that the event was organized “to equip citizens with the tools needed to preserve our union and educate them on all facets of important issues facing America,” the company’s choice to have Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and his son Tim Barton serve as keynote speakers suggests that providing the audience with accurate information was not a primary concern.
Predictably, the Bartons teamed up to deliver a presentation on “The History of Public Schools in America” that was rife with the sort of disinformation and false history for which they are known.
Tim Barton, who shares his father’s penchant for blatantly misrepresenting history, did precisely that by repeating his father’s false claims about the public school curriculum in New Jersey in the 1800s.
As Right Wing Watch reported in 2022, David Barton routinely cites a document from 1816 that he claims shows that all public school students in New Jersey were required to memorize Bible passages, hymns, and sermons as part of the state’s public school curriculum. Barton’s claims are nonsense, as the document he cites was produced by the board of directors of the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town, which was an organization that oversaw Sunday schools in the state, not public schools.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/patriot-mobile-pac-deploys-bartons-false-history-to-inspire-school-board-takeovers/
Patriot Mobile can go get royally fucked. We need to get these MAGA cretins out of our school boards before they do any further damage.
