Villainizing Rhetoric
2007
2007-01-01 During an interview with Fox and Friends, Stephen Miller claimed universities were censoring content when they refused to run an ad for www.terrorismawareness.org, a site which touted claims such as “Muslims have problems living peacefully with their neighbors”. An AI overview gives context that he allegedly “used the initiative to link Muslims and Arabs with terrorists”.
https://progressive.org/latest/stephen-miller-unveiled-new-docs-reveal-the-stark-racism-of-/
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/15/politics/kfile-stephen-miller-terrorism-awareness
2016
2016-11-21 Turning Point’s Charlie Kirk created the “Professor Watchlist” so his followers could outwardly dox any teacher they felt was “woke”.
https://www.professorwatchlist.org/
2019
2019-11-08 During an interview with Tucker Carlson, Rebecca Friedrichs accused teachers in unions of not really being teachers, but rather “radical socialists pushing an agenda” and only wanting power. She continued her nauseating claims to assert that when unions are pushing for free lunch programs, healthcare, and emotional support, this is all an attempt to replace the family with indoctrination and communism.
2021
2021-11-02 During a National Conservatism conference, JD Vance delivered a very long speech to the crowd, covering a huge array of different topics. One of the topics was his assertion that “we are giving our children over to our enemies” in the education system. He also referred to taking the “red pill” like in the Matrix movie, complained about subsidizing universities to “control” how we think, called Richard Nixon a great prophet, and called National Conservatism a movement.
2025 September
2025-09-14 During a prayer vigil for Kirk, Kari Lake addressed the crowd with conspiracy theories that the suspect was “brainwashed” by woke. She went on to “warn” parents not to send their children to universities, which she labeled “indoctrination camps”. This is important because she is the senior advisor for the US Agency for Global Media and could potentially hold a lot of unchecked power in the media. For context, Kari Lake also helped stir controversy in 2022 when she demanded ballots be counted by hand.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kari-lake-blames-college-indoctrination-for-charlie-kirks-death/
2025-09-14 Laura Loomer posted on social media “It’s time to defund American universities. You don’t need to go to college. Charlie Kirk didn’t go to college. @HarmeetKDhillon”.
https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1967346851440701469
2026 March
2026-03-01 Pete Hegseth ordered a ban on US troops attending graduate-level programs at Ivy League and other top-tier universities, labelling them “woke breeding grounds of toxic indoctrination”.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/pentagon-blocks-troops-from-elite-universities/gm-GMD6C9F8C7
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-pentagon-cutting-ties-with-top-universities-woke/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/us/politics/pentagon-universities-think-tanks.html.