Villainizing Rhetoric
2007
2007-01-01 Stephen Miller accused universities of censorship because they refused to run an ad that claimed “Muslims have problems living peacefully with their neighbors”.
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 Rebecca Friedrichs asserted that teachers’ unions promoted socialism. She claimed during a Tucker Carlson interview that pushing for free lunch programs, healthcare, and emotional support is an attempt to replace the family with indoctrination and communism.
2021
2021-11-02 During a National Conservatism conference, JD Vance told the crowd, “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 proclaimed National Conservatism as a movement.
2023
2023-03-29 Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies initiated a “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida as part of a political campaign.
https://www.whathappenedtonewcollege.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFMc07F1UUU&list=WL&index=9&t=7s
2025 September
2025-09-14 During a prayer vigil for Kirk, Kari Lake claimed the suspect was “brainwashed” by woke and then warned not to send their children to universities, which she labeled “indoctrination camps”. Kari Lake also stirred 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.