The Case for Education Secretary Justice

The rumor mill has been churning over President Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments. Who will he pick for what, and what might each pick mean? The truth is that this is all far simpler than the press corps would have us think. Trump will pick whomever he believes will execute his agenda, so that he can say: “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”
For secretary of education, there are a few names that stand out. But President Trump’s most promising pick for Secretary of Education would be Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of the Florida-based grassroots activist organization, Moms for Liberty.
Let’s actually start with the two strongest arguments against Education Secretary Justice.
First: the fear that she might be hard to confirm. The Democrats are certain to throw ten times the flak against her that they gave Secretary DeVos, so the argument might go, and they almost sunk her.
We tend to remember DeVos’s confirmation hearing as an epic disaster, but it wasn’t really. DeVos acquitted herself exceedingly well for almost the entirety of it. The Democrats drew blood on one memorable line, and then the vertically integrated messaging apparatus masquerading as the corporate media went wild about that.
But they couldn’t do anything like that to Ms. Justice, for two reasons. First, she is an unflappable messenger. She has done hundreds of hours of print, podcast, radio, and TV interviews without so much as a single “gotcha” moment. She is probably the Right’s single greatest education communicator since Secretary William Bennett. And even if she flubbed a line, it wouldn’t actually matter. The Washington Post would spin the clip their way, but Trump’s followers on X would see different clips of Justice running rhetorical circles around some hapless Democrat senator. Public opinion would, at worst, be a draw.
Second: Ms. Justice does not have a college degree. This is a hilarious “objection.” Indeed, can you actually imagine a greater argument in her favor? Democrats, who just got clobbered in a national election due in no small part to their out-of-touch elitism, won’t be able to restrain themselves. President Trump should be salivating at that prospect. How much more harm do Democrats want to do with non-college educated voters and suburban women? It would be fun to find out!
Tiffany Justice went to college, met the man of her dreams, and decided to put family first. That’s not a liability—that’s an inspiration story. Combine that with what she did next, and it’s the American Dream in action.
Tiffany and her co-founder Tina Descovich launched Moms for Liberty when even many schools in Florida were reluctant to reopen or drop their COVID-era mask mandates. Moms for Liberty worked hand-in-glove with Governor DeSantis to re-open Florida schools. They were called “extremists” and “science-deniers,” at the time, by people who now pretend they agreed with Moms for Liberty on reopening and masking all along. How convenient!
After COVID hysteria finally waned, Moms for Liberty took aim at critical race theory. At the time, the media called them extremists. President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice issued a letter effectively equating them with domestic terrorists, and the FBI called and intimidated a Moms for Liberty member who passionately spoke her mind at a school board meeting. From being victimized by a weaponized DOJ to secretary of education—what a story!
But maybe the biggest thing Tiffany Justice and Moms for Liberty did, which has not been properly credited: they notably moved the Overton Window on gender ideology indoctrination in schools. It’s hard to remember, but a mere three years ago, Republicans were too timid to venture beyond the “men shouldn’t play in women’s sports” applause line. Sterilizing hormones and mutilating surgeries? Too crass to mention. Schools secretly transitioning kids without their parents’ consent? That’s too crazy to even bring up.
Tiffany Justice and Moms for Liberty changed the conversation. They were the sine qua non for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s landmark Parental Rights in Education Act of 2022, which outlawed gender ideology indoctrination in K-3—and then K-12—education. As a Floridian who moved to the Sunshine State due in no small part to DeSantis’s leadership and transformation, I would know. Moms for Liberty has been there through thick and thin.
And they didn’t stop with the Parental Rights in Education Act. Moms for Liberty hammered the issue of gender ideology at every opportunity, and President Trump picked it up and championed it too. At the end of virtually every campaign rally, he promised to “get transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.” Well, if she has the opportunity, Secretary Justice will do exactly that.
Also, not to belabor the point, but—”Secretary Justice?” Doesn’t that have quite a ring to it? President Trump loves her catchy name, and she’d undoubtedly be among the best and most complementary surrogates on education our incoming president could ever ask for.
To listen to Tiffany Justice is to like her. To properly reckon with her arguments is to agree with her. Starting with nothing more than the revenue from T-shirt sales, she built a movement of American moms unlike any we’ve seen since Phyllis Schlafly. Just imagine what she could do with a federal agency and the backing of President Donald Trump.
Josh Hammer is Newsweek senior editor-at-large, host of “The Josh Hammer Show” and “America on Trial with Josh Hammer,” a syndicated columnist, senior counsel for the Article III Project, and a research fellow with the Edmund Burke Foundation. Subscribe here for “The Josh Hammer Report,” a Newsweek newsletter, as well as Josh Hammer’s Subtext text message group. X: @josh_hammer.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.