President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon used a White House back-to-school celebration Monday to spread lies about transgender children and education in front of students. Trump then inexplicably invited attendees to tour the construction of his helipad and ballroom, returning to his White House construction obsession.
Schoolchildren made up half of the Rose Garden audience, according to the press pool report. The U.S. Army's rock band performed, and students from St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy led the Pledge of Allegiance. Attendees included Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and House Education Chairman Tim Walberg.
Only still photographers — not reporters or video cameras — were allowed to follow Trump on the construction tour.
Related: Trump's education secretary claims schools are secretly transitioning children. They aren't
Trump called Biden-era education policy "weaponized" and falsely claimed "transgender insanity" had been forced on children as young as 4. He described watching an unnamed Democratic member of Congress defend transgender athletes on television and said he hoped Democrats continued.
"Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child that they're trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse," Trump said.
That's not true. No Biden policy forced children to identify as transgender, and Trump cited no law making affirmation abuse—the targeted policies concern names, pronouns and privacy — not medical treatment.
Related: Maryland school district caves to Trump and adopts forced outing policy to expose LGBTQ+ students
McMahon repeated the lie that schools secretly transition children and threatened their federal funding over supposed "radical experiments."
"After the Biden administration allowed schools to secretly transition students without parents' knowledge, President Trump is defending parental rights like never before," McMahon said. "At his direction, we are working hand in hand with the Department of Justice to ensure no school district ever has more power over a child than their own parents."
"We've exposed states like California for some of the most widespread offenses and put schools on notice," she continued. "If they subject children to radical experiments and sideline parents, they will lose their federal funding. Never before have parental rights been enforced at this scale, and parents are back in the driver's seat where they rightfully belong."
None of that is actually happening. The Education Department has identified no schools conducting medical experiments or medically transitioning students. Its investigations concern educators who respected students' names and pronouns, or who disclosed their gender identities without consent.
A Glisten-Trevor Project report found 56 percent of transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive students surveyed attended schools with a discriminatory policy. Sixty-one percent experienced a negative event, usually anti-LGBTQ+ harassment, and 32 percent recently missed school because they felt unsafe.
Trump also predicted spreading out childhood vaccines would reduce autism. That's false. Medical experts say delaying vaccines offers no benefit, and extensive research has found no causal link between vaccines and autism.
Related: Trump Education Department investigates Michigan schools over trans-inclusive policies
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit in two weeks and saw Beijing's Great Hall of the People during his May trip. "Now we're going to have a Great Hall too," he said.
Trump claimed essentially "no work" had been done on the White House for 200 years. That's false. It was rebuilt after the British burned it, renovated in 1902 and reconstructed internally from 1948 to 1952. More recent projects included President John F. Kennedy's Rose Garden redesign, first lady Lady Bird Johnson's East Garden and Children's Garden, President Richard Nixon's conversion of Franklin D. Roosevelt's indoor pool into the press briefing room, President Gerald Ford's outdoor pool and extensive exterior cleaning and restoration spanning the Carter through Clinton administrations. President Bill Clinton oversaw the refurbishment of the Blue Room and the East Room, while First Lady Michelle Obama created the White House Kitchen Garden. The White House Historical Association notes that every president and first lady since Truman has made changes to the building or its grounds.
No president had demolished the modern East Wing wholesale to replace it with a 90,000-square-foot structure that the government itself acknowledges will permanently alter the White House grounds. A government review found the ballroom would forever damage the grounds' historical continuity and architectural integrity.
On Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily allowed construction to continue, lifting a lower court's block, while the U.S. Supreme Court considers Trump's emergency request. The order did not establish that the project is legal. Two lower courts found Trump likely lacked authority to build it without congressional approval.
Trump also praised outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt, quipping that she "decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump."
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Trump and Linda McMahon lie about trans kids — in front of schoolchildren
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