Tiffany Justice is a parental rights advocate, education advocate, and the co-founder of Moms for Liberty. She is also a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a mom of four. In this episode, she talks about her favorite Trump wins thus far, and why she believes President Trump is the best thing that has happened to her and her family.
00:00:25.040Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Gains for Girls podcast.
00:00:27.940I believe this is our first episode since Donald Trump's 100th day in office.
00:00:34.000It really has been win after win after win since he assumed his role as president back in January.
00:00:40.380I've been able to benefit, of course, lots personally with everything that his administration has done to combat the DEI gender ideology movement.
00:00:49.920But even things like immigration, how my family has been able to benefit from a president who is pro-legal immigration,
00:02:59.220She is an advocate for maintaining the innocence of children.
00:03:04.120She's the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, who has done fantastic work, especially at the grassroots level, having chapters all across the nation involving just everyday parents, everyday moms, who see what their children are up against.
00:03:19.280And Tiffany is now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
00:03:23.500And I think most importantly, she's a mom of four.
00:03:25.640I would imagine that's much of her motivation.
00:03:28.920So check out my interview with Tiffany Justice here.
00:03:31.020Well, Tiffany, thank you for joining the Gains for Girls podcast.
00:03:35.500Truthfully, over these past few years, you've been a mentor to me and one of my favorite people to talk to.
00:03:41.760We've officially made it more than 100 days with Donald Trump back in the White House.
00:03:45.800So I just wanted to ask you, you know, start us off.
00:03:47.900What are some of your favorite Trump wins thus far?
00:03:50.700I think that moment where we were in the White House and we saw him sign the executive order protecting women and girls in sports and to see him surrounded, Riley, by all those beautiful young women was just a moment.
00:04:04.780And, you know, for a president who has been so vilified, right, there's been such a message sent to the American public that he doesn't like women or somehow is bad to women.
00:04:12.800And to see him surrounded by those kids and protecting their rights and freedom was just I think it was one of the most special moments.
00:04:19.660Honestly, I think that picture will be will go down in history as one of the most iconic moments of President Trump's entire presidency, both last term and honestly this term, too.
00:04:35.280And when I think of that, when I see people like Governor Mills who are pushing back against or I guess what she believes to be pushing back against President Trump, I think of that visual and who she's really pushing back against are those young girls.
00:04:49.640She's fighting those five, six, seven, eight year old girls who are surrounding him with their big bows in their hair, who have dreams, who have dreams to achieve on the field or the court, in the pool, whatever the athletic setting is and beyond.
00:05:06.080I want to get your thoughts on the dismantling of the Department of Education.
00:05:10.540This, of course, has been a hot topic really since I mean, Donald Trump campaigned on it, of course, since he has taken office and now he's taken, I mean, swift and decisive action to do such.
00:05:21.220Can you explain why returning power and funding to states, school boards, parents and teachers is actually a good thing for a child's education?
00:05:30.580Well, first and foremost, parents are the most important part of any child's education.
00:05:36.540You know, an involved parent is the number one driver of student success.
00:05:40.160So as much power and control that can go back to the parent is what needs to happen.
00:05:44.880For some reason in America, education became this behemoth.
00:05:50.180When the Department of Education was created by Jimmy Carter, it was a promise to the teachers union.
00:05:54.420And since the Department of Education has grown and grown in Washington, D.C. and satellite offices all over the United States, we've seen the teachers union have so much more power.
00:06:04.820Riley, when I was a school board member, I was shocked when I learned how much control the teachers unions had on my kids education in collective bargaining.
00:06:13.820Things like when the kids would eat lunch were decided.
00:06:16.340There were parents who were upset because sometimes lunch would be served at like 10 o'clock in the morning.
00:06:20.060That was part of the collective bargaining agreement that we had in our district.
00:06:23.580And so it was just shocking to see that.
00:06:53.200And, you know, those are fundamental rights.
00:06:54.920So there's a role for the federal government in protecting our rights and freedoms and our civil rights like Title IX.
00:07:00.960But other issues should be left up to local control.
00:07:03.560And certainly, you know, responding to what a community needs.
00:07:07.260And every community is going to be different.
00:07:08.700You're going to have kids who are coming from different backgrounds who may have different needs, may need different supports in the school.
00:07:14.000So as much power that Secretary McMahon can give back down to the governors, who will hopefully be listening to constituents, listening to their Board of Education, and really, you know, giving the districts the freedom to meet the needs of the students that they have in their school community, the better off that kids and parents will be.
00:07:32.580Also, if you have a problem, you know, you send an OCR complaint, an Office of Civil Rights complaint up to Washington, D.C.
00:07:38.980That's far away from Utah or Washington or Oregon or even Florida, right?
00:07:44.140And what happens there, this Federal Department of Education, if you have a problem as a parent, you need to be able to go to the most local source and talk to them.
00:07:51.000You want to talk to the decision makers.
00:07:52.620So all around, just really, really good for local control to be supported by the president and Secretary McMahon.
00:07:59.600Yeah, it didn't take long for those two to uncover that the Department of Education has spent over a billion dollars on DEI training since 2021.
00:08:11.020And now DOGE, I mean, of course, they've done a fantastic job across the board, but especially within the Department of Education, uncovering fraud, waste, abuse.
00:08:18.960I believe not too long ago, they uncovered $1.3 billion in unneeded Department of Education contracts.
00:08:26.060And so can you give some insight on the state of public schools now?
00:08:30.240What I find living in a very conservative state, the state of Tennessee, where, of course, we have a Republican governor, we have a Republican supermajority in both the House and the Senate.
00:08:40.160We have Donald Trump back in the White House.
00:08:41.940I hear from people all the time who think, look, we don't have to worry about this stuff anymore.
00:08:46.560We're immune to it because look at look at who's back in the White House.
00:08:51.320Can you just provide some insight on the state of public schools, what we're seeing in states like Colorado, California, maybe some of the other usual suspects and even some of those unusual suspects like Texas, for example?
00:09:04.080Yeah. So first and foremost, I want to say I love teachers.
00:09:09.300And so I think the majority of teachers are really tired of being tasked with raising other people's children.
00:09:13.640And there's been this mission creep of public education where they do more than just teaching, reading, writing and math.
00:09:18.680But now they're getting into doing all kinds of things for students, including supplying medical services in schools, which sounds really nice.
00:09:25.380But we have to step back and say, what is the role of the government?
00:09:27.960And really, what is the role of the parents?
00:09:29.620And the more the government does for the citizens of the United States, the less they do for themselves.
00:09:33.980So we really do need to empower parents.
00:09:35.940Not only do you have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of your child, but you have a duty given to you by God and a responsibility to raise your children.
00:09:45.540And so we always want to support and protect that right and that freedom in places like Chicago, in Illinois, in New York, in a lot of different states across the United States, you're seeing really abysmal reading and math scores.
00:10:01.560I'll be honest with you, across the board, Riley, reading and math scores are pretty bad.
00:10:06.420And I think it really is this, you know, this idea that the public school should be doing everything for a child.
00:10:12.780And, you know, no one entity can do everything for a child.
00:10:16.140And so, except for the parents, if they choose to do that, right?
00:10:19.680And so, you know, for those that can homeschool, great.
00:10:22.200But for those who partner with their public school in, you know, educating their kids, this lack of focus on reading, writing and math.
00:10:30.260Kate Brumley would say, let teachers teach, right?
00:10:32.980Let them get back to really engaging with the students in the classroom.
00:10:36.340Parents are watching as their kids return from COVID, a lot of technology in the classroom, not supplementing what the kids are learning and enriching their learning, but really supplanting the role of the teacher in the class, taking the place of the teacher, right?
00:10:48.820A lot of those programs, especially in middle school, I've seen that school districts, you know, kind of invested in during COVID to try to meet kids in what they call virtual learning, which I say is complete nonsense.
00:11:01.620It didn't work for the majority of students.
00:11:03.520But a lot of those programs have continued and teachers are becoming babysitters.
00:11:07.260And that's really concerning because we know direct instruction, the teacher engaging with the student directly is the most important thing.
00:11:13.920And so a lack of focus on the basics has led us to this moment where we really, I believe, have a national crisis.
00:11:21.580How will America be great again if the majority of kids across the nation can't read, write, or do math?
00:11:27.380Are we still seeing this infiltration of what most people accurately, I believe, label as indoctrination in the form of the sexualization, you know, the books in libraries, different things like that, the flags being hung in classrooms, what can only be described as activists who are in these powerful, authoritative teaching positions?
00:11:53.480Yeah, and it's not like you can take your kid out of public school and put them in private school and think that everything's going to be okay.
00:12:00.120There is an intentional drive to sexualize kids.
00:12:21.140There are movie ratings, for example, right, you know, are in PG-13.
00:12:25.160We know that there are certain subjects, maybe PG-13 is okay for kids over 13, right?
00:12:30.060But under, you know, really questioning some of the content, even places like the American Holocaust Museum has an exhibit for sixth grade and up, a separate one for fourth and fifth grade.
00:13:01.780They can handle different subject matter in a different way.
00:13:04.120And there's certain subject matter that really children don't need to engage in.
00:13:08.380And so I just think it's an interesting moment we find ourselves in in America.
00:13:12.140And it's up to parents to really draw the line and to say, listen, these are our children.
00:13:17.480We will not let you rob them of their childhood.
00:13:19.800It's a beautiful time of life, right, where it should be exciting and fun.
00:13:24.980And you should be learning about lots of different things and being curious.
00:13:28.860But, you know, the idea that the most interesting thing about elementary school kids, middle school kids, is that it's their sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of their teacher and how the teacher feels about politics.
00:13:41.500You know, I think Robert Pondicio from AEI has said, if you're kids in your classroom, if you're a teacher and you have students in your classroom and they know who you voted for for president or they know your political ideology, then you're doing something wrong.
00:13:57.500Last week, you were in Florida alongside Florida's attorney general for the announcement of a brand new Office of Parental Rights.
00:14:05.020Tell us a little bit about this new Office of Parental Rights and what it aims to do.
00:14:08.960So there's something called the Pew Protection Rights Amendment that was passed in the 70s.
00:14:13.400And then there was a rulemaking process that happened in 19 in the 1980s, early 1980s.
00:14:18.280And what it said was that, you know, children cannot be surveyed about political affiliation, sexual orientation, their parents' political affiliation without the consent and knowledge of parents.
00:14:29.620It also said that parents should have access to anything that's being presented to the child, any type of curriculum, whether that's curriculum that's normally scheduled for the classroom or supplemental curriculum that the teacher is bringing in.
00:14:39.760And that's been violated, left and right.
00:14:42.400We've seen that even in a place like the free state of Florida.
00:14:45.220And I know everybody always wants to say, oh, Florida is perfect.
00:14:47.600Everything, you know, even in Florida, it's happening.
00:14:49.800And so Attorney General James Uthmeyer, who was appointed by Governor DeSantis after A.G. Moody went up to the Senate to serve, he has opened an Office of Parental Rights.
00:15:03.800And it was just amazing to be there for that moment where he said, you know, he realizes it's really expensive if you're a parent to bring a lawsuit against your school district.
00:15:14.660It's hard to find lawyers oftentimes that are willing to take the cases, honestly.
00:15:18.780And so, you know, you can't get damages.
00:15:20.860So, you know, lawyers aren't really incentivized to take these cases.
00:15:24.480And so it's just wonderful that he's opened up this Office of Parental Rights.
00:15:28.540He really had a message to parents that said, we're opening a portal.
00:15:33.060And as much as I loved the Office of Civil Rights and the DOE opening their DEI portal and wanting to get the information, you know, so that they could go through it and see where to launch investigations across the country.
00:15:43.040Again, you know, education is really the purview of the state.
00:15:46.960And so it's just wonderful to see an attorney general standing up for parents.
00:15:53.480And I really do hope that other attorneys general across the country will emulate James and open an Office of Parental Rights in their state.
00:16:04.660I think that would be a fantastic and really smart move.
00:16:08.140You alluded to this recent Supreme Court case, Mahmoud v. Taylor.
00:16:13.040It centers on this dispute between parents in the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland over the inclusion of these, again, age-inappropriate, sexualized, LGBTQ-plus-themed books in elementary school curriculums.
00:16:29.760One of the pretty spectacular things I noticed about the plaintiffs in this case, it's an alliance of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish parents.
00:16:40.280And they're arguing that the absence of the opt-out option for such materials infringes on their First Amendment right to freely express and exercise their religion.
00:16:50.660You, of course, listen to these oral arguments.
00:16:53.020Can you tell us what you saw, what you heard more so, and what you expect the ruling to be?
00:17:00.260These parents who used to be able to opt out of this Pride Storybook collection, the school district said, no, too many of you are opting out.
00:17:35.320And, you know, Justice Roberts was just like, come on.
00:17:37.740You know, you want to introduce this is a book that's meant for pre-K called Pride Puppy.
00:17:41.800Why the heck, you know, does a preschool kid need to be introduced to drag queens?
00:17:46.960My good friend James Lindsay would tell you there's a white paper called Drag Queen Pedagogy where they say that drag queens are an introduction to queer theory.
00:17:55.700In fact, they want to leave glitter in the carpet.
00:17:57.760That's literally the words that they use.
00:17:59.640So there's very clearly a want to indoctrinate.
00:18:03.800Now, why would the school district not allow opt-outs?
00:18:07.420You know, there was Justice Barrett brought up, you know, there's a difference between exposure.
00:18:11.800And so you're not allowing these opt-outs.
00:18:14.720And, you know, then you're saying, you know, are you saying some people believe X and some people believe Y and people think different things?
00:18:21.220Or are you saying some people believe X and some people believe Y?
00:18:24.540And if you don't believe X, you're a hateful bigot.
00:18:27.460And that was actually what was said to some of the Muslim parents in this case by the school district in the lower courts.
00:18:33.040They compared the Muslim parents to the KKK or a hate group.
00:18:37.480And so just this real disdain for the parents' concern.
00:18:40.560I thought one of the most telling moments was Justice Kagan Riley.
00:18:44.220She said that she imagined that parents might have an issue with these books, not just based on their religion solely, but just the age appropriateness of the content.
00:19:23.800You're still involved with Moms for Liberty.
00:19:25.900Of course, you're with the Heritage Foundation now.
00:19:27.800So what are some of the next big projects or initiatives to be on the lookout for?
00:19:32.880Yeah, I love Moms for Liberty and I'm still a member of my local chapter, which is awesome.
00:19:37.680It's the most important part of the work we do.
00:19:39.560The local chapters coming together, being leaders in their own community, not waiting for someone else to lead.
00:19:44.800We saw during COVID, it was so important for people to stand up and not wait for somebody else to make a decision for their family, but to stand up for what they believe in.
00:19:53.580I joined the Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow.
00:19:55.960I'm so excited about that because the Heritage Foundation has been an amazing partner to Moms for Liberty and so many other conservative organizations throughout, you know, the past five years of working at Moms for Liberty.
00:20:06.800And so to take what I've learned, the advocacy tools and skills that I've learned and all the relationships that I've been able to build and to be able to take those to Heritage Foundation and to lead this parental rights initiative, we're going to have a parental rights network.
00:20:20.380So if anyone's listening and they want to be at the forefront of knowing exactly what's happening in policy, in the legal space, on the people that are making the biggest difference across the country, we're going to be doing weekly calls there.
00:20:32.240We're going to have a What's Best for Kids series.
00:20:34.260We'll have an annual summit where we bring everyone together and then we'll have some regional town halls.
00:20:39.220And so I think it's going to be a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get together, to really, you know, catapult this movement forward and create a lot of momentum.