Ron Brownstein struggled with the idea that blue states could be on the wrong end of federal civil rights issues on Friday’s CNN This Morning as he claimed that the Trump Administration is trying to use “the power of the federal purse to rescind rights.”
Host Jessica Dean began by reading from Brownstein’s recent article on the subject, where he laid out what his definition of “rights” is, “Trump has threatened to cut off federal funds for states, cities, hospitals, and universities unless they adopt a wide range of conservative social policies, such as banning transgender girls from competing in high school sports and ending diversity programs in education and employment. Since most red states have already adopted these policies, the principal effect of Trump’s orders is to attempt to impose these ideas on Democratic-controlled states that have already considered them at the state level, and virtually without exception, spurned them.”
Brownstein then joined the show to elaborate, “Yeah. So we have seen an enormous divergence over the last four or five years in the states on a range of social policy. Virtually every red state—every Republican-controlled state has banned transgender girls from high school sports. Has banned gender-affirming care for minors. The vast majority of them have imposed limits on how classroom teachers can talk about race and gender in K-to-12 grades, and most of them have also restricted diversity issues, particularly in public education.”
After claiming that blue states are not following suit, Brownstein rolled on, “Now we see in the first weeks of the Trump administration in his flurry of executive orders, as you note, he is threatening to cut off a wide range of federal funding sources for states that don’t adopt these policies. Basically, he is seeking to use the power of the federal government, the power of the federal purse, to rescind rights that are protected now in blue states who have considered these ideas. I mean, these ideas have all been proposed and rejected.”
The idea that protecting women’s sports via Title IX or certain education standards might be legitimate uses of the federal government’s ability to protect civil rights was not something that even crossed Brownstein’s mind. Instead, he portrayed the blue states as the civil rights advocates, “And as I note in the story, this is a very unusual role for the federal government. I mean, usually when the federal government participates in the rollback of rights it’s looking the other way or standing aside. When states roll back rights, as Washington did during the seven decades of segregation, it is much more rare for the federal government to affirmatively go into states where rights are protected and try to erase them.”
Dean then tried to argue that Republicans are hypocrites considering their professed federalist tendencies, “It is also a big ironic, I suppose, that—the argument that Republicans and Trump himself has made so many times to send things back to the states and let them decide. To take that argument and then put it with what we’re seeing play out—what you’re writing about.”
Brownstein agreed, “No—yeah. Historic reversal of roles. I mean, Trump himself, in 2016, there was a quote from him on the campaign trail talking about how important it is that education be decided at the local level. Well, his executive order is threatening to cut off funds to every school district in the country unless they follow his dictates, which are essentially what the red state agenda on how they talk about race and gender and sexual orientation in the classroom and patriotic education.”
Liberals like to view themselves as the defenders of civil rights, but the issue of the integrity of women’s sports challenges that assumption.
Here is a transcript for the February 28 show:
CNN This Morning
2/28/2025
5:44 am and
JESSICA DEAN: Brownstein writing, quote “Trump has threatened to cut off federal funds for states, cities, hospitals, and universities unless they adopt a wide range of conservative social policies, such as banning transgender girls from competing in high school sports and ending diversity programs in education and employment. Since most red states have already adopted these policies, the principal effect of Trump’s orders is to attempt to impose these ideas on Democratic-controlled states that have already considered them at the state level, and virtually without exception, spurned them.”
Ron Brownstein joins us now to talk more about this. Ron, good morning to you. Elaborate a little —
RON BROWNSTEIN: Good morning.
DEAN: Good morning. Elaborate more on this argument you’re making.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. So we have seen an enormous divergence over the last four or five years in the states on a range of social policy. Virtually every red state — every Republican-controlled state has banned transgender girls from high school sports. Has banned gender-affirming care for minors. The vast majority of them have imposed limits on how classroom teachers can talk about race and gender in K-to-12 grades, and most of them have also restricted diversity issues, particularly in public education.
But Jessica, those ideas have made virtually no inroads in blue states with the exception of New Hampshire where Republicans actually control the governor and the state legislature. None of the states that voted against Trump have done any of those things.
Now we see in the first weeks of the Trump administration in his flurry of executive orders, as you note, he is threatening to cut off a wide range of federal funding sources for states that don’t adopt these policies. Basically, he is seeking to use the power of the federal government, the power of the federal purse, to rescind rights that are protected now in blue states who have considered these ideas. I mean, these ideas have all been proposed and rejected.
And as I note in the story, this is a very unusual role for the federal government. I mean, usually when the federal government participates in the rollback of rights it’s looking the other way or standing aside. When states roll back rights, as Washington did during the seven decades of segregation, it is much more rare for the federal government to affirmatively go into states where rights are protected and try to erase them.
DEAN: It is also a big ironic, I suppose, that — the argument that Republicans and Trump himself has made so many times to send things back to the states –
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
DEAN: — and let them decide. To take that argument and then put it with what we’re seeing play out — what you’re writing about.
BROWNSTEIN: No — yeah. Historic reversal of roles. I mean, Trump himself, in 2016, there was a quote from him on the campaign trail talking about how important it is that education be decided at the local level.
Well, his executive order is threatening to cut off funds to every school district in the country unless they follow his dictates, which are essentially what the red state agenda on how they talk about race and gender and sexual orientation in the classroom and patriotic education.
