This should terrify all of us.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, one of the chief architects of Trump’s second term, gave a chilling briefing Thursday on the state of the Department of Education.

In it, he declared:

“Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots.”

He made it clear: states that want federal funding will have to fall in line.

And in a move straight out of the McCarthy era, Miller also claimed schools that “promote communist ideology” will lose federal support. What does that even mean? Who decides what counts as “communist”? A history book? A social justice lesson? A teacher who encourages critical thinking?

Miller may be Trump’s homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy — but he’s also a throwback to a time we were supposed to have buried in the history books.

History tells us this is how authoritarian regimes take hold.

Hitler’s first move? Gut the schools. Replace real learning with propaganda. Expel Jewish teachers. Rewrite the textbooks. Turn classrooms into echo chambers of hate and obedience.

Mussolini. Stalin. Franco. Today’s strongmen. They all follow the same playbook:Censor the truth. Rewrite the past. Control the future.

That’s why this moment matters. That’s why this video of Stephen Miller shouldn’t just worry us — it should mobilize us.

Because this isn’t just about education policy.

It’s about democracy itself.

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