The nation’s school children are getting quite a lesson in bullying this year from the Republican candidate for President of the United States.
The “Trump Effect” is a term that has come into widespread use to describe bullying behavior inspired by the rhetoric children are hearing in the Presidential campaign. Teachers report openly racist taunts in classrooms and on playgrounds.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that more than half of teachers who responded to a recent survey said they had seen an increase in uncivil political discourse in school, and more than one-third had observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment. Students—mainly immigrants, children of immigrants, and Muslims—have expressed fears about what might happen to them after the election.
Our Progressive Education Fellow Sabrina Stevens has written about the impact of the videotape of Trump talking about harassing and assaulting women on children’s understanding of sex and sexual assault.
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore creates regularly for The Progressive. See more work on his Patreon page.