(HorizonPost.com) – In remarks at the 2023 Winter Meeting for the Western Governors Association, President Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona selectively edited an infamous quote from President Ronald Reagan while discussing the government’s role in people’s lives, the Washington Examiner reported.
While appearing with Wisconsin Governor Mark Gordon and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Cardona said he thought it was Reagan who said, “We’re from the government. We’re here to help.”
While that was indeed part of what Ronald Reagan once said, in reality, the entire quote directly contradicted the point Cardona was attempting to make.
During an August 1986 press conference, President Reagan famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”
On Monday, a video clip of Cardona’s remarks was posted on X by Townhall, prompting a swift reaction from anyone aware of the message President Reagan was conveying.
Many X users noted the irony that the Secretary of Education could be so uneducated as to not realize that Reagan wasn’t endorsing the government’s involvement in people’s lives.
Former Education Secretary for Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos, described Cardona’s ignorance as “terrifying,” while Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison suggested that Cardona is precisely the kind of government official Reagan was warning about.
In explaining Reagan’s famous quote, the Ronald Reagan President Foundation and Institute said the 40th President of the United States was suggesting that the government is so inefficient “that instead of helping, it often causes harm instead.”
Just before he misrepresented Reagan’s quote, Cardona was discussing the need to provide students with additional training to excel in careers and said the Department of Education would conduct “follow-up calls” with the nation’s governors to see how it could help support the needs of their states’ students.
The secretary told the governors that they could count on the Education Department to be a “partner” in supporting students.
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