Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ “Teacher Appreciation Week” message backfires spectacularly

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and Arkansas’ gay-hating governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders took a break from promoting her transphobic “real woman” beer koozies to let educators in her state to know that she thinks they’re just great… provided they don’t stray from the strict “anti-woke” agenda she’s been imposing upon them since taking office five months ago.

“Thank you to every Arkansas teacher for your service to our state’s future!” she tweeted late yesterday, along with a video of herself praising schoolteachers in Republican-controlled Arkansas, which currently ranks 47th in the nation in education (plus 49th in health care, 43rd in infrastructure, and 41st in economy.)

“Thank you to ever Arkansas teacher for your service to our state’s future,” she says in the video. “God bless.”

But Sanders’ appreciation stops there.

Since taking office in January, she’s launched an all-out assault on Arkansas schools and LGBTQ+ students and teachers.

Not only did she appoint Jacob Oliva, the guy who was responsible for implementing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, to lead the Arkansas Education Department, but she quickly signed a law banning trans teachers and students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities.

She also signed a 145-page education overhaul that gives teachers a small pay increase ($2000 a year) but also totally silences them from speaking about gender identity or sexual orientation.

Oh, and she signed an executive order to prevent “indoctrination” in classrooms by banning teachers from talking about critical race theory.

“Schools must educate, not indoctrinate students, and their education policies must protect children and prepare them to enter the workforce,” the order read. “Teachers and school administrators should teach students how to think—not what to think.”

Here’s how people responded to Sanders’ teacher appreciation message…

Taking a break from calling teachers indoctrinators? pic.twitter.com/4b1D9kywqd— living life as a host body (@angryamaggdyla) May 10, 2023

5th lowest pay in the nation for teachers. Miserable teaching conditions; overcrowding, old materials, failing infrastructure. Wow thanks teachers for putting up with this.— Mark Richardson (@Mark0Richardson) May 10, 2023

AYKM??? You trash teachers by saying they are indoctrinating students and bash them for teaching the mythical CRT. You made it easy to fire them and made their continuing education useless. You literally ran on a ‘AR teachers suck platform’ GFY— Darin (@PearceDarin) May 10, 2023

You have no friends that are Teachers……— btowngirl1 (@btowngirl1) May 10, 2023

"Thanks teachers, but y'all are a bunch of pedophiles and indoctrinators, beware what you say because now you can be fired with no teacher fair dismissal act lmao"— Chenoa Summers (@Chenoa4AR) May 10, 2023

Arkansas is 47th in Education.— ISS Enterprise (@ISS_Enterprise) May 10, 2023

"Thank you to every Arkansas teacher for your service…" Now you're all fired, you pinko, commie, America hatin' pedophiles!— Brian Regal PhD. (@Tarbosaurus89) May 10, 2023

This is hypocrisy at its worst. You accuse teachers of “indoctrinating” students. You say they’re “grooming” kids into some sort of evil conspiracy. You threaten to cut off schools because you think they’re failing.

Oh, but you love and appreciate them?? — Andy Morgan (@mrmorganmusic) May 10, 2023

Last week, Sanders went on right wingnut Dan Bongino’s podcast to crow about how people from blue states, California in particular, are flocking to Arkansas because it’s such a wonderful utopia for people with conservative values.

“We believe not only in individual and personal freedom, but in making sure we do things that protect those freedoms,” she said, adding, “We have seen people from all over the country, blue states in particular, flooding into our state. Particularly California.”

“And the message I gave them was very simple. Welcome to Arkansas. Don’t forget why you left California. … We’re going to keep taking them as long as they remember why they left those blue states in the first place.”