Today, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan held a press conference with community advocates to call out MAGA Mike Minogue for his praise for and donations to the conservative media company known as PragerU. During the press conference, Kerrigan outlined the extreme positions PragerU promotes, criticized Minogue for calling it “very good resource” and donating thousands of dollars to the company through his family foundation, and warned how implementing a hateful curriculum like PragerU in Massachusetts schools would hurt students.
PragerU promotes far-right propaganda through produced media and “educational” videos. Instead of promoting American values, the organization vilifies and demonizes a wide range of people and spreads misinformation, including:
Minimizing slavery in a series marketed towards young children stating that “being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?”
Saying abortions are “not moral” and attacking the validity of reproductive freedom.
Downplaying the consequences and impact of climate change.
Calling autism a "social contagion”
Attacking the LGBTQ+ community, claiming that kids are only identifying because it is “trendy,” that the community is trying to “pervert” the minds of children, and saying “gay people shouldn’t be proud to be gay.”
Promoting a number of racist statements, including “all it really takes for a brown person to nearly get away with murder is telling the police that a white person said or did something racist,” “I can’t even blame somebody for being racist at this point,” and telling immigrants that they should “Stay over there. Don’t flee your country and then bring that hellhole over here.”
Pushing vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, calling life-saving vaccines “genetic engineering modification,” and promoting a speaker that claims they developed lung cancer from vaccines and that you shouldn’t trust your doctor.
Stating that “kids graduating high school barely know how to read and write but able to list off 97 genders,” condemning any teaching about global warming, history of racism and sexism in the US, and seemingly calling for an end to sexual education.
Calling feminism “the root of so many evils and ills in our society.”
Claiming income inequality is a “good thing.”
Blaming immigrants for crime, condemning multiculturalism, and stereotyping all immigrants as violent criminals.
"It is reprehensible that Mike Minogue would provide financial support and praise to an organization that promotes such hateful rhetoric," said MassDem Chair Steve Kerrigan. "That alone is disqualifying for any candidate that wants to be governor of Massachusetts, and we can't allow this kind of hate to infiltrate our schools and harm our students."
"Mike Minogue’s endorsement of an organization that labels abortion a moral failing tells you everything you need to know about how he would govern," said Dominique Lee, President of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts. "We need leaders like Governor Healey who will protect reproductive freedom, not candidates who are proudly anti-abortion."
“Massachusetts overwhelmingly supports reproductive freedom, and when voters have a choice between a champion like Maura Healey and an anti-abortion candidate who won’t respect those rights, they will reject his harmful agenda and vote to protect their autonomy,” said Claire Teylouni, Interim Executive Director of Reproductive Equity Now. “The content supported by Mike Minogue at PragerU is a direct attack on reproductive health care and a threat to the safety of every patient in this Commonwealth."
"Mike Minogue’s financial backing of an organization that treats the climate crisis as a hoax is a direct threat to the safety and security of Massachusetts families, and an even greater threat to our future," said Robert Hart, Campaign & Advocacy Manager at the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund. "We need a governor who relies on science to prepare our state for the reality of climate change by protecting our vulnerable communities and prioritizing clean energy, not someone who funds and supports the disinformation that puts us all at risk."
"Groups like PragerU undermine the integrity of our classrooms, the hard work of Massachusetts educators, and the future of our students," said Jessica Tang, President of AFT Massachusetts. "As more states bring harmful PragerU content into their public schools, teachers in Massachusetts are committed to teaching an honest, accurate curriculum and fostering critical thinking skills, not historical revisionism and exposing our students to the divisive propaganda that Mike Minogue is choosing to fund and promote."
"PragerU paints LGBTQ+ identities as 'trendy' or 'perverted,’ demonizing people and attacking the very identity of thousands of people across Massachusetts," said Dallas Ducar, MSN, RN, NP, CNL, FAAN, Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party LGBTQIA+ Outreach Committee. "This rhetoric fuels real-world stigma against trans and queer people, which is the exact opposite of the inclusive leadership Massachusetts has with Governor Healey."
"Hateful organizations that push propaganda that attacks the basic humanity of immigrants and communities of color and distorts our history puts people in real danger," said Grace Moreno, Executive Director of Unidos In Power. "Anyone promoting these hateful viewpoints is proving they have no interest in building a state that respects and protects all of us."
“It is absolutely unconscionable that a group would attempt to minimize the horrors and inhumanity of slavery, and deny Black (really American) history in our children’s curriculum," Michael Curry, National NAACP Board Member and Former President of the Boston NAACP. "When you look at how this organization spreads lies and fear about immigrants and vilifies communities of color, it is clear their only goal is to alienate rather than educate. Our students deserve the honest, unsanitized version of our history, as well as a safe learning environment, not a platform for hate."
While Minogue aligns himself with Donald Trump and the far-right, Governor Healey continues standing with Massachusetts, fighting to invest in education and protect from the harms the Trump administration is causing every day.
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