Robby Starbuck, Tennessee political commentator and documentary filmmaker, and Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, agree that Penny Schwinn, the former Tennessee Education Commissioner who was controversially nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education, would best serve the president by withdrawing her name from consideration for the role.
Trump announced last week he nominated Schwinn to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education, as previously reported by The Star.
Schwinn’s nomination, however, has been met with criticism by many Tennesseans – including prominent figures like Starbuck, country singer John Rich, Dr. Carol Swain, and others – who pointed out how Schwinn declined to enforce Tennessee’s ban on Critical Race Theory from K-12 education while she served as Education Commissioner.
Schwinn also spearheaded a controversial “monthly child well-being” inspection program that would have allowed educators to monitor the mental health of children while she was education commissioner.
In addition, Schwinn also faced controversies related to staffing, library books, and Tennessee’s process to adopt new textbooks while she served at the state level.
Amid criticism surrounding Schwinn’s nomination by Trump, education journalist and author Christopher Rufo said he met with Schwinn to discuss the criticism surrounding her nomination, to which Schwinn reportedly denied many of the concerns raised about her record as education commissioner.
On Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Starbuck, who resides in Tennessee with his wife and children, said that while he “respects” Rufo as a journalist, his interview of Schwinn did not reflect on the real in-state experience that he and other Tennesseans experienced under Schwinn’s leadership.
“You were being charitable when you described [Schwinn’s] tenure here as a disaster. I think it may have been even worse than that. I mean, it felt like every issue and I was deeply involved in a lot of the issues because my wife and I have young kids here in Tennessee. So there’s a reason why the loudest voices speaking out against the appointment are Tennesseans who have kids, people like John Rich, myself, Carol Swain, who is deeply involved in education here, Riley Gaines, who has been a champion of young girls in schools. We’re all Tennesseans who actually live here and had to experience sort of what went on,” Starbuck explained.
“At the end of the day, I respect Chris. He’s done a lot of great work, but he doesn’t live here. He didn’t experience it. You can’t capture what is right or wrong about somebody in a one hour meeting with very little ability to understand the history of what happened,” Starbuck added.
Noting how he said he believes the individual who recommended that Trump nominate Schwinn to serve in his administration “did not tell the full story” about her record in Tennessee, Starbuck stressed how Schwinn was a champion of “equity” in her role at “every turn.”
“She championed equity – a marxist concept – at every turn. She even said on video that her core value was equity and that equity needed to happen. Equity is the enemy of excellence. It is a marxist concept, full stop. There is no excusing it,” Starbuck said.
“She either has one of two excuses. She is an adherent to DEI, she’s the champion of it and believes in it. Okay, inexcusable. The second option is she didn’t know what equity meant and can’t define a six letter word. If that is the case, I think that it should be clear to everybody that she is not deserving of a promotion to help run education for the entire country,” Starbuck added.
At the end of the interview, Starbuck agreed with host Leahy when he said he believes Schwinn “can best serve the president by withdrawing from the nomination.”
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Penny Schwinn” by Penny Schwinn.
