Former deputy White House Press Secretary and Fox News contributor Sarah Huckabee Sanders was taken back to the classroom in a tense Twitter exchange with a history teacher at her former high school.
Sanders, an avid right-wing defender of President Trump, took to Twitter over the weekend to complain about what she perceives is censorship by the “radical left” and tech companies.
Earlier last week, President Trump’s phone was essentially turned into a brick after numerous social-media platforms banned him — among them, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitch and Pinterest.
Trump’s ban prompted some right-wingers and allies of the president to cry censorship, but just like follower fluctuations, the bans don’t violate the First Amendment — as attorney Nora Benavidez explained in a tweet the day Trump was banned on Twitter.
Sanders’ old high school history teacher, Dana Deree, was also quick to educate via Twitter this week. Sanders retweeted a photo posted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which showed a graphic (from an unverified source) of Twitter follower counts for politicians. In the image, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Sen. Nancy Pelosi were all shown gaining followers — some upwards of 95,000 — while conservative figures like Pompeo, Sen. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Tom Cotton were shown dropping followers like flies. Pompeo was down 19,500 followers according to the graphic, and captioned it, “this is how you create an echo chamber.”
Sanders quickly retweeted Pompeo’s image with the caption, “I’ve lost 50k+ followers this week. The radical left and their big tech allies cannot marginalize, censor, or silence the American people. This is not China, this is United States of America, and we are a free country.”
In a series of tweets that have since been deleted, Sanders’ high school history teacher Deree replied, “you were a student at Little Rock Central High when I taught AP Government there, but you didn’t take the advanced class. If you had, maybe you would better understand the First Amendment and the difference between limits on government and freedoms for private individuals.”
Deree also said, “I’ve taught Sunday School too. You didn’t learn those lessons either.”
Deree’s since taken his account private, but the original tweets are captured here.
Sanders hasn’t responded to the teacher mocking her lack of book smarts, but she did tweet a link to her website and doubled down on the censorship rhetoric the next day.
“The radical left’s cancel culture is about silencing you. For all their empty rhetoric about ‘tolerance’ and ‘free speech,’ the left and their big tech allies only tolerate speech they agree with and repress dissent,” Sanders said Monday.
I’ve lost 50k+ followers this week. The radical left and their big tech allies cannot marginalize, censor, or silence the American people. This is not China, this is United States of America, and we are a free country. https://t.co/Xupd0N1hea
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) January 9, 2021
Sarah Huckabee Sanders lamented the loss of Twitter followers. A teacher at her old high school responded. pic.twitter.com/oatsdWkn21
— Alexander Nazaryan (@alexnazaryan) January 11, 2021