[UPDATED] In Michigan to Campaign for Far-Right-Extremist Gov Candidate, Youngkin Praises Trump’s “1776 Commission” Chair, Theocratic Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, as “a beacon of hope for our entire country”

UPDATED 9:41 pm – Here’s video of tonight’s bizarre rally with Glenn Youngkin and Tudor Dixon in Michigan. Adjectives that spring to mind include: dorky, fascistic, crazy, cringe-inducing, you name it.

As you know, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is in Michigan this weekend to campaign for far-right extremist and MI GOP(Q) gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon. After he arrived earlier today, one of Youngkin’s first stops was Hillsdale College, at which he paid homage to its president, Larry Arnn, who Youngkin called “truly a bastion of conservative and American values…and a beacon of hope for our entire country.” Yeah, except that – as you can see in the following links and screenshots – Arnn is pretty much the polar opposite of “American values,” unless you believe that establishing a fundamentalist Christian theocracy is what the Founding Fathers had in mind (which, obviously, they didn’t!). Check out the following stories, for instance:

• How this tiny Christian college is driving the right’s nationwide war against public schools (“In the full-scale conservative assault on public education, Hillsdale College is leading the charge”)
• I Took Hillsdale College’s Trash Citizenship Course (“To see what Dr. Larry Arnn might be concocting for the students in states whose governors love his views, Michael Daly signed up for Arnn’s free online course—and reports back.”)
• Teachers go to the ‘dumbest colleges’ — who said it and why it matters (“Larry Arnn is president of a small but influential Christian college in Michigan who has become a key education adviser to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R). Last week, at an invitation-only reception, Arnn repeatedly denigrated teachers, saying, among other things that they ‘are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country,’ and that ‘anyone’ can teach.”)
• How Hillsdale College-affiliated charter schools spread (“Hillsdale President Larry Arnn headed former president Trump’s 1776 Commission, and last year Hillsdale College released a “1776 Curriculum” as a counter to the New York Times’ 1619 Project and its corresponding K-12 curriculum…Hillsdale spreads the gospel of the right-wing through their K-12 curriculum and the Barney Charter School Initiative, which currently claims member schools in nine states across the country and ‘curriculum schools’ in 19 states. The college’s mission to maintain ‘by precept and example the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith’ morphs into a call for “moral virtue” in their K-12 charter schools. Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini The school’s expanding K-12 footprint aligns with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s admission that ‘greater Kingdom gain’ is the ultimate outcome of the religious right’s school choice agenda. Hillsdale has made gains in this aim via charter schools, which are publicly funded but operated by entities outside traditional school districts.”)
• Conservative group pushes to shift public schools to Christian nationalist principles (“Katherine Joyce, investigative reporter at Salon, talks with Alex Wagner about the role of Hillsdale College at the center of the conservative effort to make education a political battlefield with initiatives like the ‘Stop Woke Act’ in Florida to align civic and history curricula with right-wing Christian perspectives.”)

So yeah…for all those “journalists” (and anyone else) who still thinks Youngkin’s in any way/shape/form a “moderate,” and not the far-right extremist that he actually is, here you go!