Betsy DeVos Says She’d Work for Trump Again—on One Condition
Trump’s former education secretary once bravely criticized him. Now she says she’d consider a return.
![Betsy DeVos](http://images.newrepublic.com/7051d0197616baf91af0370b2b9676307770a6b5.jpeg?auto=format&fit=crop&crop=faces&q=65&w=768&h=undefined&ar=3%3A2&ixlib=react-9.0.2&w=768)
If Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, Betsy DeVos would like a job again, but only if it involves phasing out the entire Department of Education.
DeVos told The Detroit News Saturday that she didn’t think Trump would ask her to return to her post as secretary of education, but if asked, she would like to serve with the “goal of phasing out the Department of Education as we tried to do through the budgetary process in the first administration.”
DeVos also said that she would like to pass “a major education freedom bill in the form of a tax credit mechanism,” alluding to school choice vouchers at the federal tax level, part of conservatives’ grand plans to eventually get rid of public education in America. The former Trump Cabinet member made the comments at a campaign event for Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.
DeVos was one of the least popular Cabinet secretaries under the Trump administration. Not only did she have no experience working in or with public schools, but she also fought for increased school privatization, argued in favor of guns in schools, rolled back protections for LGBTQ students, and made it easier for schools to ignore sexual misconduct.
DeVos resigned on January 7, 2021, citing the violence of the Capitol insurrection the day before. She also discussed with other Cabinet members the possibility of invoking the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and removing Trump from office.
While DeVos hasn’t publicly endorsed Trump for president in 2024, last week she said she’s “definitely supporting the Republican ticket,” according to The Detroit News. Will she be Trump’s pick for secretary of education if he returns to the White House? His Cabinet the second time around would likely be a lot worse, but it’s hard to exceed DeVos’s unpopularity, unless Trump has someone like Christopher Rufo in mind.