Published May 1, 2026
Are you concerned that the torrent of leftist rhetoric making President Trump out to be an authoritarian, a tyrant, and a fascist is legitimating political violence? Well, what if a major American city were to spend a week or so preaching about Trump’s supposed fascism to its hundreds of thousands of students, afterwards gathering them at political rallies to protest the Trump administration, . . . oh, and to celebrate a famous socialist holiday as well? Too partisan? Too dangerous? Too extreme? Won’t happen. Sorry, welcome to Chicago 2026 and the bottom of the slippery slope known as “action civics.”
The semi-insane plans of the socialist-friendly 30,000-strong Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to do all of the above this May Day drew national attention early last month. The controversy largely faded from national discussion, however, when Chicago Public Schools (CPS) refused to suspend classes for political rallies on May Day. In truth, however, after tough negotiations, the teachers’ union has won. Technically, classes will be held on May 1. But the agreement struck by the CTU and CPS requires CPS to provide food and transportation for students from at least 100 schools to attend anti-Trump rallies on May 1. Many thousands of students are expected. What’s more, future May Days are to be set aside for “teacher professional development” — meaning classes will be out, and teachers will be able to lead students in leftist political demonstrations, as CTU plans to do.
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Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow in the Education and American Ideals Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. For over a decade, he has been a national leader in the reform of both K-12 and higher education, authoring or co-authoring model legislation designed to protect campus free speech, reintroduce the study of Western civilization, restore the reading of classic literature, prevent high school walkouts for purposes of political protest, block mandatory DEI indoctrination, bring public policy debate back to college campuses, and more. He writes regularly on education issues for a wide range of outlets, particularly National Review Online, where he has been a contributing editor for over two decades.
