Republicans Warned About Indoctrinating Kids In Schools & Then Did Exactly That

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What to Know

01 The U.S. Department of Education posted about Teacher Appreciation Week on X.
02 A meme the account shared featured an image of Mrs. Puff from SpongeBob SquarePants—and she was reading a "MAGA" book.
03 The post sparked backlash on social media.

People are begging the Trump administration to be normal on social media for once after seeing the U.S. Department of Education’s post for Teacher Appreciation Week. There are plenty of ordinary ways to recognize and celebrate educators, but instead, the Trump admin took a partisan, MAGA-fied approach.

In an image shared via the U.S. Department of Education’s official X account, SpongeBob SquarePants character Mrs. Puff is reading from a red “MAGA” book. Text on the image reads, “Teachers are dedicated. Teacher Appreciation Week 2026.”

People had a lot to say about this post.

For one, on SpongeBob SquarePants, Mrs. Puff is a driving instructor. SpongeBob has attended her driving school from the very beginning, yet he never manages to actually learn to drive. To some critics, this particular choice actually seemed kind of funny. “Funny that you used a picture of a terrible teacher who can’t pass their student no matter how many years she tries,” one critic wrote on X. “Makes total sense she’d read MAGA propaganda.”

And those familiar with SpongeBob also pointed out that Mrs. Puff has also literally been to jail multiple times, once again making her an interesting choice for the Trump administration’s graphic. “With Donald Trump being a 34 count convicted felon, a rapist, a pedophile, & many more, this makes perfect sense, considering the fact Mrs. puff here, has been jail multiple times, though ig you could blame Sponge Bob for some of that time,” someone else argued.

And another person added, “You realize she is famous for her main student constantly failing.” In spite of all of this though, some critics did not seem convinced that Mrs. Puff would actually supported the Trump administration’s politics. “ain’t no way mrs. puff is maga be so for real,” someone joked.

But also, people found the hypocrisy astounding.

Because on many occasions, Republicans have accused Democrats of trying to “indoctrinate” kids. They’ve tried to argue that schools are a major source of “left-wing indoctrination.” At the start of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” The Trump administration accused schools of operating as “echo chambers” in which kids were “forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.” They also tried to say that teaching methods in K-12 schools “erode critical thinking.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education is now sharing a meme of a teacher reading a MAGA book. “Republicans can never lecture us about politicization of government services again,” one critic wrote in response.

And people are just… tired.

It’s obviously not the first time that the Trump administration’s posts (often AI-generated memes) have sparked backlash, and based on what White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said previously, it seems like that’s often the intention. People are over the U.S. government’s trolling (and strange AI-generated posts) at this point.

One critic summed it up with, “god why does everything have to be so weird and stupid?” Someone else said it’s actually almost “impressive how well these guys are able to balance all-out fascism with being dumb— clowns.”

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Paige Sheffield (she/her)