Is the 'Trump effect' making kids mean? Hillary Clinton has a $500 million plan to fix it.


At the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton introduced the idea of a "Trump effect," in which Donald Trump's presence on the national stage has influenced the behavior of school children for the worse. "Bullying is up," she said, referencing anecdotal evidence from teachers and parents. "A lot of people are feeling uneasy, a lot of kids are expressing their concerns."
Now Clinton has proposed a $500 million anti-bullying initiative to fund a 10-year program in American schools. She described the plan Thursday as a "major new effort to help states and communities and schools and families end bullying wherever it takes place," again making the point that "teachers have reported that this election has made it worse."
The trouble is there's no hard evidence the "Trump effect" exists. Supporters of Clinton's initiative are citing a Southern Poverty Law Center survey of teachers that found Trump is generating "an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color," but the survey wasn't scientific: It was a poll of teachers already on SPLC's email list and its website visitors, hardly a representative sample of America's educators.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, about 3,000 therapists have signed a "manifesto" claiming Trump has engendered anxiety among their patients, and one national poll found 43 percent of voters said Trump has caused them emotional distress. As for bullying rates specifically, scientifically sound data for 2016 won't be available from the National Center for Education Statistics until 2018.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Frauds: ‘fantastically stylish’ crime heist caper is a ‘triumph’
The Week Recommends Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker play a pair of ex-cons planning one last job
-
The struggles of Aston Martin
In the Spotlight The car manufacturer, famous for its association with the James Bond franchise, is ‘running out of road’
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rights
The Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies