\n<\/p>\n
In the fall of 2013, a silver-haired conservative radio host named Dennis Prager flew to Texas to woo a pair of rightwing billionaires. A few years earlier, Prager had co-founded a digital education non-profit, Prager University, which created snappy five-minute videos that promoted capitalism and \u201cJudeo-Christian values\u201d. The billionaires, fracking tycoons Dan and Farris Wilks, were big fans.<\/p>\n
Inside Farris Wilks\u2019 home theater, the brothers and more than 20 members of their family sat transfixed as Prager outlined a plan to transform PragerU from a niche internet oddity into a mainstream media empire. He just needed a lot more cash.<\/p>\n
The brothers liked the pitch, and they agreed to donate $1m for each of the next seven years, PragerU co-founder Allen Estrin, who attended the meeting, told the Guardian. \u201cIt really did make it possible for us to do some things that otherwise simply would have taken us a lot longer to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then, five years later, the partnership \u201ccame crashing to an end\u201d.<\/p>\n
That January, the non-profit published a video from Fox News contributor Guy Benson, in which Benson declared that he was both conservative and gay \u2013 part of PragerU\u2019s effort to broaden its appeal. It was a surprising message coming from Dennis Prager\u2019s brainchild. In the 1980s and 90s, Prager had made a name for himself arguing, among other things, that gay rights posed a threat to western civilization.<\/p>\n
But by 2018, his views on homosexuality had somewhat softened, and PragerU had moved on to other causes, such as \u201cradical Islam\u201d, the dangers of gender \u201cconfusion\u201d and advocacy for the use of more fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
The Wilkses\u2019 views had not softened. \u201cThey said, \u2018You have to do something about this, or we\u2019re pulling out our money,\u2019\u201d Estrin recalled. PragerU declined to remove the video, and the partnership dissolved. (The Wilks brothers did not respond to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n
By then, though, PragerU no longer needed its billionaire backers. The year before the Wilks meeting, in 2012, it had raised just $491,000 in donations and grants; by 2018, its annual revenue climbed to $18.6m. By 2024, it would rise to almost $70m, more than prominent non-profits such as the Parkinson\u2019s Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Evidence Action. (PragerU says it has more than 400,000 lifetime donors.)<\/p>\n
That money has brought Prager\u2019s master plan to life. Despite its name, it is not in fact a university, but rather a prolific content generator that has often been accused of spreading misleading information. PragerU\u2019s goal is to attract young people to its ideology, and it is increasingly making inroads in America\u2019s educational systems.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Dennis Prager speaks at the Turning Point high school leadership summit in Washington DC in 2018.<\/span> Photograph: SOPA Images\/LightRocket\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Teachers tap PragerU\u2019s library of free lesson plans and videos, some of which have become approved classroom materials in a dozen states, including Texas, Florida and Arizona. Middle and high schoolers flip through its books about the perils of socialism and \u201cthe human cost of reducing emissions\u201d. College students at Southeastern University in Florida can earn credit by taking a PragerU history course.<\/p>\n And though the non-profit originally focused on reaching students and the general public, it has expanded its target audience to small children with cartoons and picture books, such as The ABC\u2019s of America, which it says is designed \u201cfor babies and toddlers\u201d.<\/p>\n Similar to other rightwing groups with a vested interest in young Americans\u2019 education, such as Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA, PragerU has also found an ally in the White House. In June, the Trump administration unveiled a partnership with PragerU centering on the founding fathers and the US\u2019s 250th anniversary \u2013 an announcement that immediately raised its profile.<\/p>\n \u201cOur vision has always been to undo the damage of America\u2019s education system and to provide a wholesome, patriotic education to Americans who seek to understand our country and seek to defend her from within,\u201d PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said in a video call.<\/p>\n double quotation markIt commits the ultimate educational sin of having an outcome that it wants to present and then trying to substantiate that perspectiveClifford Lee<\/p>\n A growing number of academics and education experts, however, are alarmed by the non-profit\u2019s rise.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the problem comes when people don\u2019t understand the nakedly political objectives of PragerU,\u201d said Clifford Lee, a teacher who sits on the board of the South Carolina Education Association. (PragerU materials are sanctioned for use in classrooms across the state.) \u201cIt commits the ultimate educational sin of having an outcome that it wants to present and then trying to substantiate that perspective \u2026 rather than look at the evidence, think about the evidence, and then come to a conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, PragerU\u2019s approach does not always seem rooted in academic inquiry. For instance, in one 2022 video blaming leftists and \u201celites\u201d for perpetuating systemic racism \u2013 part of PragerU\u2019s stated effort to discredit social justice movements \u2013 the narrator asserts that students in many New York City schools are \u201cseparated by color during the school year\u201d. Her phrasing seems to imply segregation akin to the Jim Crow south.<\/p>\n Upon closer inspection, the video\u2019s citation links to a New York Post story about a single middle school that allowed students to attend an optional affinity group meeting about their racial identity.<\/p>\n <\/span>A PragerU textbook called Around the World: Vivi\u2019s Life Under Socialism.<\/span> Photograph: PragerU<\/p>\n In another video about Islam, a PragerU host argues that \u201cthe word \u2018moderate\u2019 as we understand it does not really apply\u201d to most Muslims. In a colorful font, the video declares that \u201cthe values of the West and the values of Islam are not compatible\u201d.<\/p>\n Much of PragerU\u2019s content is not partisan. To cynical eyes, that is an intentional strategy, imbuing the group with a patina of credibility that makes students more likely to accept its fringe ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you see them as a trustworthy site \u2026 they\u2019ve kind of reeled you in,\u201d said Ryan Corso-Gonzales, an assistant professor at Central Michigan University who wrote his master\u2019s thesis on the group.<\/p>\n PragerU\u2019s ascent comes as traditional educational institutions are disintegrating, and not by accident, as Republican officials work to dismantle what they have described as vectors of \u201cwoke\u201d ideologies. PBS faces huge budget cuts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceased operating in January, and the Department of Education is slashing its staff.<\/p>\n \u201cI really do worry that PragerU material might potentially be used even more,\u201d said Jonathan Jarry, a science communicator at McGill University\u2019s office for science and society who has written about the group. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like they\u2019re filling the void.\u201d<\/p>\n That certainly seems to be the goal. Thanks to its deep reserves, PragerU can afford to give away its digital materials for free, unlike most curriculum providers. Last year, PragerU\u2019s videos were viewed more than 2bn times, said Streit, and nearly 4 million parents and educators have expressed interest in its materials for children, such as by signing up for kids\u2019 newsletters. (The Guardian <\/em>could not independently verify these figures.) With newfound momentum, it is arguably angling to become a conservative replacement for PBS, Time for Kids, and Sesame Street simultaneously, helping shape young minds from infancy.<\/p>\n double quotation markI do think that the philosophy of conservatism is better for the countryAllen Estrin, PragerU co-founder<\/p>\n PragerU is a tax-exempt non-profit and therefore cannot engage in political campaigning or related activity; but it can <\/em>legally advance its political agenda. To Estrin, PragerU\u2019s slant is necessary to counterbalance leftist narratives that he says have \u201ctaken over\u201d schools for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a perfect world, would everything be presented in some kind of neutral way? Yeah, probably. That would be ideal,\u201d he said. Then he hesitated. \u201cMaybe,\u201d he hedged, before hesitating again.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that the philosophy of conservatism is better for the country \u2026 I\u2019m not sure that neutrality would be the best thing we could do for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n For most of PragerU\u2019s 17-year history, Dennis Prager has been its public face. Seventy-seven years old, he dresses neatly, often in a jacket and tie, and has a booming Brooklyn accent that would have made him a natural color commentator for the Mets.<\/p>\n Instead, Prager has spent recent decades stoking the country\u2019s culture wars, telling his radio listeners and conservative groups to stay vigilant against what he considers America\u2019s many internal and external threats.<\/p>\n That includes the non-religious: \u201cThere is no such thing as a secular institution with wisdom,\u201d he proclaimed at a 2023 event hosted by Moms for Liberty, a group with similar beliefs to PragerU and a champion of Florida\u2019s \u201cdon\u2019t say gay\u201d law for classrooms.<\/p>\n During the same speech, Prager described leftwing political leaders as universal liars and made unfounded claims about transgender women showing their penises to girls. Children \u201care arrested if they object\u201d, he said. (PragerU, which declined an interview on Dennis Prager\u2019s behalf, also declined to provide evidence to support this claim.)<\/p>\n But then, in the fall of 2024, Prager slipped in his bathroom and crashed to the ground, damaging his spinal cord and leaving him a quadriplegic. The accident forced him to step away temporarily from his radio program and thrust Marissa Streit, the CEO, further into the spotlight.<\/p>\n Streit, who is in her mid-40s, speaks softly and dresses in warmer colors than her boss, though she shares Prager\u2019s rigid politics. She, like Prager, took a circuitous route into education. Born in California, she moved to Israel as a child and later served in the Israeli military. She returned to the US at 21 years old and attended UCLA, followed by an education program at American Jewish University.<\/p>\n According to Streit, after graduating, she worked as an assistant principal at a parochial school in Los Angeles, then rose to become head of another nearby school for approximately four years. In between, she said, she taught kindergarten through eighth grade.<\/p>\n <\/span>Marissa Streit and Dennis Prager discuss \u2018the importance of Passover in both the Jewish and Christian faiths\u2019 for the video series Dennis Prager\u2019s Latest Thoughts.<\/span> Photograph: PragerU<\/p>\n The Guardian sought to speak with some of Streit\u2019s former students to understand her pedagogical instincts, but her credentials couldn\u2019t be confirmed. Streit declined to name the schools she worked at, lest they be subject to political \u201cattacks\u201d, though she said the names of the institutions could probably be found on her LinkedIn profile. In fact, they aren\u2019t listed on LinkedIn, and the Guardian was unable to find any record of her teaching at or running a school in Los Angeles. (PragerU declined to provide the names of the schools even if the Guardian agreed not to identify them.)<\/p>\n In any event, Streit says her work as a teacher informed her current worldview.<\/p>\n She recounted showing her students An Inconvenient Truth, former vice-president Al Gore\u2019s documentary about the climate crisis. At the time, she viewed it as politically neutral. Later, she said, she reflected and had a change of heart. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my God, the politicians used me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Streit\u2019s political evolution coincided with a pivot in Estrin\u2019s career path as well. For years, he worked as a Hollywood screenwriter on such shows as Touched by an Angel and The Practice. He later began producing Prager\u2019s radio program.<\/p>\n Then, in around 2009, on a \u201cDennis Prager listener cruise\u201d in the Indian Ocean, a couple of Prager\u2019s fans approached him and Estrin with an idea to launch a brick-and-mortar university that would promote \u201cJudeo-Christian\u201d ideals.<\/p>\n Estrin quickly realized the idea was \u201ccompletely impractical\u201d and unlikely to convert many minds. The internet, however, offered an infinitely scalable alternative. Few people would tune into long lectures about conservative values. But anyone would watch a five-minute video.<\/p>\n They settled on a name, Prager University, which connoted a sense of legitimacy and gravitas. (They later switched to an abbreviation that \u201csounded cooler\u201d, PragerU, and clarified in tiny text at the bottom of the website that PragerU was not in fact an \u201caccredited university\u201d.)<\/p>\n Prager and Estrin just needed someone to run the thing. They recruited Streit, who by then was working at a non-profit, the Israeli-American Council, and had years of classroom experience listed on her resum\u00e9.<\/p>\n \u201cCongratulations,\u201d Estrin announced to Streit when they hired her in 2011. \u201cYou are now George Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n Streit was confused.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen George Washington was appointed the head of the Continental Army in [1775], there was no army,\u201d Estrin said. Likewise, Streit was in charge of PragerU, but \u201cshe didn\u2019t have any soldiers.\u201d She would need to build the group from scratch.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019re under attack [by] a Marxist agenda in our schools [intended] to divide usMarissa Streit, PragerU CEO<\/p>\n Under Streit\u2019s watch at PragerU headquarters in Los Angeles, the non-profit settled on its guiding principles. Namely, that Americans \u2013 particularly young Americans \u2013 had lost their zeal for civics and patriotism, had begun overapologizing for the country\u2019s historical sins, and had become needlessly pessimistic about the future.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have this notion that you should be ashamed of your country because of its past, what it did to Black people and to Indians,\u201d Estrin said. Meanwhile, people believe that \u201cthe world\u2019s going to end in 12 years or 20 years or 40 years because of global warming. And then you wonder why children are subject to all kinds of psychological issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, in describing PragerU\u2019s reason for existence, Estrin outlined his own doomsday scenario. Specifically, that \u201cwestern civilization is in danger.\u201d But perhaps not, he continued, if enough people subscribe to PragerU\u2019s vision. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to instil values in people so that we can save it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This kind of apocalyptic rhetoric closely mirrors far-right and Christian nationalist talking points, said Adrienne McCarthy, a researcher at Kansas State University who has studied PragerU. PragerU and its peers are seeking to infiltrate America\u2019s education system to spread their messaging, she said. (Most Republicans believe public schools are slanted toward liberal ideas, while most independents and Democrats believe schools are politically neutral.)<\/p>\n Streit makes a similar argument to Estrin. \u201cWe\u2019re under attack,\u201d she said. The enemy, as she depicts it, is an amorphous and invisible boogeyman, \u201ca Marxist agenda in our schools [intended] to divide us\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur focus used to be e pluribus unum<\/em>,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, it\u2019s like multiculturalism and let\u2019s all not identify as Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of PragerU\u2019s aim, Streit said, is to reverse America\u2019s educational decline. She noted, accurately, that national test scores and literacy rates have been dropping for years.<\/p>\n Streit rattled off a series of buzzwords she thinks are contributing to the decline: anti-racist training, critical race theory, DEI initiatives, helping students understand \u201cwhether they were born in the right body\u201d, teaching young people to see themselves as activists. \u201cThings that frankly have been a huge distraction instead of teaching,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know how many hours of total instruction a teacher gets on how to teach math when he or she is going through teaching school?\u201d she asked. \u201cFourteen hours.\u201d (Streit appears to be referring to analyses such as a 2025 study from the National Council on Teacher Quality, which found that graduate education programs are, on average, spending just 14 hours teaching math content. What this omits, though, is that these programs are also <\/em>spending 38 hours on math pedagogy, and that many states require prospective teachers to pass a math certification exam.)<\/p>\n There is, of course, other crucial context for the decline, like the residual impact of the pandemic, teacher shortages, youth mental health issues, and absenteeism.<\/p>\n The bigger question, though, is how PragerU is positioned to remedy the problem. Its materials focus mostly on civics and are not nearly sufficient to replace classroom curricula, nor does it have a means of supplanting classroom instruction at scale. (\u201cWe may not be there right now, but we\u2019re headed in that direction,\u201d Estrin said.)<\/p>\n double quotation markI saw [PragerU] come through my news feed and fell in love. They don\u2019t politicize \u2026 They simply love our countryLisa Skisland<\/p>\n Nevertheless, PragerU has <\/em>successfully galvanized many teachers frustrated by their students\u2019 academic performance.<\/p>\n Beanie Geoghegan, who teaches at a Christian academy in Kentucky, said she began using PragerU after noting that her students lacked basic civics knowledge. \u201cThey did not know why we celebrated the Fourth of July. They did not know who we declared our independence from,\u201d she said. \u201cI do think that these videos and these supplemental materials are definitely filling a void.\u201d<\/p>\n Another educator, from a low-income school in Georgia, said she uses PragerU to pull her students out of the liberal \u201cecho chamber\u201d of TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n Other instructors who identify as conservative are simply giddy to have materials that match their point of view.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw [PragerU] come through my news feed and fell in love, particularly with their five-minute videos,\u201d said Lisa Skisland, a tutor based in Florida who works with home schooled students. \u201cThey don\u2019t politicize \u2026 They simply love our country and talk about her.\u201d<\/p>\n Skisland so believes in PragerU that she has encouraged parents to use it as their children\u2019s exclusive source of civics education for at least a year, instead of traditional textbooks and digital materials. Some of PragerU\u2019s marketing seems to encourage parents to remove their kids from school, and perhaps use its materials instead.<\/p>\n \u201cPragerU is not replacing the brick-and-mortar element, the physical element, of the schools,\u201d said Streit. \u201cBut we are supplementing, and in some cases substituting, the actual content: civics, history, literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n PragerU doesn\u2019t track how many teachers use its materials in classrooms, but it is an official vendor in multiple states, making its content easy to download and sanctioned for use. Montana has authorized it as a licensed textbook dealer. In New Hampshire, students use PragerU to learn financial literacy (one of its non-partisan courses), as do tens of thousands of high schoolers in California, which has not endorsed PragerU on a state level.<\/p>\n Streit seized on these programs as evidence of the non-profit\u2019s credibility. \u201cHow could anybody in their right mind say that PragerU is a bad institution because it provides free education about financial literacy to young Americans?\u201d she questioned.<\/p>\n Yet some of its materials engage in clear advocacy. Last year, Oklahoma\u2019s superintendent of education launched a \u201cteacher qualification test\u201d created by PragerU that required test subjects to explain why the distinction between males and females was \u201cconsidered important in areas like sports and privacy\u201d. (That superintendent has since left the job, and the test has been jettisoned in Oklahoma \u2013 though it remains on PragerU\u2019s website.)<\/p>\n <\/span>A 2022 animated PragerU short, Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World.<\/span> Photograph: PragerU<\/p>\n Another example, geared toward elementary students, is a cheerful animated short from 2022 about a pair of time-traveling children who meet Christopher Columbus. In the video, Columbus shrugs off the degree to which Native Americans were subjugated by European colonizers.<\/p>\n \u201cSlavery is as old as time and has taken place in every corner of the world,\u201d he tells the kids. \u201cBeing taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don\u2019t see the problem.\u201d Columbus goes on to tell the children that it is \u201cestupido<\/em>\u201d to judge his actions based on modern conceptions of morality.<\/p>\n Streit says she also supports school book bans and described most of the outlawed materials as \u201cpornography\u201d, though the bans have included the popular coming-of-age book The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust.<\/p>\n This kind of subjective advocacy, Lee said, is an effort to present students with \u201ca sanitized version\u201d of history and civics.<\/p>\n To McCarthy, one of the most concerning elements about PragerU is that its political motivations are not broadly understood, even as its materials are increasingly taught in classrooms. \u201cThey\u2019re still accepted [in] normative society,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some of PragerU\u2019s content is relatively non-partisan, like its financial literacy courses, videos about sports legends, and portions of its history materials. McCarthy believes this seemingly uncontroversial material attracts students and educators. From there, though, PragerU acts as a \u201cgateway organization\u201d that surreptitiously brings radical beliefs into mainstream culture and may eventually lead students even further to the right. (Streit said PragerU is \u201cnot shy about our worldview\u201d, and she questioned why its critics have not similarly scrutinized legacy education companies such as Scholastic.)<\/p>\n Concerns about PragerU\u2019s accuracy seem not to have slowed its expansion. In many cases, the issue is simple, said Catherine Tebaldi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg who studies far-right language and media.<\/p>\n \u201cTeachers are busy, stressed, [and] always could use more resources and more ways to get kids interested in learning,\u201d she said. And suddenly, here is PragerU, offering free, polished videos and instruction materials.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a shift in their discourse,\u201d Tebaldi observed. First, PragerU positioned itself as an alternative to traditional instruction. Then, it became a portion of that instruction. Now, it seems motivated to become \u201ca main resource for parents\u201d, she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a scary shift for me.\u201d<\/p>\n A month after Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 election, Streit smiled on stage at the \u201csouthern White House\u201d, Mar-a-Lago, while the president-elect beamed at her side. As the raucous crowd whistled, the pair broke into Trump\u2019s signature shimmy: hands balled into fists, arms jerking.<\/p>\n The event, a fundraiser for PragerU, raised more than $1m, and \u2013 according to Estrin \u2013 Trump took the microphone to praise Dennis Prager, who had recently suffered his fall.<\/p>\n A year later, after announcing its collaboration with the Trump administration on the founding fathers project, PragerU returned to Mar-a-Lago once more, paying an undisclosed amount to the president\u2019s personal club for the privilege. The proceeds from those fundraisers will help PragerU further expand its reach. Nearly 20 years since its founding, it is hiring at a rapid clip, and Streit hopes to take its content into schools in every state. (And beyond: PragerU is now working on expansion plans in Latin America.)<\/p>\n <\/span>Donald Trump and secretary of education Linda McMahon after he signed an executive order to shut down the Department of Education at the White House in Washington DC on 20 March 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Gripas Yuri\/ABACA\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n The galas and the shimmying might imply an unusually cozy relationship between PragerU and Trump, but Estrin and Streit deny that they are running a political operation. \u201cDid I get anyone elected? No,\u201d Streit said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a 501(c)(3)\u201d non-profit, Estrin added. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any political involvement with anybody. That would be against our charter.\u201d If a different party were in the White House, he added, \u201cI would like to think \u2026 we would still be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Realistically, that is a very unlikely hypothetical. PragerU has been explicit about its slant. In tax filings, it describes itself as \u201cthe world\u2019s leading conservative nonprofit that is focused on changing minds\u201d.<\/p>\n Corso-Gonzales, the Central Michigan professor, observed that Trump and PragerU have a mutually beneficial relationship. Both entities are motivated to delegitimize institutions they view as progressive in an effort to push the country further to the right, he said. Moreover, \u201cPragerU provides the Republican party with rapid-response capabilities to disseminate messages masquerading as university-quality material.\u201d<\/p>\n PragerU\u2019s board and advisory council are an eclectic mix of educators and apparent rightwing voices, some of whom have posted conspiracy theories on social media. That includes Kim Bengard, an investor from California, who has shared memes calling for the arrest of poll workers and arguing that the January 6 Capitol riots were staged by antifa. (Bengard didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n Last year, Timothy Walsh, a former Colorado state senate candidate, resigned from the PragerU board to accept a position in the Trump administration. And previously, supreme court justice Clarence Thomas\u2019s wife, Ginni Thomas, served on the advisory council.<\/p>\n Inside PragerU\u2019s LA offices, most employees share a similar sensibility, a former staffer told the Guardian. \u201cWhatever Trump said, they were rooting for him,\u201d the person recalled.<\/p>\n The employee described an incident in which two PragerU workers loudly discussed why \u201cpeople should be sent back to wherever they came from.\u201d Meanwhile, a Latino member of the IT department stood by uncomfortably as he tried to fix their internet. \u201cIt was wild,\u201d the employee said.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe AI scandal shows they\u2019re not dedicated to learning. They\u2019re dedicated to pushing a political point of viewEdward Lengel<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re like young Republicans,\u201d said Edward Lengel, a historian who visited PragerU\u2019s headquarters and appeared in one of its videos about George Washington. \u201cThere\u2019s a real sense that they\u2019re part of a movement, that they\u2019re true believers.\u201d<\/p>\n Lengel, a self-described conservative and historical traditionalist, said he was initially a fan of PragerU\u2019s work. However, its recent series on the founding fathers, which uses artificial intelligence to animate their voices and supposed beliefs, has appalled him.<\/p>\n One example is a video of John Adams, who tells viewers to remember that \u201cfacts do not care about your feelings\u201d, nearly identically parroting the title of a book by Ben Shapiro, founder of the Daily Wire and a member of PragerU\u2019s leadership council.<\/p>\n <\/span>A still from PragerU\u2019s founding fathers AI video series, presented in partnership with the White House.<\/span> Photograph: PragerU<\/p>\n \u201cI love the founders. I think they\u2019re flawed human beings who nevertheless accomplished great things,\u201d Lengel said. \u201cBut I think what [PragerU has] done is they\u2019ve betrayed that whole concept, and they\u2019ve made it into a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n Lengel said he formally asked PragerU to remove his name from its website, but his requests were ignored. \u201cThe AI scandal shows they\u2019re not dedicated to learning. They\u2019re dedicated to pushing a political point of view,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The problem with Lengel\u2019s objections is that few PragerU fans are likely to care. America\u2019s polarized politics have moved into schools, and battle stations have already been taken.<\/p>\n On one side are Streit and her admirers, who seem to authentically believe that PragerU\u2019s work can save the United States from the precipice of decline. \u201cI think America\u2019s parents feel, like me, that we just need to take matters into our own hands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And then there are those who look on aghast, as an organization with early ties to oil billionaires, and with an occasionally casual relationship with accuracy, seeks to mold kids at their most impressionable age.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cradle-to-grave marketing,\u201d Corso-Gonzales said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to constantly expand this propaganda machine.\u201d<\/p>\n