MEDIA LOSER:
MSNBC columnist Ruth Ben-Ghiat
MSNBC columnist and New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat declared Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) “authoritarian” after he recommended that students be prevented from using their phones during class.
DeSantis questioned why children are on their phones during class during a Monday press conference. He later suggested that schools require students “leave their phone in some cubby or something," during class -- before returning the phones at recess.
Ben-Ghiat, who is touted as a "commentator on authoritarianism and propaganda” by MSNBC, said this was further evidence of DeSantis' “authoritarian personality.
"He is so dangerous in every way,” she also wrote in a Monday night tweet, receiving prompt mockery from a number of conservatives.
To DeSantis' point, various reports and studies indicate that children’s screen time has skyrocketed and academic performance has suffered since the start of the pandemic.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, both reading and math scores for children in fourth and eighth grade fell precipitously between 2019 and 2022.
Gaps between white and minority — as well as low and high-income — students widened.
Ben-Ghiat has emerged as MSNBC's foremost guide to an alleged rise in fascism in the US. DeSantis expressing disapproval of phones in classrooms is not an example of any sort of extremism, and claiming it hardly bolsters her credentials. | 
