In early July 2026, Trump shared on Truth Social a post from the right-wing account End Wokeness showing kindergartners wearing white hijabs at their spring graduation ceremony at Gateway STEM Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. The children in the video are five and six years old.
The post drew immediate backlash in Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz criticized the president for amplifying it. The New Republic's headline on the episode was blunt: “The President of the United States Attacks Kindergarteners.”
The most widely shared response came from Rachel Accurso, the children's educator known as Ms. Rachel, who addressed the kids rather than the president. “I saw some of you wore a hijab to your graduation,” she wrote on Instagram. “I am glad you wore something meaningful and special to you and your family. I think hijabs are beautiful.” She noted that different children wear different things that are part of their cultures and religions, whether a hijab, a kippah, or a necklace with a cross, and that whatever they wore, “we all belong.”
A president using the largest megaphone in the country to circulate video of named schoolchildren, singled out for their religious dress, exposes five-year-olds to a national audience they did not choose.