The Department of Education under the Trump administration has declared that the thousands of book bans implemented in communities across the US over the past few years, a form of censorship that violates the First Amendment, are actually a “hoax.” This dismissal of reality, as though the book bans are somehow a years-long mass hallucination event involving thousands of schools, libraries, publishing organizations, courts, teachers associations, parents, students, books stores, etc., has enabled the DOE to simply drop complaints related to “so-called ‘book bans’.” The DOE has also rescinded all department guidance that had been issued under the “theory” that a school district’s removal of age-inappropriate books from its libraries may violate civil rights laws, a “theory” which happens to be enshrined in the US Constitution.