When former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten “the most dangerous person in the world” in November 2022, the absurd comment led to a flurry of punditry and jokes from late-night TV comics. But Pompeo may have been onto something. No, Weingarten and other educators do not pose a danger to U.S. security or sovereignty. But teachers from pre-K through university do, in fact, challenge the right wing by both championing diversity and inclusion and promoting vigorous ideological debate.
“Those hell-bent on unraveling democracy, pluralism, and opportunity have always attacked teachers and education,” Weingarten writes in her new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy. “It’s a very old playbook. In the 1930s, Hitler and Mussolini persecuted teachers and tried to control the curriculum. Iran’s Cultural Revolution closed universities and restricted academic freedom. From Russia to Indonesia to Hungary to Chile, fascist and authoritarian governments have sought to attack teachers and control not only what students learn but what they think.”
The antidote, Weingarten writes, is two-fold: emancipatory education that brings diverse groups of students together to investigate and probe subjects such as history, culture, literature, and science; and trade unions that bring workers together to build their collective power. “Unions are democratic organizations that make our economy more just and fair,” she writes. “Unions are at the forefront of expanding economic prosperity and strengthening democracy.”
It’s no small wonder that those eager to undercut democratic governance have worked hard to smash unions and deride their leaders.
Why Fascists Fear Teachers is a bold denunciation of these efforts and a fierce defense of public education. It’s also a well-researched and thoughtful takedown of those who support book bans and limits on how history, literature, social studies, science, and human sexuality are taught in schools. By highlighting the creativity and savvy of teachers throughout the country, Weingarten contests the idea that public education is in shambles, and gives readers concrete organizing suggestions to stop fascism and build robust, democratic organizations.
Weingarten spoke to The Progressive about the looming fascist threat, the state of education, and the fight against authoritarianism several weeks before the book’s September 16, 2025, release. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What prompted you to write Why Fascists Fear Teachers?
Randi Weingarten: I wanted to write a book that readers would find empowering and hopeful, but I also wanted to bring an honest assessment of what we’re currently facing and present the historical underpinnings of that to readers. For example, when Brown v. Board of Education was decided by the Supreme Court in 1954, it sent a moral message, backed up by a legal message, that schools should be places where there is opportunity for all. But Brown triggered white backlash and became the origin story for today’s so-called school choice movement, with white parents creating private schools for their children as a way to avoid sending them into integrated public school classrooms. This is why it’s so important to talk about race.
In the book, I stress that today’s universal voucher movement is a direct outgrowth of white fear about upending segregation and the desire of white parents to get government funding to pay for private, racially-segregated schools. Although I made race a central focus of the book, I also wanted to address sexuality since the fear-mongering by the right has been extreme, with [President Donald] Trump and others making false claims about schools turning daughters into sons and vice versa.
Finally, I wanted to write a book that talks about the incredible teachers who are doing extraordinary things in their classrooms. Karen Lewis, the late leader of the Chicago Teachers Union, is someone whom readers may have heard of, but the other teachers I write about are unknown outside of their school communities. My goal was to spotlight the fantastic things they’re doing to ensure that kids have the skills they need.
I also see the book as an organizing tool. It’s written for teachers, intended to lift them up, but in addition, it’s meant to give readers an appreciation for what teachers do to create safe and welcoming learning environments for all kids.
Q: Chris Rufo, a conservative who works at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, is credited with popularizing the false idea that critical race theory (CRT) was being taught in public schools throughout the country. Why do you think this idea took hold and fomented such a virulent anti-public-school backlash?
Weingarten: I think several things are responsible for this. First, we can’t discount the fact that COVID-19 fundamentally changed the relationship between schools and communities. The virus exacerbated fears and anxieties that were spread on social media. During the shutdowns, we saw anxieties build up around everything, including whether America’s kids were okay. There was also a great deal of misinformation that circulated, and the lack of regulation on social media—the way algorithmic messaging went viral, coupled with people’s need for quick information—enabled false narratives to catch on. FOX TV then amplified these false messages.
Of course, then-Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who served from 2021 to 2025, could have gone on TV to counter messaging about gender surgeries being performed in schools and CRT being taught in the classroom, but he did not. I was constantly speaking out and saying that these allegations were untrue, but many others also needed to do this.
During these years, ideas that should have been considered preposterous on their face were accepted as truth; the combination of fear and anxiety due to COVID-19 and constant media repetition acted like a match thrown into a cauldron. A lot of heat was generated. That heat led to women connected to Moms for Liberty being elected to school boards across the US in 2022. By 2024, however, these women were largely defeated by candidates who support public education. By 2024, voters understood that the smear campaigns against teachers and public schools were predicated on falsehoods.
Q: And now? Has the temperature cooled?
Weingarten: Once people returned to school, people saw that the assertions about CRT and gender surgeries were untrue. This was impossible to do online; the proof needed to be delivered in person. Rufo, however, was clear about his agenda. His goal has always been to create distrust in American public education. As I report in Why Fascists Fear Teachers, the American people need to understand that the undermining of public education is an intentional strategy of the right; they favor school privatization.
Look, schools can’t give children aspirin without parental permission, so the idea that schools were changing children’s genders was meant to instill panic in those who didn’t know better.
The book emphasizes that promoting these falsehoods is fascist behavior. The untruths are meant to create an ‘us’ and a ‘them.’ I wanted the book to expose this. I also wanted to inform readers that Rufo and others on the right oppose pluralism. This amounts to a fear of knowledge.
Q: Let’s go back to the COVID-19 shutdowns. Why did school closures lead to the spread of so much misinformation?
Weingarten: Schools create community and give people a way to come together and build trust. But until the vaccines became available, schools were forced to close because they couldn’t pay for ventilation equipment.
Beginning in April 2020, I tried to get schools to reopen safely because I recognized the need to rebuild relationships. But fear overcame these calls to reopen.
Then, when everything resumed, I expected that because we’d just had an experiment in virtual learning, there would be a renaissance in support for public schools. I did not expect the environment to be so fraught with anxiety that people would be amenable to shibboleths and continued fear-mongering. Teachers had to deal with students’ and parents’ ramped-up anxiety, at the same time as they were working to help kids learn and recover emotionally.
It’s taken time, but I think that we now know the importance of distraction-free classrooms. In many places, students can no longer use their phones during the school day, so they aren’t on Instagram and TikTok while they’re in class. We hope that this will help them focus on their studies. In retrospect, our understanding of the factors that make today’s kids “the anxious generation” is fairly new, thanks to social psychologists like Jonathan Haidt. There’s a lot we have to learn.
Q: Why do authoritarians always work to denounce teachers who help students develop critical thinking skills?
Weingarten: Teachers promote critical thinking and problem-solving so that children and young adults are able to think for themselves. Teachers teach kids how to think, not what to think; classrooms are meant to be safe places where kids can build relationships. This is the antidote to fear and anxiety.
Q: The book is full of stories about teachers who go above and beyond, showcasing the many ways they help students succeed. They are inspiring!
Weingarten: We have to tell the stories of everyday people who do extraordinary things. I want teachers to see themselves celebrated in the book and be recognized for creating wonderful environments for student engagement. The goal of teaching is to help people live better lives. I hope the book shows how they do this.
On one hand, Why Fascists Fear Teachers is intended to expose those who seek to divide us and highlight their fascistic behavior. But, on the other hand, it’s meant to promote teaching as a profession that improves children’s lives. Part of our work at the AFT is to promote good teaching. We’re lifting up the stories of public school educators through our Public School Proud Campaign. Every Friday, a different educator will be showcased on social media.
Q: Needless to say, unions are in the crosshairs of conservative movements, and there’s been a fierce backlash to workplace organizing. Why?
Weingarten: Unions have always been on the side of pluralism and have championed diversity. The AFT was the only union to file an amicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education. We were part of the Freedom Rides in the 1960s and expelled segregated locals from the union. Many teachers have participated in efforts to uphold democracy from the threat of fascism. We did a survey in April that found that 25 percent of our members had engaged in protests against the Trump Administration since January.
Thousands of people have attended hundreds of events because they see participation as relevant to their lives. People in the union believe in democracy and support opportunities for all.
Teachers know that every issue in society impacts the classroom. This is why we hold citizenship clinics to assist immigrants. It’s why we've been part of a project called Reading Opens the World with the NAACP. Together, we’ve distributed 10 million children’s books to underserved communities since 2015. We’re currently working in several coalitions and are part of Indivisible, a grassroots group fighting the Trump Administration by supporting local progressive leaders and policies.
The right opposes all of this and is organizing against everything that challenges their power. They see that public schools help kids and young adults create power and opportunity for themselves. They see that unions help working people create power and opportunity for members. This is what we’re up against.
Q: How can unions and union supporters push back against this?
Weingarten: The best way to push back is to strengthen public education. We have to make clear that universal vouchers are a public-school defunding mechanism. Ninety percent of U.S. kids choose public schools. Our job is to improve them.
We’re organizing opposition to charters and vouchers, and also organizing to oppose the rollback of civil rights and the cuts to social services. As I conclude in the book, fascists attack teachers not because of anything we do wrong, but because of everything we do right. Teachers teach critical thinking, which strengthens democracy. Teachers create safe and welcoming communities that meet children’s needs and promote pluralism, multicultural understanding, and inclusion. And teachers organize strong unions, which build workers’ power. Fascists and authoritarians oppose all of this.