Teachers union chief co-opts Dems’ real-time revisionist history push in feud over school closures

The head of the American Federation of Teachers has become the latest liberal to try and push an alternative reality when she said this week her organization pushed for school reopenings more than a year ago.

Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, made the claim in response to a Twitter user who blasted her organization for its support of teachers who, for more than a year, pushed back against school district reopenings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools are reopening, but there’s still work to be done 4 all children to recover & thrive. Thanks @aspenideas for the discussion on how we help kids succeed & acknowledging how tough this year has been on all including educators,” Weingarten initially wrote.

“It makes me sick that the same people who are responsible for severely long and short-term harming kids by unnecessarily keeping them in isolation for almost 1.5 years are responsible for ‘reopening’ and ‘recovery,’” an anonymous user replied.

Weingarten responded: “We tried to reopen schools safely since April 2020…”

But the AFT president was challenged quickly over her claim.

Florida State Board of Education member Ryan Petty was among those who responded, asking in a post containing a screengrab of an April 28, 2020 tweet from Weingarten.

“Re-opening this soon will bring an even more powerful second wave of #COVID19. We have to be sure we are re-opening safely and not rushing things,” she wrote on that date.

“Where did you call for reopening schools? Surely there must be a tweet or two? As of 4/28/20, [here] is what you were saying,” Petty posted on Thursday.

“This is a lie. No one did more to ensure schools remained closed for over a year than you,” added New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astoria. “This is why parents need much more control and choice when it comes to their child’s education. They’ll have it when I’m governor.”

Center for American Liberty founder Harmeet Dhillon noted: “Speaking as an attorney who went to federal court to open California’s schools last summer, you were the biggest single obstacle to educating America’s children in school — not Gavin Newsom, not [Dr. Anthony] Fauci — not even COVID.”

In recent days, Democrats have also attempted to change their narrative on defunding police, which many of them called for throughout last summer following destructive protests and rioting after the death of George Floyd.

On Sunday, former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, now a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, falsely told Fox News that Republicans are responsible for defunding police departments in Democrat-run cities that have actually done so.

“Let’s talk about who defunded the police. When we were in Congress last year trying to pass an emergency relief plan for cities that were cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters, it was the Republicans who objected to it,” Richmond told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace.

“And in fact, they didn’t get funding until the American Rescue Plan, which our plan allowed state and local governments to replenish their police departments and do the other things that are needed,” he added.

Republicans objected to the spending proposal because it failed to address core Democratic policies they saw as being responsible for crime spikes as well as overall demoralizing attacks on police, which has led to a major recruitment problem for liberal cities. Also, Republicans objected to hundreds of billions in spending on line items unrelated to COVID-19 relief, which was the purpose of the bill.

Wallace pointed these discrepancies out, adding that local Democratic officials have also rolled back prosecutions for entire classes of criminal behavior, which experts say has also led to crime spikes in their cities.

“I gotta say, it’s remarkable that the White House is now apparently employing comedians,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity after Richmond’s claim.

“You know, there’s an old Yiddish word for that: chutzpah. For them to run out and claim that it’s Republicans who want to defund the police, that’s like an arsonist showing up at the fire and blaming the firemen,” he added.

“That’s like the Chinese blaming the Americans for the Wuhan virus. That’s like OJ [Simpson] saying he’s gonna help find the real killer,” Cruz continued. “That’s like Democrats saying they’re the ones who want to build the wall. It’s absurd. It’s ridiculous and they know it.”

He noted that New York City’s Democratic mayor, Bill DeBlasio, cut $1 billion in NYPD funding. Also, the Minneapolis City Council, all Democrats, initially voted to defund the city’s entire department.

Cruz also pointed out that progressive “Squad” Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar have all called for defunding police.

“Look, the Democrats understand they are in trouble. Abolishing the police is stupid. The American people know that. By the way, African Americans and Hispanics overwhelmingly oppose abolishing the police,” Cruz added.

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Jon Dougherty

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