It turns out that Randi Weingarten’s self-promotion ‘book’ was the biggest scam ever
Teachers union honcho Randi Weingarten’s 2025 vanity book “Why Fascists Are Afraid of Teachers” isn’t just self-promotion, self-aggrandizing speech: The illegible screed also served as a useful money drain for Weingarten and his cronies to go to the bank behind teacher union dues.
Weingarten’s book was something of a “group project”; The Freedom Foundation’s analysis of the American Federation of Teachers’ federal filings reveals that it makes significant contributions to support this collaborative effort.
Teachers should request a refund.
The book’s accolades praise former CNN host Sally Kohn — now an “Author,” “Media Strategist + Coach” in addition to “Activist,” according to her X profile — “for being invaluable as a colleague and daily thought collaborator.”
Whatever the “imagined partner” is — call it a “ghost,” according to the report — he’s paying handsomely.
The AFT gave Kohn more than $400,000 in the year leading up to the publication of “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.”
That’s more three times what Kohn used to be paid for his union consulting work.
Kohn wasn’t the only one who walked away with a clean slate, according to the report.
Tony Powell is the featured image for the flap shot of the Weingarten dust jacket. He is a well-known butterfly in the DC scene, and was called “21St Century Renaissance Man” by the Washington Post.
Powell is listed in the AFT directory as net over five good “Union Administration.”
That’s an expensive picture!
Emily Krieger was paid $6,000 by the AFT for fact-checking the book.
But the real money, as before, went to the lawyers.
Weingarten credits attorney Charles Moerdler — a well-connected attorney who has been deeply involved in New York politics since his days as housing adviser to Mayor John V. Lindsay — for his “legal review” of his book.
Moerdler’s company is on the AFT’s latest list as receiving nearly a million dollars last year, including $140,000 for “Union Management.”
Some of those millions of dollars may have been the work of a typical lawyer, but a healthy portion seems to be related to the book. (Although Weingarten says he helped with the book on a pro bono basis.)
Ultimately, Weingarten promised that profits from book sales would go to the union and related nonprofits. But $125,000 of the proceeds went to an LLC called “Teachers Want What Kids Need.”
Weingartern now admits to splitting the bills with the union.
Perhaps fascists are afraid of teachers, although the argument in his book is often lame.
What is certain is that parents and taxpayers, should be afraid teachers unions.
Especially when they embezzle so much public money paid by the union to pay for bad propaganda like “Why Fascists Are Afraid of Teachers.”
