The most dangerous person in the world?

When I heard that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week called Randi Weingarten “the most dangerous person in the world,” my blood boiled. Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers. Pompeo, a potential candidate for President of the United States, didn’t stop there.

“It’s not a close call,” he continued. “If you ask, ‘Who’s the most likely to take this republic down?’ It would be the teacher’s unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids, and the fact that they don’t know math and reading or writing.”

Beyond laughable, Pompeo’s bizarre comments are a continuation of the reckless diatribes by MAGA politicians that have sewn hate and discord in American society.

In response, Weingarten said she didn’t know if the remarks should be considered “ridiculous or dangerous.” They are both. They not only demean the men and women in our communities who spend their lives educating our children, they fracture

I have spent a good deal of time researching life in 1930s Germany. There and then, Pompeo’s comments—his demonizing of educators “and the filth they are teaching”—would have blended in nicely with the hateful rants of Hitler and his cohorts.

Pompeo, of course, is not the only politician attacking teachers and their unions. Crusading against “wokeness,” he is one of a phalanx of Republicans trying to cash in on parents’ fears and resentments. And like others, he has targeted a woman.

For years the Republican National Committee has demonized female opponents. Not only Nancy Pelosi, whose husband was brutally attacked in a kidnap attempt, but Gretchen Whitmer, Elizabeth Warren and Maxine Waters. Not to mention the four Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omer, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib—all women of color. Now Pampeo has singled out another woman, Randi Weingarten, who just happens to be Jewish.

A former high school history teacher in Brooklyn, Weingarten heads a union of 1.7 million members. It includes educators from pre-school to university. Her tenure has been marked by both effective advocacy and educational reform. She oversaw the development of the AFT’s Quality Education Agenda, calling for evidence-based and equitable teaching methods. She has won numerous awards, including the FDR Distinguished Public Service Award.

Randi Weingarten—“the most dangerous person in the world”?

Pompeo’s statements offend me, not only because I am a teacher, although retired. They also scare me. Our world, our nation, our communities have known where hate and division can bring us. We can’t let it happen here.