It’s taken far too long, but it feels like the dam is finally breaking and the people who used the COVID pandemic as justification for shutting down schools and causing irreparable harm to countless children’s educational and mental — and in some cases physical — health are being forced into the hot seat and made to answer for their crimes.
And no one deserves to be more in the hot seat for the school shutdown debacle than American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who is currently on a whirlwind gaslighting tour of truly epic proportions. Weingarten’s own past remarks have got her dead to rights on her frantic claims that she never wanted schools to shut down. Basically, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Fortunately for her, PolitiFact has decided to offer up their fact-checking services to prop her up:
Teachers union President Randi Weingarten advocated for reopening schools with pandemic safety measures. She criticized the Trump administration’s 2020 calls to reopen schools fully, but it’s misleading to claim that she opposed reopening at all. https://t.co/Km8FkMkXd2
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) May 3, 2023
Here are the three “If your time is short” bullet points:
- During the early COVID-19 pandemic, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten advocated for schools to reopen for in-person learning, provided they use safety precautions.
- She often referred to a reopening plan the union released in April 2020. It prioritized maintaining physical distance between people, establishing COVID-19 testing protocols and involving school staff and parents in decisions about reopening.
- Weingarten criticized Trump administration officials’ calls to reopen schools fully without a plan or safety measures in 2020, but it’s misleading to suggest that she didn’t want to pursue reopening schools at all.
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It’s misleading to suggest that she didn’t want to pursue reopening schools at all when she said all those times that she didn’t want to pursue reopening schools at all!
Politifact – carrying water for the political left, again.
You should look at the replies to this tweet to get an idea of the actual facts vs the "approved narrative" https://t.co/WEG6Rns1p0
— Founding Ideals (@founding_ideals) May 3, 2023
You certainly aren’t going to get the facts from PolitiFact, that’s for damn sure.
"We looked closely at Weingarten’s statements…."
Did you now?
"…and we found that, taken in isolation, neither Weingarten nor the Twitter note represented the full picture of Weingarten’s efforts and statements at the time."
Nor did this fact-check.https://t.co/3enCpOVVE3
— Matt Welch (@MattWelch) May 3, 2023
If it’s facts you’re looking for, turn to the people who actually were actually awake for Randi Weingarten’s version of utopia and didn’t close their eyes to the truth of it all.
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
Are those enough facts for you, PolitiFact? Or do you need some more? Because there are more.
Here is Weingarten advocating for the closure of 80 schools in New York Cityhttps://t.co/efWmSrCi4u
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
Here is Weingarten advocating for the closure of universities to stop the spread of Covidhttps://t.co/Q3b4DeBv8P
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
Here is Weingarten advocating that Florida teachers sue the state in order to close down schoolshttps://t.co/dLT3JbmhVU
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
Here is Weingarten celebrating the success of the lawsuit intended to close down Florida schoolshttps://t.co/iTulVwAo5D
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
The only appropriate way to approach this story in a non-partisan way is to say:
"Randi Weingarten said she wanted schools to be open but consistently advocated for the closure of schools well into fall of 2020."
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
But that’s not how PolitiFact approached it. Because they’re not interested in being nonpartisan.
I'm astonished that @Politifact has chosen to humiliate themselves on this topic
They look at Weingartens statements and actions and they conclude that, because said the words "I want schools open", that she really did want them open even though she fought to close them https://t.co/j6m9ATGhU1
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
Honestly, what @PolitiFact is doing here reminds me most of how corrupt religious authorities address scandal
It's like they're saying "Yes, her actions might have been bad, but we looked into her heart and we can tell she only wanted good things"
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
This quote is amazing b/c @PolitiFact highlighted exactly the wrong part of the sentence
Did Weingarten want schools open?
Politifact: Yes, here she is saying she wants them open
Everyone else: then she says the word "but" and says they need to be closed pic.twitter.com/eChah79Eky
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) May 3, 2023
How can PolitiFact add context when they themselves are incapable of acknowledging context?
One of the worst fact-checks ever published by @PolitiFact. The ratios to this will be off the chart. https://t.co/RcKXvTglV2
— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) May 3, 2023
PolitiFact definitely deserves to get ratio’d into oblivion for this one.
This is gaslighting from hell if I’ve ever seen it.
— LukeDuke (@LukeDukeTweets) May 3, 2023
You’re fucking pathetic. https://t.co/veRUwbe7Pf
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 3, 2023
Fact-check: Harsh, but true.
I’ll never trust anything from Politifact again.
— Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) May 3, 2023
Seems like a good call. For eff’s sake, PolitiFact.
Delete your account. @CommunityNotes will take it from here. https://t.co/OOTyBWyt5T
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 3, 2023
Stay tuned …
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Update:
Randi Weingarten trumpets PolitiFact’s insane fact-check before getting TKO’d by Community Notes https://t.co/NcZOolURIj
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 3, 2023
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Related:
PolitiFact debunks Elise Stefanik’s illogical claim that laptop story could have swung election
PolitiFact rules Laura Ingraham’s claim that that protesters flooded Tenn. Capitol last week ‘false’
PolitiFact is really struggling with the fact that Ron DeSantis was right about Alvin Bragg
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