The $189.5 Billion Extortion
My interview with Dan Proft on AM 560 The Answer
They said it was about safety. They said we were following “the science.” They said we had no choice.
They lied.
In this morning’s interview with Dan Proft on AM 560 The Answer, I broke down exactly how the teachers unions orchestrated one of the largest power grabs in American history—and extorted nearly $190 billion from taxpayers to do it.
The Information Was Always There
Let me be crystal clear about something: we did NOT do “the best we could with the information we had.”
Other countries—Scandinavian countries, most of Europe, states like Florida—reopened schools without any excess death. The information was always available. Scientists like Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff from Stanford, Harvard and Oxford came forward with the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, immediately signed by thousands of doctors around the world.
They called for what the actual pandemic playbook always said: focused protection. Protect the elderly. Let the youth—who are not vulnerable—return to normal as quickly as possible.
Why? Because once children miss their developmental milestones—learning to read, socializing with friends, playing sports, being mentored by coaches—those milestones are not regainable.
The Ventriloquist Strategy
Here’s how Randy Weingarten and the teachers unions pulled it off:
First, they told teachers: “You are not safe. You’re going to go back to those buildings and you’re going to die. Trump is president, and we have not secured those buildings. You are going to die.”
The teachers said: “We’re not going back. We won’t die for the DOE.”
Then Weingarten went to the black and brown community and said: “Your children are not safe in those schools. If they go back, they’re going to die.”
The communities said: “We’re not going to send our kids back. We don’t want them to die.”
And Weingarten said: “Look, it’s white supremacy to want to reopen schools. The black community doesn’t want to. So we have to keep them closed for equity.”
They created the narrative. They fed it to everyone. Then they held our schools hostage and waited.
The Payoff: $189.5 Billion
Over the course of the end of the Trump administration and into the early Biden administration, the teachers unions extorted $189.5 billion from the federal government through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to reopen our schools.
Where did that money go?
It was used to erode learning standards, bring in more unqualified, indoctrinated teachers from schools of education, and push social emotional learning—which creates a victim-victimizer paradigm where kids feel they’re always unwell, always need help, always victims who can’t take charge of their own destiny.
Now students at UC San Diego, one of the best schools in the country, can’t do basic math.
Rochelle Walensky Knew Better
Dan asked me a critical question: Did Rochelle Walensky and Randy Weingarten really understand what they were doing?
Here’s what you need to know: Rochelle Walensky was a parent in Newton, Massachusetts, and an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital before taking the CDC role. In July 2020—months before becoming CDC director—she wrote to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller saying that “if people are masked it is quite safe and much more practical to be at 3 feet” in classrooms.
But after she became CDC director under Biden? She changed her tune and pushed six feet of distancing, which was instrumental in keeping schools closed because many buildings couldn’t accommodate that spacing.
As a physician in a politically appointed position, I believe it was absolute dereliction of duty and a takeover of that institution—the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, all of them. The teachers unions were controlling them.
“Do You Have Director Walensky’s Phone Number?”
In congressional testimony in April 2023 before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic—which Stephanie Edmonds and I attended—Randy Weingarten had to answer whether she had Rochelle Walensky’s phone number and was coordinating with her. She didn’t want to answer, but she did.
The answer was yes.
Representative Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), who served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said: “Wow, I’m a member of Congress that sits on two committees that deal with the CDC, and I don’t have Director Walensky’s phone number. Why do you?”
There’s a tremendous level of coordination documented here.
Teachers Aren’t Their Customers—They’re Their Product
I told Dan something that bears repeating: I don’t think the teachers unions serve the teachers. Teachers unions do not represent the interests of teachers.
Research since the school closures shows that teachers who went back to teaching are healthier and happier. Living in your apartment in pajamas for two years doing Zoom calls is not a healthy, productive life.
It’s a mistake to think that the teachers are the unions’ customers.
Teachers are their product.
And here’s the thing Dan and I both understand: they’re doing it now.
It doesn’t have to be a big school closure with a capital S, capital C. They’re cutting back on hours—saying four days a week is enough because parents and teachers and students are “tired.” They’re cutting back on educational standards. They’re pushing community schools which medicalize kids without parental permission.
The teachers unions don’t just represent teachers. They represent healthcare workers. They represent many retirees.
They’re building an empire on the backs of our children.
15 Days That Changed Everything
This is why we made 15 DAYS. The film shows how synchronized the propaganda was across different media channels. It documents the coordination, the manipulation, the money.
Because if we don’t memorialize what happened properly, we’re going to repeat the same mistakes.
And frankly, in big city America with big government school systems and big teachers unions—they’ll do it all again if they have the chance.
Unless we stop them.
Get 15 DAYS now on Blu-ray, DVD, or digital download at 15daysfilm.com