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Watch: Weingarten gestures wildly during anti-Trump rant, later says he drives her to drink

March for Our Lives speech by Randi Weingarten
Randi Weingarten of AFT speaks out at a March For Our Lives rally. Getty Images

Randi Weingarten mocked Trump's White House UFC event and called his tactics authoritarian during her fiery AFT conference keynote speech.

The American Federation of Teachers conference in Washington turned into an anti-Trump spectacle as union boss Rhonda "Randi" Weingarten repeatedly leaped on stage during her keynote speech and later quipped that President Donald Trump has her reaching for vodka.

Weingarten, a longtime foe of the president and top Republicans, opened her keynote speech by mocking the White House's Independence Day cage match and later suggested that the president is an authoritarian whose daily stream of political actions drives her to drink.

In welcoming teachers and activists from around the country, Weingarten quipped: "While you missed the UFC cage fight on the White House lawn, it’s not too late to check out the tire marks in the Reflecting Pool."

During a panel discussion that included former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, Weingarten asked the panelists what keeps them up at night with many things "confronting the country."

"Because part of what authoritarians do — and also part of what Donald Trump does, whether you consider him an authoritarian or not — is the throwing out of so much stuff that people just throw up their hands and say: ‘Oh no, what are we going to do? All I want to do is stay home and’ -- for those of us who drink – ‘have a glass of wine’ — or for me, some vodka."

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The Clarkstown, N.Y., native went on to recount a conference speech by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who referenced a snake convulsing as it neared its death.

AFT union boss Randi Weingarten gesticulates at a conference.
AFT union boss Randi Weingarten gesticulates at a conference. Fox News

"It looks really scary, but that is a convulsion nearing death. And it’s been something I thought about this morning waking up, because if you think about how Trump looked yesterday," Weingarten said, going on to note the volume of union members living in swing states ahead of the midterms.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

During the keynote, Weingarten name-checked several conservative entities focused on school choice, from reporter Christopher Rufo to the Heritage Foundation.

Weingarten grew increasingly animated as she pivoted from Trump and purported "oligarchs" like Elon Musk to her confidence that the AFT would come out in force and bring about a leftward policy shift at the polls.

"Yes," she boomed. "The other side has power."

"But this is what they don’t have: the power of the people," she said as she began to jump.

"That is not a mere slogan. It is the potential to work together, to bargain together, to protest together, to vote together, to act together, to bring about change — real, lasting, life-improving change.

That is the power and potential of our movement and of the A – F – T ," she shouted, elongating her organization’s acronym.

Weingarten later said she wanted to see an America built where "the trans nurse, the Palestinian teacher, the Jewish student and every person, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender or place of origin, feel welcome, safe and valued."

She said the AFT can use its power for "good" against "corruption" and said that when they fight they bring a better life for all.

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"And one more thing: We get s--- done," she said, before footnoting: "My apologies to the children."

Fox News Digital reached out to AFT for additional comment.

Fox News Digital's Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.

Original article source: WATCH: Weingarten gestures wildly during anti-Trump rant, later says he drives her to drink

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