For many Americans, the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sparked some sober reflection on the inflammatory rhetoric that has poisoned our political discourse.

For Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, it was a chance to kick that rhetoric up a notch.

Weingarten barreled full speed ahead with the launch of her new book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers,” within days of the tragedy.

From its opening lines invoking Adolf Hitler, Weingarten’s tome equates her political opponents with history’s greatest evils, smearing President Donald Trump and others as “fascists.”

It’s frighteningly similar to the language used by Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged killer, who wrote he’d “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred” and believed “some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

One bullet casing at the scene allegedly bore the inscription “Hey fascist! Catch!”

Yet there was Weingarten, fanning the flames by branding conservatives as fascists — essentially suggesting that fellow Americans are “literally Hitler.”

And she’s hardly alone.

In the days after Kirk’s murder Todd Wolfson, a vice president at Weingarten’s union and president of the American Association of University Professors, ranted on social media that “Trump is the enemy” and equated presidential adviser Stephen Miller — who is Jewish — to chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

“The assassin was a disturbed right wing kid, influenced by Nick Fuentes, that likely murdered Kirk because he was not right wing enough,” Wolfson declared on Facebook long after it was clear the opposite was true.

The rot runs deep in the teachers’ unions, and it starts at the very top.

Hundreds of so-called educators publicly rejoiced in Kirk’s politically motivated assassination, posting gleeful messages that crossed every line of decency.

When parents and others objected, union officials dismissed the backlash as “baseless online smear campaigns.”

The Texas affiliate of Weingarten’s AFT emailed members pledging to “vigorously defend” teachers “targeted” for celebrating Kirk’s death online, and Weingarten herself issued a formal statement defending these teachers’ “free speech.”

Sure, they have the right to spew whatever venom they want on their own time — but employers have freedom of association, too, and taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize these individuals to indoctrinate impressionable minds with sick, divisive rhetoric.

This inability to read the room — to tone it down even after Robinson’s heinous act — is emblematic of the unions’ broader messaging.

Rather than simply condemning unseemly celebrations and taking responsibility for their members’ words, educators are deflecting by portraying themselves as perpetual victims.

This year, the AFT passed a resolution aimed at “protecting public education from right-wing extremism.”

It commits to teaching students about the “insidious nature of white supremacy,” labels Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a “radical extremist ” and claims conservatives  seek to “dismantle public education nationwide.”

At last year’s AFT annual convention Weingarten went a step further, projecting images of her three primary enemies on a massive screen as she delivered her keynote speech: former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, author Chris Rufo, and yours truly.

In doing so, she essentially painted targets on our backs, framing us as existential threats to education rather than advocates for parental rights and school choice.

The National Education Association, the other national teachers’ union, isn’t far behind.

At its annual convention this year in Portland, Ore, delegates passed a resolution calling Trump a “fascist” (while misspelling “fascism” in the document, an embarrassing irony for an organization purporting to champion education).

And this over-the-top rhetoric persisted after last year’s assassination attempts on Trump, which should have prompted some soul-searching.

Instead, unions continue to demonize conservatives as evil incarnate, sowing seeds of division and risking yet more violence.

Even prominent Democrats are amplifying Weingarten’s narrative, with Hillary Clinton celebrating Weingarten’s book launch on X.

The teachers who lost their jobs for celebrating Kirk’s death deserve to be held accountable. They must be kept far from America’s classrooms, away from shaping young minds.

And Weingarten should resign in disgrace for her role in perpetuating this cycle.

Meanwhile, students are fighting back: They’re starting Turning Point USA chapters en masse, organizing to counter the leftist tilt in education.

With 120,000 inquiries received, according to TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet, “we are on the cusp of having” a chapter “in every HS and college campus in America.”

But reasonable teachers need to act, too — and opt out of the unions that are helping to drive this hatred.

They can join no-cost alternatives like the Teacher Freedom Alliance and stop funneling their dues money to radical left causes championed by union bosses like Weingarten.

It’s time to starve the beast and reclaim education from those who would weaponize it against half the country.

Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Culture Project and a visiting fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.