Over two Saturdays, a cohort of Southern California reactionaries– anti-public school, anti-vaxx, anti-government, anti-LGBTQ+ activists– along with the lawyers, churches, canidates and non-profits who represent them gathered to strategize, recruit, and fundraise for their ongoing efforts to reclaim education and enact an all-out “Conservative Takeover” of California.
Starting with the Reclaim America Now event on Saturday 2/8—basically a fundraiser for anti-vaxx lawsuits and a smear campaign against public schools, teachers’ unions, sex ed, and the LGBTQIA+ community—was right at home in a Burbank church. After all, the whole theme was about putting “Jesus” at the center of schools.
With Trump hats sprinkled throughout the audience and security made up of documented Proud Boys (we’’ll come back to that later), the scene perfectly captured what’s been playing out at school board meetings nationwide: the aggressive push of a Christian nationalist, far-right agenda, complete with scare tactics, neo-fascist militant groups, and disinformation with the sole purpose of pushing religious, more specifically, apocalyptic Christian biblical worldviews, on children starting in Kindergarten.
A lineup of far-right speakers and panelists took the stage, recycling the same tired rhetoric we’ve heard at school board meetings across SoCal. Their audience? A small, lackluster group of volunteers and guests—most of whom seemed to be on a first-name basis with the organizers.
Let’s break down some of the guest speakers, starting with the host, Heather Poundstone. Poundstone is a plaintiff in the “California Educators for Medical Freedom” case against LAUSD over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Her website boldly declares her “mission is to reform education back to God’s original plan,” and she claims to be “prophetic”—which, given the Jesus-heavy theme of the event, isn’t exactly shocking.
The entire event was essentially a fundraiser to bankroll the case’s appeal to the 9th Circuit Court. Other speakers at the event are also intertwined with similar COVID vaccine mandate cases and by now, it’s no secret that COVID-era mask and vaccine mandates became a launching pad for far-right movements, morphing into a full-blown culture war fueled by bigoted hysteria against anything inclusive, diverse, or outside the Christian nationalist bubble. This brand of fundamentalist Christianity—one that insists it’s the only “correct” version—was primed and ready to be weaponized by right-wing think tanks, like the Council for National Policy (CNP). The CNP has been linked to most activists making noise in the resistance to public education in SoCal, and what do you know? One of their own, Dran Reese, was right there on stage as a featured speaker. How convenient.
Dran Reese, a board member of Public School Exit and founder of The Salt & Light Council, kicked things off and, as expected, didn’t hold back—serving up every piece of exaggerated disinformation in circulation. Her speech was a greatest-hits compilation of right-wing fear-mongering about California’s supposed mission to indoctrinate children. According to her, comprehensive sex education is “pornography,” K-12 teachers are “forced” to promote homosexuality, and—this one’s a gem—“even if a child wanted to get out of same-sex attraction, it’s illegal in this state.” One can only assume she’s referring to California’s ban on abusive, dangerous, and fraudulent conversion therapy.
She then pivots to blaming public schools for kids not believing in God, throwing out a random stat that only 15% of students graduate high school believing in Jesus. Conveniently, she skips over the fact that many students come from different faith backgrounds—because, apparently, if it’s not Jesus, there’s just no room for it in American public schools.
Then comes the predictable sales pitch for homeschooling, which she assures is ‘so’ easy. Her brilliant solution? Have one parent work the night shift so the kids can be fully indoctrinated at home. But don’t worry—it’s all worth the sacrifice, she claims. The small crowd eats it up. This is exactly what they came for: a dramatic takedown of the so-called “evil” public school system. And Dran Reese? She’s more than happy to play the role of fearmonger-in-chief, making the Council for National Policy proud, no doubt. Below are some of the absurd slides included in Reese’s power point.
Another speaker, Leslie Russell, delivers a heaping dose of Christian nationalist propaganda to the crowd. As the founder of Equip 210, a so-called “Kingdom Education” movement, Russell pushes a radical, Bible-based indoctrination model aimed at molding children into unwavering disciples of Jesus Christ. Russell wastes no time attacking public education, declaring that God must be at the center of education. She eagerly promotes Project 2025, the dystopian blueprint for a theocratic takeover, claiming it will “bring Jesus back” into schools. The crowd nods along fervently and there is a general agreement in the room that Trump is the divine instrument to make this happen. Russell casually mentions that Project 2025 will provide the funding to push this agenda—likely referencing its plan to funnel taxpayer money into religious schools at the state level under the guise of “school choice.” But she doesn’t stop there. Russell goes full authoritarian, declaring that teachers’ unions should be illegal—scratch that, ALL government unions should be illegal. Her vision, shared by the Christian nationalist movement rallying behind Project 2025, is one where educators have no protections, public schools are gutted, and taxpayer dollars bankroll religious indoctrination.
And if Russell”s union-bashing wasn’t enough, her co-speaker Rebecca Friedrichs—who has made a career out of attacking teachers’ unions—is more than happy to take it even further.
Friedrichs, queen of anti-teachers union propaganda and founder of the vehicle of it, For Kids and Country, hit the stage with an unhinged rant about Satan, Communism, and the terrifying corruption of the PTA. According to former teacher Friedrichs, the golden age of education in the US was between the 1800s and 1930– that’s right, the era that includes slavery, segregation, and lack of suffrage or equal opportunity for women, Native Americans, immigrants and other groups. That golden age ended, Friedrichs explains, and now Satan himself is running public education and working directly with the teachers’ unions. Major Church Lady energy here—I half expected her to clutch her pearls and faint.
But wait, there’s more! Teachers’ unions aren’t just run by Satan, they’re also deeply rooted in Communism—though she conveniently leaves out whether Satan is also a card-carrying Marxist. Her “evidence”? A book by far-right conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen, The Naked Communist, which pushes the idea that teachers’ unions exist to turn public schools into Communist indoctrination camps. Skousen, by the way, is the same guy who cried “Communism!” when the Mormon Church was pressured to stop banning Black men from the priesthood, and again when the ultra-right-wing John Birch Society faced criticism. Basically, if something threatens white Christian nationalism, Skousen would slap a “Communist” sticker on it. With Skousen as her guiding light, Friedrichs paints a fever-dream picture of public schools where kids are sexualized, indoctrinated, ripped from their families, and force-fed Communist propaganda—all courtesy of Satan, teachers’ unions, and the deep state of public education. Keeping up? Good. Because it only gets weirder. Let’s move on to the next speaker: former small-town mayor Kevin McNamee, who somehow can’t do basic math. (Terrifying, right?)
School Choice Means Private Schools Choose.
We’ve covered Kevin McNamee before—he’s the guy peddling his school voucher/ESA scam, the CEO Act, out of pickup truck beds and right-wing events across SoCal. You can catch up on that [here]. His pitch? That Prop 98 funds can magically turn into $17,000 per child for private, parochial, or homeschool programs—without raising taxes. Sounds like a dream, right? It’s not.
Here’s the problem: Prop 98 funds are based on public school enrollment, not total school-age children. That means McNamee conveniently ignores the over half a million school aged kids in California who don’t attend public school. To cut every child a $17,000 check, the education budget would explode by an estimated $4-8 billion—Money we simply don’t have—unless California makes deep cuts to essential state programs that people rely on, much like Arizona, where their school choice program has drained funds and wreaked havoc on the state budget.
And let’s not forget what happens when you drain public schools of funding: closures, teacher layoffs, and gutted resources, especially in communities where students are funneled into private schools through vouchers. School choice ultimately strips kids of their choices, closing public schools while private schools pick and choose who they accept. So where’s the extra money coming from? Not taxpayers, according to McNamee. But with Project 2025 set to slash federal education funding, California public schools are already looking at a decrease of essential funding for special education and Title1 programs that the state will have to supplement. Of course, details don’t matter when you’re a snake oil salesman on a good grift, and McNamee has found his ideal audience—a room full of Christian nationalists who believe sex ed, LGBTQIA+ people, communists, unions, Satan and vaccines are the root of all the world’s problems.
And speaking of grifting, this “Reclaim Education” event just keeps delivering—with more SoCal extremists proselytizing sensationalised disinformation and non-profit scams, all wrapped up in a final panel of the most unhinged ideologues in the room.
The panel kicks off with a familiar, tired narrative: public schools are “indoctrinating” kids with LGBT ideology. And the speakers? A perfect lineup of extremist fearmongers.
Sarah Stephens, best known for her failed gubernatorial run and for driving the getaway car for a man who attacked a journalist with a lead pipe at an LA protest, wastes no time. She rails against the “evils” of gay relationships, calling the mere acknowledgment of its existence by school aged children “perverted.” Her solution? Running a “Good News Club” at public schools to “combat” these so-called evils, proudly declaring, “We are in a spiritual warfare, and we need to get these evils out.” But that’s just one part of her Christian nationalist crusade—she also heads Make California Gold Again, a nonprofit pushing religious extremism under the guise of civic engagement.
Sitting beside her, Sonja Shaw takes the mic periodically, her own brand of bigotry in full display. As Chino Valley USD school board president, Shaw has built her tenure on demonizing transgender children and enacting policies that put them in harm’s way. From outing trans students to advocating for their exclusion from school sports, her agenda is rooted in cruelty, not concern. Experts in medicine, sports science, and human rights have debunked the myths she peddles, but fairness and inclusion have never been part of her playbook.
This isn’t a discussion—it’s a fear factory, designed to stoke panic and justify policies that actively harm children.
Despite the event’s ostensible focus on “reclaiming education” it was clear that a significant part of this project is actually about ensuring public schools can no longer mandate vaccines. Poundstone was one of multiple plaintiffs engaged in litigation against school districts who required covid vaccines. Representing the legal anti-vax world was Leslie Manookian, a one-time film writer and Goldman Sachs business exec. These days, Leslie is trying to change supreme court precedent through her legal actions against school districts, using lofty language about battles and freedom to justify the rampant spread of preventable diseases. Leslie is unfortunately a very boring speaker, and heavily relied on name-dropping references to “Bobby” (RFK Jr. at that point not yet been confirmed as Secretary of HHS) who, she assured the audience, “knows all about our case.”
Proud Boys For Hire
The event boasted of “ample security,” feeding into the perpetual self-victimization these Christian nationalists thrive on—because, of course, the specter of evil communist infiltrators is always lurking in their minds. But the so-called security was a chilling lineup of known Proud Boys and violent culture-war mercenaries, many of whom are tied to Ekklesia, the nomadic Proud Boy church exposed by Vice News as a Christian nationalist hub where Proud Boys go to be baptized.
The security team roster was as alarming as it was predictable. Hansel Orzame, the pastor of Ekklesia, loomed over the event alongside his grey-haired enforcer “Kurt.” Violent street activist and J6er Andi Lai was there, as were confirmed Proud Boys Louie Flores and Phillip Alpin. Flores and Alpin have built a reputation as intimidating muscle at school board meetings—witnesses even report Alpin attempting to smuggle a knife into a Redlands USD meeting in 2023.
This isn’t just one event—it’s a blueprint for the future if we don’t fight back. Right-wing extremist groups are steadily infiltrating education, while Trump openly pardons Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio and aligns himself with violent, anti-government factions. The Proud Boys have already served as security for Moms for Liberty events, and now, armed extremists are defining “security” at anti-public education gatherings in Burbank churches. This isn’t a distant threat—it’s here, at our doorstep. Californians must wake up before these extremists take even deeper control.
Conservative Takeover
Exactly one week later, Sarah Stephens hosted a second, invite-only event in Rancho Cucamonga called Conservative Takeover—and if you want to know who’s shaping California’s far-right agenda for the next few years, this was the place to be.
The February 8th extremists were back—Friedrichs, Russell, Shaw, Poundstone and McNamee—this time joined by even more of the usual anti-inclusion culture war grifters. School board chaos agents like Manuk Grigoryan of the anti-LGBTQ+ group Leave Our Kids Alone, Adam Vena of Dad Army, Jessica Enos of Mom Army, and fired anti-trans teacher Jessica Tapia were all in attendance. But it didn’t stop there.
Also making an appearance were out-of-state agitators Tara Thornton and Denise Aguilar, the so-called Freedom Angels who lobby for MAGA and MAHA policies in Sacramento. Aguilar is a far-right extremist who was photographed at the failed January 6th insurrection. She founded Mamalitia, an anti-vaxx, pro-gun homeschool advocacy group, ran an unsuccessful campaign for Stockton’s Assembly seat, and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor welfare fraud in 2020. She made it crystal clear that this event was all about planning for elections and mobilization through 2026.
Then you have Seak Smith, the founder of Mom Army/Dad Army, an SPLC-designated anti-government extremist group. Enos and Vena, also present, are both involved with that same extremist network. And let’s not forget former Oath Keeper and ex-CSPOA Sheriff Chad Bianco—who showed up as well, no surprise considering he’s now running for California governor in 2026. In 2024, he met with Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, likely to bolster his gubernatorial ambitions. Now he’s seeking additional high profile donors.
Christian nationalist Rob McCoy of Godspeak Calvary was there too. Rob McCoy, a member of the Council for National Policy (CNP), has built his brand on the belief that churches should control politics. He relentlessly pushes for pastors and Christian activists to infiltrate government and shape policy, blurring the lines between church and state to advance a far-right Christian nationalist agenda. Many CNP members operate affiliated organizations to shape policy and influence culture, and Rob McCoy is no exception. As co-founder of TPUSA Faith—the religious arm of TPUSA—he is committed to mobilizing pastors into politics and embedding far-right Christian ideology into schools, from K-12 to higher education. He has recently moved back to the Conejo Valley where his church is located. A former Thousand Oaks city council member, Rob McCoy was deeply involved in local politics and has spent years interfering in school board races, to the extent that the candidates he endorsed and supported became known as the “Rob Mob” candidates
And then there’s Shaun Frederickson, the hypocritical religious liberty advocate behind Freedom Revival Events. He took the stage at this gathering and went full Christian nationalist, declaring: “The separation of church and state is dead and actually never existed.” Frederickson bemoaned that Christians don’t control the education pillar, directly referencing the Seven Mountains Mandate, a radical New Apostolic Reformation doctrine that calls for Christian dominance over key cultural institutions—including schools.
The whole operation took place at Refuge Church in Rancho Cucamonga, where the leading pastor, Rob Corvell, made no secret of his intentions: identifying Christian nationalist far-right candidates and funneling money to them through his super PAC, America Upheld.
This wasn’t just another gathering of far-right operatives—it was a strategic meeting for extremists openly planning to infiltrate California politics and push their regressive agenda.
The far-right’s war on public education isn’t just about schools—it’s a calculated effort to reshape American society by dismantling democratic institutions from the ground up. What began as a reactionary movement against COVID-19 mandates quickly transformed into an all-out assault on student diversity, inclusive education, and historically marginalized communities. These extremist groups, under the banners of “parental rights” and “education freedom,” have weaponized local school boards to push for book bans, attack LGBTQ+ students, and erase the teaching of systemic racism—all while promoting policies designed to defund and ultimately destroy public education.
This is not happening in a vacuum. Their agenda aligns perfectly with MAGA’s broader mission: gut federal education funding, destroy unions, weaken accreditation standards, privatize schools, and make it harder for public institutions to survive. Trump is already laying the groundwork to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education entirely, a move that would strip protections from vulnerable students and hand control of education over to extremists pushing religious indoctrination and revisionist history. Groups like ALEC and the Essential Policy Solutions Playbook are leading the charge, crafting model legislation that promotes charter school expansion, religious homeschooling, and open enrollment policies that siphon funds away from neighborhood schools.
This isn’t just a localized culture war—it’s a national takeover strategy, and California is one of their biggest targets. We’re already seeing these policies gain traction in red states, where public education is being hollowed out in favor of school vouchers and right-wing propaganda. If we don’t fight back, these same extremists will bring their anti-inclusion, anti-LGBTQ+, white supremacist-backed agenda to our schools, our communities, and eventually, every level of government. Protecting California’s public schools isn’t just about education—it’s about defending democracy itself.
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