Trump Goes All in on Transphobia
The fascist former president has released a speech describing a slate of policies he would pursue if he returned to the presidency that would target trans people and trans youth.
by Evan Urquhart
Earlier this week we wrote that former president and future presidential candidate Donald Trump was trying out some new lines, railing against trans people in a sparsely attended rally and seemingly desperate for relevance in a Republican Party which has moved on from its hateful obsession with immigration and on to a hateful obsession with transgender youth. In a speech yesterday that outlined a long list of ways Trump promises to attack trans people of all ages if he returns to the White House, we think we can safely say he’s all in on transphobic hate, a move we predicted in October of last year.
Here’s the full list of policies Trump now says he will support or enact:
Revoke Biden’s policies on gender-affirming care
Executive order directing federal agencies to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age
Ask congress to permanently stop federal taxes from being used to promote or pay for these procedures
Ask congress to pass a law prohibiting gender affirming care for youth in all 50 states
Declare that any hospital or healthcare provider that participates in gender affirming care for youth will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare and will be terminated from these programs immediately
Support the creation of a private right of action for detransitioners to sue doctors who have performed these procedures on minors
Direct the Department of Justice to investigate pharmaceutical companies and hospital networks to determine whether they have deliberately covered up negative long term side effects of medical transition
Direct the Department of Justice to investigate whether pharmaceutical companies or others have illegally marketed hormones and puberty blockers for off-label use
Direct the Department of Education to inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they might be ransgender they will face consequences including potential civil rights violations for sex discrimination and the elimination of federal funding
Create a new credentialing body for teachers that promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers, and celebrating rather than erasing the things that make men and women different and unique
Ask congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth
The above bill will also make clear that Title IX prohibits men from participating in women’s sports
The above bill will also protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to present themselves as a new gender without the parents consent
This laundry list is obviously frightening for trans people to contemplate, but implementation of the full list should certainly not be seen as a likely result of Trump or any other Republican assuming the presidency in 2024. Instead, it is instructive as a marker for what Trump believes to be the most extreme positions a Republican candidate for the presidency could take.
Trump’s successful campaign in the Republican primary ahead of the 2016 election was notable for taking positions on immigration that had long been considered too extreme for a candidate to adopt and win, so his history of seeking out the most extreme positions possible to appeal to the fringes of the GOP base is why it makes sense to expect Trump to seek out the harshest possible positions here as well.
There’s one obvious policy a GOP candidate could support which would go further than those proposed by Trump now—a ban on some or all gender-affirming care for adults. When looking at Republican strategy for the 2024 primaries, and how other candidates might attempt to differentiate themselves from Trump, the possibility of banning gender affirming care for adults seems like an obvious option for a candidate who wants to out-do Trump here. However, it may not be necessary for figures such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has long been seen as a likely candidate in 2024. DeSantis’ record of targeting trans people in his policies as governor already differentiates him, and shows him to be more committed to this issue than Trump, because Trump has only come to it now, when it is highly popular with the GOP base. In the past, Trump has been seen as comparitively more tolerant of LGBTQ+ people, although he did not in any way support them during his candidacy or presidency in the past.