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Donald Trump may have won in part based on lies Republicans spread about a vulnerable minority of Americans.
In the wake of Tuesday’s globe-rocking U.S. election, MSNBC’sMorning Joe panel wasted no time attributing former President Donald Trump’s surprising win to cultural issues, particularly surrounding transgender rights. Host Joe Scarborough suggested that anti-transgender ads were highly impactful. “I’m telling you, that ad had a bigger impact than any ad that ran,” he said, pointing to Trump’s messaging. Scarborough implied these ads resonated with a broad demographic, including rural, Hispanic, and Black young male voters.
One prominent anti-transgender ad aired widely in battleground states featured a spliced clip of Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in favor of gender-affirming medical care for transgender inmates. Harris’s statement, made in a 2019 interview, drew criticism from figures like radio host Charlamagne tha God. In one Trump ad, he remarked, “Hell no. I don’t want my taxpayer dollars going to that,” reinforcing the message that Harris and other Democrats endorse “extreme” transgender policies. The ad concluded with a narrator saying, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
Under the Trump administration, incarcerated people also had access to gender-affirming care. The policy was introduced in his first term. Incarcerated people must be given medically necessary care. Gender-affirming care is necessary, according to the vast majority of medical experts.
Additional ads leveraged stereotyped fears and misinformation, depicting transgender people’s access to gendered spaces and athletics as a public threat. These ads aired heavily during high-profile sports events and were part of a $65 million campaign by Republicans to use transgender issues as a wedge among voters.
The Morning Joe panelists also discussed the broader cultural context, particularly around language and cancel culture issues. Scarborough recounted stories he claimed to have heard repeatedly from Democratic parents whose college-age children reportedly feared speaking up in class on potentially controversial topics. He described parents lamenting that their children avoided participating in discussions for fear of being “canceled” if they failed to use correct pronouns or said something deemed insensitive. “If she says something that’s politically incorrect, she’ll immediately be canceled… destroyed on social media by noon,” Scarborough remarked, suggesting this climate contributed to a perception of the Democratic Party as out of touch with average Americans’ concerns.
Panelist Mike Barnicle echoed this sentiment, pointing to what he characterized as a disconnect between progressive ideals and the realities faced by typical American families.
“The Democratic Party, and a small clique of the Democrats who call themselves progressive, have spent the last decade hectoring those people telling them ’no, you have to say they. No, you have to do this. You have to live this way. There are a lot of transgender people; we must respect them,’ Barnicle said in a mocking tone. “No one wants to harm transgenders, but how many of them are there? Seriously?”
According to the Williams Institute, more than 1.8 million Americans identify as transgender.
Barnicle implied that issues like pronoun usage and identity politics were being pushed in schools in a way that alienated parents and students.
Panelist Elise Jordan observed, “Why the anti-trans ads were so powerful, frankly, because it’s not necessarily even about the trans issues. It is about schools and the issue of schools.” Republicans and Trump spread the false claim that kids were going to school and receiving gender-affirming surgeries there only to return home as another gender. Willie Geist added, “The power was that it was in her own words. They couldn’t run from that.”
Amid these conversations, Democratic Rep. Becca Balint, in an interview with The Advocate, dismissed the notion that Democrats should reconsider their support for transgender rights.
Balint, reelected as Vermont’s first openly queer congresswoman, argued, “No, we’re not going to abandon our support of all Americans, including our trans friends and neighbors and family members. Absolutely not.” She emphasized the importance of focusing on the dignity and respect owed to all people, rejecting any suggestion that trans rights are too “divisive.” Balint acknowledged that Republicans had chosen trans issues as a political target but encouraged Democrats to remain steadfast, building coalitions and educating their colleagues on the importance of human dignity.
As votes were still being counted, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups condemned the panel’s focus on transgender issues as a primary factor in the election. Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, criticized the focus on the portrayal of transgender people in political ads.
“Trans people and other marginalized communities were unwillingly dragged into a relentless, baseless smear campaign from the right wing throughout this election. Mainstream media should be focusing on the facts: this was an immoral onslaught against a small group of people who just want to be themselves and live safely. Media should concentrate on how the inaccurate fear tactics became a distraction that allowed candidates to dodge accountability for real issues on the minds of voters like economic policies, abortion access, and healthcare. In the coming weeks and months, every responsible reporter should use their platforms to hold anti-LGBTQ politicians and media accountable and share the facts about LGBTQ lives.”
Early data and exit polls suggest that voters were primarily concerned with economic issues like inflation, job security, immigration, and crime.
