Trump and Vance put anti-LGBTQ+ attacks at the center of the campaign

ATLANTA — Donald Trump put his opposition to transgender rights at the center of his closing argument before Election Day, using derogatory language and misrepresentations to portray a narrow slice of the US population as a threat to national identity.

The former president and Republican nominee aligned campaign and political action committees have spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising attacking the Democratic nominee and vice president Kamala Harris for her previous statements supporting transgender rights.

His rally speeches now feature a fake video mocking trans people and their place in the US military. assembly, interspersed with paper clips from the Vietnam War movie “Full Metal Jacket,” usually draws loud boos at his rallies, as does Trump’s. false claims about female athletes and his mocking impression from what he says she is a trans woman who lifts weights.

“We’re going to get the … bloody transgender insanity out of our schools and keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump said at his recent op-ed. Rally in Madison Square Gardendrawing a roar of approval from the crowd of over 20,000.

His running mate, JD Vance, argued Thursday that “middle-class or upper-middle-class” white teenagers can identify as transgender to get into elite universities more easily. In doing so, Vance invoked conservative anger over affirmative action and other programs aimed at historically disenfranchised groups.

“Is there a dynamic where if you come out as trans, that’s the way to reject your white privilege?” Vance said, speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan. “That’s the only social signifier, the only one that’s available in the hyper-awakened mindset, is if you become gender nonbinary.”