I ran across this today. Nikki Haley is thinking of running for president, and if she does she intends to concentrate on the threat posed by transgender people.
In a way, this is a sign that the Republicans are running out of people to openly hate, which I suppose tells us something somewhat good about the nation, though it’s true that some Republicans have decided that there’s no need to be quietly racist anymore. Still, for the most part, you can’t openly attack blacks for being black, Jews for being Jews, or gay people for being gay. Transgender people are now the new boogie-people.
I recently read a statistic to the effect that, when asked in a poll, the American people responded that about 30% of people are transgender, when the actual number is closer to .6%, which is close to what I would have guessed if asked.
It’s hard to believe that in any sane or rational country that this would be a winning issue for any politician, and I suspect that it will not be even in this country, at least not right away. Still, it is a sign that the Republican establishment, to which Haley clearly belongs, has adopted the fascist playbook. There must always be an “other” to distract from the fact that the fascists aren’t particularly interested in doing anything that helps people with their daily lives.
One has to wonder. If the anti-transgender movement fades as the anti-gay movement largely has, who are they going to pick on next?
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