Former President Donald Trump’s recent anti-trans ads are a desperate attempt to secure the votes of transphobic Americans.
The Trump campaign has spent an estimated $19 million to show two ads in battleground states and during football games, according to data from to CBS News. These ads criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for inmates have been repeated an estimated 55,000 times since Oct. 1.
The ads end with a catchy tagline, which seems to be something the Trump team is good at — “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
This is not the first time during this campaign that Trump has criticized Harris’ stance on transgender issues. During the presidential debates, Trump called out Harris for what he saw as her support of “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”
Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric has also emphasized the need to “keep men out of women’s sports.” He has specifically spoken about the Paris Olympics during his rallies and, without mentioning their names, falsely claimed gold medalists Imane Khelif of Algeria and Li Yu-ting of Taiwan were men.
By focusing on transgender issues, Trump is betting that this more divisive topic will sway more voters in the weeks leading up to Nov. 5 and further agitate his supporters.
The problem is that most voters don’t care about transgender debates as much as other issues. The average American would likely be more swayed by ads about the economy, immigration and abortion.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 38% of Americans consider transgender rights as “extremely or very important to their presidential vote choice.”
Yet the Trump campaign has chosen to target the most vulnerable group in America because they think it will get the majority on their side.
This is because neither party has given outspoken and consistent support to transgender Americans.
Transgender rights have been a topic of major controversy in the years leading up to this election. Both sides of the political aisle are divided on the issue, and transgender communities are usually left disappointed by lawmakers, regardless of which party they’re aligned with.
This is especially true in Texas.
Senator Ted Cruz’s recent inflammatory ads criticizing Democratic candidate Collin Allred’s support for the LGBTQ+ community put Allred on the defensive. Cruz accused Allred of wanting to harm women with his inclusive policies and used imagery of a man wearing a blue “Allred” jersey looming over girls like a villain from a horror film.
Allred’s response to this was a strangely mild ad that unfortunately echoed conservative talking points, which drew criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates.
“So let me be clear — I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying,” Allred said in the ad.
Transphobic politicians avoid directly attacking transgender communities and instead use more divisive issues like transgender athletes and transgender women using women’s bathrooms as a convenient way to paint their opponent as extremist.
This campaign of fearmongering doesn’t inform voters for their decision on Nov. 5 but plays into their prejudices against their fellow Americans.
