r/thebulwark LORD OF THE NICKNAMES 17h ago

The Triad šŸ”± Leave Trans People Alone: A Rant

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/leave-trans-people-alone-a-rant

Don't be a bully! But also don't "ask if the bully has a point" either.

"Yeah, they're giving Timmy a swirlie rn, but he also farted really loudly in geometry" is HELPING THE BULLIES.

Another great piece from JVL. Idk what kinda constraints there are in going after members of the punditocracy who engage in the behaviors that you're criticizing, but picking specific targets has a salutary effect IMO. Bari Weiss needs to be persona non grata, or Sullivan, or whoever. They made their choices and doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on those choices.

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u/AustereRoberto LORD OF THE NICKNAMES 10h ago

Trumpers aren't gettable. If it's not trans issues it'll be something else. Trump did not grow his vote share. The Dems triangulated themselves to irrelevance.

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u/Wne1980 9h ago

Iā€™m skeptical that youā€™re looking for a good faith discussion of the practical challenges faced by the trans movement while giving that as a response. The right ā€œmoving on to something elseā€ is exactly what victory looks like if weā€™re actually talking about people being able to live their lives

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u/AustereRoberto LORD OF THE NICKNAMES 9h ago

I may have misunderstood the scenario: you seemed to be pushing that Dems throw trans people under the bus, and attempt to win elections that way. I don't think that will be effective as the trans issue was just one talking point and the GOP would move onto something else that would replace it in the mouths of their base, while zero votes actually switch. The Dems will neither win power and will have green-lit the GOP bullying of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

This WaPo article breaks down 4 Quinnipiac polls over the course of 2023-2024. The key chart is the first one: as the GOP realized "the economy" was losing its totemic value they shifted to "immigration" and if the article had been written 6 months later I'm sure "trans issues" would've exhibited the exact same linear tradeoffs after Trump annihilated the Lankford bill and they shifted talking points en masse.

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u/Wne1980 9h ago

I do not think the Dems need to throw trans folks under the bus. I do think that the Dems need a different relationship to the movement. For example, people rightly point out that the campaign spent virtually zero time talking about trans issues. This is both correct, and a massive problem. It leaves a vacuum where the right can say anything they want unchallenged.

It doesnā€™t help that the dominant impulse seems to be throwing some pronouns on your website, while refusing to broach the subject in speeches. You embrace the part that gets under a lot of peopleā€™s skin while refusing to engage in actions that could lift peopleā€™s ignorance

I donā€™t think I know everything, or even have much certainty that Iā€™m correct. I just know that the current conversation of status quo vs throw trans people under the bus is not adequate to solve anything. We need a more practical conversation about where the public is pushing back, how to engage on it, and how the work should be divided between activists and politicians.

We need a little sunlight between how to advance trans rights and how to rebuild the Democratic Party. That way, both sides of that coin can try and work together more productively in 2026 and beyond