On the 22nd of December, as many may have been busy hanging garlands or wrapping gifts, president-elect Donald Trump took to the stage at TurningPoint USA’s AmericaFest 2024. It was the last four days of intense right-win speeches and messaging, and — of course — Trump was the one everyone gathered in Phoenix, Arizona to hear from.
This Donald Trump has already won his election, and an election where the once-and-future president used transgender people as a cudgel to attack Kamala Harris via an advertisement spending spree. $215 million went into television ads vilifying transgender people. A number that Harvard Law’s Alejandra Caraballo noted is, “$134 per trans person in anti-trans ad spending.”
So, the speech, really, was a victory lap — and also to share his plans for the next four years.
Trump went with his usual warm-ups, thanking many of the individuals present, ranging from Congress Member Ted Cruz to actor Rob Schneider. Then he started into his first-day policy plans, abruptly jumping right into transgender issues with no obvious segue.
“With the stroke of my pen, on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” said Trump, eyes fixed firmly on a teleprompter to his right. His voice is monotone, the voice of someone reading along with the words on the screen.
The crowd, as close to a “hometown crowd” that MAGA can pull in, goes absolutely wild, with cheers and applause that sound enraged and angry, more like howls than anything gleeful. Make no mistake, though, there is glee present, but it’s a sharp, menacing sort of glee, as if going to Disneyland — except they were looking forward to kneecapping Goofy. It’s dripping with pure malevolence.
Trump reads ahead a bit, then turns to his left, getting closer to his microphone. His eyes now fix to the left teleprompter, and his cadence gets a little quicker, a rapid-fire of words. “And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.”
The crowd responds louder still. Even Trump seems a little surprised, pausing to let people applaud while he briefly shakes his head, with lips pursed, before he continues.
“And we will keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump continues, again still firmly fixed to his left. The crowd practically wails in this mix of anger and giddiness that seems almost inhuman.
Trump shifts back to the right, pulling away from the teleprompter, eyes down, and he faces forward, “And that will likewise be done on day one, he says, before he goes into one of his typical forms of rhetoric, asking the crowd for their reaction. “Should I do day one, day two, or day three? How about day one, right?”
The crowd replies with a bit of a sneering chuckle to this, but Trump’s face betrays no cheer. Rather, he goes back to focusing on his right-hand teleprompter.
“Under the Trump administration,” he continues, again back to the cadence of an uneasy reader, “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders.” He turns from the right again, looking to the audience, eyes darting briefly. “Male and female.”
The crowd again loudly cheers, as if on cue. Trump briefly shifts from one leg to another.
He then concludes his transgender talking points by quipping, somewhat dismissively, “It doesn’t sound too complicated, does it?” He veers then into a disastrous series of economic proposals largely focused on destroying the environment, killing regulatory oversight, and his usual mix of imaginary banter.
What struck me is how unemotional he is while discussing the dissolution of transgender rights — such as they are — in America. Almost robotically reading from the teleprompter with a couple slight ad-libs. It’s nothing he seemingly cares about with any depth.
No, this wasn’t about him. It was about the crowd. That’s where the true evil was. They were gleeful and giddy, and full of malevolence. They were not content with the victory: they want blood. I don’t even think they care much about whose.
This is what keeps me up at night.
I know that there are people in Trump’s close orbit who intend to enact horrors onto trans and nonbinary folks, but Trump himself? I think he doesn’t really give much of a damn about trans rights either way.
It’s not that Trump will be a horrible president for us. We know. It’s clear that his whole reason for running was to keep out of jail, get revenge on those he perceives as enemies, and see just how much more he can get away with. He’s simply not all that interested in transgender people one way or another, aside from how he can use us — and use us he will.
I go back to those cheers. Those weren’t Trump, those were his audience. Those were the people I might pass on my morning walk, or are behind me at the grocery store. They might be the pharmacist who handles my hormone prescription, or the police officer who pulls me over for a bad tail light.
If you, dear reader, have trans friends in your life, this is why we’re missing sleep right now. This is why we’re anxious. It’s not just what this administration will do to us, it’s that Trump’s fans are legion, and any interaction is a potential danger.
They are screaming for blood: our blood.
Gwen Smith knows a lot of people not sleeping well right now. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.