Donald Trump Casts Aspersions on Trans People in His NRA Speech

He told the pro-gun group that transgender people are violent

Gun by Kerttu from Pixabay

On April 14, Donald Trump spoke to the NRA, threatening that if he is re-elected President he “will direct the FDA to convene an independent outside panel to investigate whether transgender hormone treatments and ideology increase the risk of extreme depression, aggression and even violence.” He added: “I think most of us already know the answer.”

In general, Trump doesn’t speak literally. His words are usually false, nonsense, hateful, dangerous—in this case, all of the above.

• If Trump were to convene such a panel, of course it wouldn’t be “independent” nor “outside.” After all, in the same breath, he declared he and everyone else “already know the answer” the panel would be expected to produce.
• The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t research ideologies.
• Being transgender isn’t an ideology.
• Scientists have been researching hormones for over a hundred years. Google Scholar immediately retrieves 2 million academic articles about “hormones” and “depression” or “aggression.” Nothing Trump says can accelerate nor contribute to this research.