Trump campaign slammed for ‘trans panic’ Harris ad: ‘Kamala is for they/them’
Donald Trump. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has come under fire for its latest advert attacking Kamala Harris’ pro-trans views, once again parroting the former commander-in-chief’s claim that the Democratic nominee is funding gender-affirming surgeries for “illegal aliens”.
The advert was posted on Trump’s social media channels on Friday (20 September), repeating his claims that Harris supports taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for prisoners and undocumented immigrants.
The ad, branded “trans panic” by social media users, ends with the tagline: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
GLAAD president and chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis responded by telling The Advocate: “This reeks of desperation…. [voters have] “repeatedly rejected candidates who target transgender people and have strongly stated that they want extremists out of our doctors’ offices and private lives.
“Extremists would rather deploy divisive strategies like this than defend how they stripped the right to choose, allowed COVID to kill millions and wrecked the economy.”
Trump’s attack on “transgender operations on illegal aliens” stemmed from Harris’ response to a an American Civil Liberties Union survey in 2019, when she was a senator.
One question asked: “As president, will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and non-binary people who rely on the state for medical care, including those in prison and immigration detention, will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care?”
She answered “yes”, prompting Trump to attack her when the survey question resurfaced following a CNN report.
“This is how you know Trump is desperate, [Florida governor Ron] DeSantis’ style of rage bait flopped at the national level but they seem to have forgotten that,” one social media user said about the advert.
Another wrote: “They’re going full on trans panic. This has been one of the least successful campaign strategies in US politics.”
Another referred to the slogan “Kamala is for they/them”, saying: “All this account does is give us reasons to vote for her.”
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