Trans-Athletes; the New Boogeyman in the GOP's Ridiculous Culture War

If you have spent any time watching Fox News or listening to talk radio you would think that transgender student-athletes are taking over women's sports. Fox alone has aired 126 segments on the topic since 2019, making it one of the new battlefronts in the Republican culture wars, joining the "war on Christmas," nonexistent burger bans, bogus election fraud claims, anti-vax conspiracy theories, climate denial nonsense, and their attempts to teach a sanitized [patriotic] version of American history.

The trans-athlete storyline is about as moronic as every other GOP talking point in the age of Donald Trump. After 126 segments on the scourge of transgender students participating in women's sports, Fox could only find nine trans-athletes in the entire nation and many of the network's stories concerned two former high school students who haven’t competed in years.

Most rational politicians would simply laugh off Fox's rather lame attempt to gin-up conservative outrage, but, inexplicably, it's become a focus of legislation in Republican controlled legislatures across the country.

Media Matters.org: "So far this year, at least 31 states have considered bills to ban trans athletes from participating in sports, and five states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia -- have already signed such measures into law. (Idaho passed a similar law last year, but the law was blocked by a district court and is currently being considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.) Additionally, in South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed a bill barring trans athletes from competing before banning them through executive action. These policies have been called “a ‘solution’ to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

But, for those of you who follow politics, none of this new. This is what the Republican Party has become; bereft of policy ideas, its elected officials spit out increasing bizarre conspiracy theories daily, battling nonexistent demons.

Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for ex-President George W. Bush. put it this way yesterday: “To be a loyal Republican, one must be either a sucker or a liar.” He was referencing the GOP's election fraud lies, but it's applicable to the GOP's entire "bucket of bullshit," as a dear friend refers to the Party's culture war nonsense.

#news #politics #culture

By: Don Lam & Curated Content