Both President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been increasingly sending the same “signal,” journalist Imara Jones warned on Sunday, one that could have deadly consequences for a marginalized group.
“History has shown us that authoritarian leaders facing political trouble don’t moderate their attacks on marginalized communities. They double down,” Jones wrote in an analysis published Sunday on MS NOW. “With the midterm elections approaching and Republicans facing mounting political pressure, I fear we are watching that process unfold.”
The group targeted by Trump and Hegseth, Jones flagged, was transgender Americans. Hegseth declared “no trannies” would be permitted to serve in the military, an anti-trans slur that had also been used by Trump last week to attack the Democratic nominee for Senate in South Carolina, who is not transgender.
When asked about transgender participation in sports last year, Trump said he did not “like talking about it because I want to save it for just before the next election.” Jones noted that, “right on time,” Trump had escalated his anti-transgender rhetoric ahead of the midterms.
The campaign against the transgender community had extended far beyond rhetoric, Jones noted, with the Trump administration flagging “radically pro-transgender” organizations in its national counterterrorism strategy. The Justice Department also flagged “radical gender ideology” as a potential inspiration for domestic terrorism.
“Think about what that means. The federal government is now writing support for trans people into the language of domestic terrorism,” Jones wrote.
“I worry that the next step could be investigations of transgender advocacy organizations, surveillance of activists or the use of federal law enforcement against people peacefully defending their rights. These are possibilities, rather than announced policies. But the administration has already laid troubling groundwork.”
Jones also expressed what she described as her “greatest fear” regarding Trump and Hegseth’s rhetoric: “helping create a country where violence against trans people becomes increasingly acceptable, whether it comes from the government itself or from ordinary Americans who believe they have its permission.”
“A president doesn’t have to order violence for someone else to hear his words as a green light,” Jones wrote.