Desperate: Biden Blames Trump for Deaths of Black Transgender Women
In a speech Saturday in Ohio, Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden said that LGBT rights would be his top legislative priority were he elected president.
Fair enough. I’m sure, given Biden’s fickle nature, he’ll have another cause by next week, but it’s certainly not something you would be surprised to hear coming out of his mouth.
What you might have been surprised to hear, however, is Biden engaging in blatant demagogy I would have thought to be below him. He used the occasion to blame Donald Trump for the deaths of black transgender women.
According to The Associated Press, Biden made the remarks at a gala to kick off Pride Month hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT activist group. In his speech, Biden said that it was “wrong and it is immoral” what the Trump administration is doing in regard to LGBT rights.
“Among other Trump polices, he cited attempts to bar transgender troops in the U.S. military, allow individuals in the medical field to refuse to treat LGBTQ individuals, and allow homeless shelters to refuse transgender occupants,” the AP reported.
Well, so far so Biden. This is hardly unusual territory for anyone in the Democrat field; he also talked about passing the Equality Act, a pet project of House Democrats that would have no carve-outs for religious liberty and is dead on arrival everywhere but the lower chamber.
Biden’s unique rhetoric, however, came when he tacitly accused the Trump administration of engendering policies which resulted in the murder of five black transgender women.
“We’ve already had five, just this year, we’ve already had five black transgender women killed violently in 2019,” Biden said.
“It’s outrageous. It must, it must, it must end. And the fastest way to end it is end the Trump administration.”
Joe Biden speaks in Columbus, OH: “We’ve already had five, just this year, we’ve already had five black transgender women killed violently in 2019. It’s outrageous. It must, it must, it must end. And the fastest way to end it is end the Trump administration.” pic.twitter.com/XYgUs4bV3W
— The Hill (@thehill) June 3, 2019
Wait, what? Want to run that by us again?
If you’re saying that the fastest way for the targeted murder of transgender individuals to end is to vote the Trump administration out, you’re basically saying the Trump administration bears blame for these deaths. That’s utterly reprehensible.
And much like Pete Buttigieg, Biden also implied that Vice President Mike Pence’s Christian beliefs were nothing more than a cover for homophobia.
“This president, this White House has literally, literally a bully pulpit, is callously extending his power over the most vulnerable — implementing the most discriminatory policies like Muslim bans, turning away asylum seekers, putting children in cages,” Biden said, according to CNN.
“And the current vice president uses religious freedom as an excuse to license discrimination. It’s wrong and it is immoral what they’re doing.”
No, wrong and immoral is calling someone’s religious beliefs — which, from all indications, are legitimately held — a shield for bigotry. Wrong and immoral is using the same old “Muslim ban” and “children in cages” lines.
But worse than all of that is insinuating that the administration created an environment in which black transgender individuals would be killed. This is the height of demagogy, plain and simple. If Biden wins the nomination, expect to hear this and worse. This is the kind of man we’re dealing with here — one who’s willing to say anything to attain the highest office in the nation.
Perhaps his most ironic line was the one about the White House being “literally a bully pulpit.” The fact that this all was coming from a bully up on a pulpit never occurred to him.
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