When Graham appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program afterward, she attempted to recover by pivoting from her lack of national security knowledge to transgender athletes, as The Advocate reported.

“Of course, Taiwan is our friend,” Graham said. “But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet. They are concerned about boys in girls’ sports.”

Trump continued that strategy Friday by making transgender people a central part of his argument for Graham. He attacked Andrews as a “far-left political hack who supports transgender for everybody” and accused her of telling “confused children they’re trapped in the wrong body.”

Trump may have conflated those medical procedures with agreements his Justice Department has forced on two major hospital systems. Those settlements require Texas Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic to establish or fund services for people who voluntarily seek to detransition. They do not order hospitals to perform surgery on anyone.

In May, Texas Children’s agreed to pay the state $10 million, end gender-affirming care for minors and establish what federal officials called the country’s first “restorative care” clinic for detransitioners. The Houston hospital also agreed to terminate five physicians connected to its transgender health program and permanently revoke their privileges, as The Advocate reported.

  • InvalidName2@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Yep. A few years ago there was that whole spiel about how Democrats were putting litter boxes in public school classrooms so that the kids who identify as animals would have a place to relieve themselves. I heard someone actively talking about it while grocery shopping at one point.

    Trump himself has claimed children are getting gender affirming surgery IN SCHOOL and I can tell you that there are men and women out there, this very year in 2026, who have made statements implying they would kill the teachers involved. Like, it’s complete fantasy, they just love to be angry and act tough about stuff that’s not happening and never will.

    • Dion Starfire@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The litter box thing gets even better - the root of it was a school that did indeed have litter boxes in every classroom, meant for human use. But it had nothing to do with Therian kids identifying as cats. It was in response to the question “what if a kid needs to use the bathroom during an active shooter lockdown?”

      • pega_sus@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Therian

        Woah slow down, don’t think they know those words yet. You might cause an aneurysm.