The Patriot Post® · Biden: Fundamentally Trans-forming America
Joe Biden insisted that his administration would “look like America.” If that’s true, most Americans are ready for an extreme makeover. A week and a half in, the majority would agree: nothing this White House has done comes even close to resembling their values. Instead, it’s been a 13-day parade of far-Left extremism that’s snuffed out any hope that this president’s “whole soul” is actually in “bringing America together.” What it’s in, as far as the Washington Post can tell, is an LGBT agenda that will blow the doors off of modern convention.
Already, the Post insists, Biden is the most “pro-transgender president in history” — easily beating out eight years of Barack Obama on Day 1. Within hours, he’d thrown down the gauntlet on the military, schools, federal agencies, and any other workplace with a legitimate reason to respect the biological sexes. “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” Biden insisted in his executive order. “Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes. People should be able to access healthcare and secure a roof over their heads without being subjected to sex discrimination.”
It was Biden’s way of warning America: the days of feigning respect for both sides of the gender debate are over. “[The president] has made it clear that he intends to weaponize the law to crush dissent,” Alliance Defending Freedom’s Kristen Waggoner said solemnly. “That impacts not just people of faith, but all Americans who want to live life according to their convictions.” In a pluralistic society, she argued. The government should not be allowed to “single out and punish” people who hold a different view.
Unfortunately for Americans who worry about the fallout of this extremism (and there are plenty on both sides), the LGBT dogma lives loudly in Biden. The new president will stop at nothing to usher in an era where the desires of the .4 percent are elevated above the other 99.6 in national security, education, privacy, competition, corporate autonomy, health care, and freedom — and usually, at the expense of proven science.
Just look at Biden’s new policy on transgenderism in the military. The Trump Pentagon, Peter explained in a new column for the Federalist, studied reams of actual data to arrive at the conclusion that encouraging gender dysphoria was dangerous. They didn’t just look at the biased projections of liberal-leaning organizations like RAND. They waited until 2018 and poured over the “20 months or so of experience between when the Obama policy took effect and when the ‘Report and Recommendations’ were issued, resulting in some interesting contrasts.”
Two years into this social experiment, RAND turned out to be wrong about whole host of things, including the number of people identifying as transgender in the ranks, the price tag for their treatments, the burden on military readiness, and the drain on deployable assets. “The Pentagon study notes the ‘medical costs for Service members with gender dysphoria have increased nearly three times — or 300 percent — compared to servicemembers without gender dysphoria.’ They are also ‘eight times more likely to attempt suicide’ and ‘nine times more likely to have mental health encounters.’”
Like so much of the Left’s “equality” agenda, this “non-discrimination” policy discriminates in favor of transgender-identified service members. “Other people with mutilated genitalia are not permitted to serve in the military,” Peter points out, “nor are those dependent on lifelong specialized medical treatment like hormones, nor are those with serious mental health conditions — only transgender people. It is not military effectiveness that motivates the Biden policy. It is political correctness, pure and simple.”
And yet, if anyone calls out the double standard or points to the data, they’re silenced. Just last week, Twitter suspended the account of Catholic World Report for referring to Dr. Rachel Levine, Biden’s pick for assistant HHS secretary, as “a biological man identifying as a transgender woman.” They did the same to Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen and LifeSite news, arguing that their references to Levine as a biological man violated their “ rules against hateful content.” It’s incredible how far we’ve come since November. Now, Big Tech can’t even co-exist with the facts!
The bad news for them is this: they can cancel our accounts, but they can never cancel the truth! There’s only one way they can even come close, and that’s if we shrink back in fear. We need to graciously — but firmly — stand up for the right to be heard. The only way we keep our freedoms is if we exercise them.
Originally published here.
Missouri Loves Company of Hawley
The cancel culture likes a pushover. Unfortunately for them, they haven’t found one in Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The junior senator from Missouri has faced more criticism in 2021 than anyone but Donald Trump–and just like the 45th president, he’s not giving an inch. And if his approval ratings are any indication, the vast majority of people respect him for it.
It’s not the kind of story the mob wants you to read. After days of trying to hound Senator Hawley out of office, the far-Left has not only failed to take a scalp — they haven’t moved the needle on public opinion either. A new survey by Missouri Scout shows that Hawley’s home state has a high opinion of the senator’s job performance–higher, in fact, than all of the leaders they tested. More people say they approve of Hawley (48 percent) than disapprove (40 percent) — with 14 percent checking in at “unsure.” Among Republicans, Hawley’s numbers soar — hitting 73 percent support, almost 20 points higher than the other senator in his state.
Obviously, the idea that Hawley needs to resign for representing his constituents’ views haven’t gone over so well at home. There, as in most circles, Americans respect the senator for taking a principled stand and refusing to back down. Unlike some Republicans, who dropped their concerns and ran after January 6, Hawley decided that election integrity was too important to turn his back on. “We’ve got to take our stand and have civil debate,” he said on “Washington Watch” last Thursday. “We’ve got to resist this idea that if you hold a different opinion or if you represent a part of the country that doesn’t agree with the latest agenda — the radical agenda of the ruling class — that you can be silenced.”
America has to have open democratic debate, Hawley insisted. That’s where we expose the lies of the Left. “And they are lies — saying that if you wanted to talk about election integrity, as Ted Cruz and I did, and 140 House members, other senators [did]… that’s the same thing as inciting violence. That’s the same thing as being a criminal rioter. That is destructive to the very idea of democracy that says there can be no debate, there can be no conversation. If I disagree with you, I’ll try to criminalize you… The only way the Left wins,” Hawley said, “is if we bow down to them, and we’re afraid. We cannot be afraid.”
Americans are looking for courage. They want something or someone to believe in — to rally around when the bullies come calling. Thank goodness for leaders like Josh Hawley, who are determined to show America that you can fight the mob and win. (And maybe even earn people’s respect in the process.)
Originally published here.
Congressional Minority Fights for Pro-Life Majority
For someone who came late to his party’s extremism, Joe Biden is already very good at it. The man who used to walk in the March for Life came full circle late last week, prying Americans’ wallets open so that he could fund abortions overseas. To his supporters, it was good — but not enough. To his critics, it was even more motivation to fight back.
And fight back, pro-lifers did–introducing more than 20 bills to beat back the attacks on the unborn with policies that would clean up clinics, demand better reporting, end abortion funding in Title IX, offer tax credits to pregnant moms, stop sex-selection and Down syndrome abortions, defund Planned Parenthood, outlaw baby organ harvesting and fetal body part sales, protect babies born alive, and the list goes on and on. Republicans in the House and Senate may not control the gavel, but as each pro-lifer will tell you, they can still control the public debate — and they intend to.
On Friday, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, conservative leaders took the opportunity to show the sharp contrast between the two parties. While Joe Biden was trying to make abortion America’s biggest export, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) was pushing to make the Mexico City Policy he overturned permanent. “Hard-working moms and dads in America who spend many weeks, if not months, out of every year just to pay their federal taxes,” should not have to work to pay for this culture of death, he said on “Washington Watch.” “Regardless of their own religious views or their own views more broadly about abortion, I think the overwhelming majority of those people don’t want their taxpayer dollars going to fund or promote abortions in a foreign country. That’s just evil, and it’s ridiculous.”
But don’t take Republicans’ word for it. New polling out late last week showed that majorities of Democrats and “pro-choicers” — supposedly this president’s base — were overwhelmingly opposed to spending millions destroying innocent life in other countries. And tragically, as Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) explained, it isn’t just surgical abortion that’s doing the most damage — but chemical abortions as well.
It’s an issue, unfortunately, that’s under the radar for a lot of people, but one reason the world has seen a decline in the number of abortions is because of this tactical shift to abortion drugs. As Bob and I talked about, this is a trend that doesn’t just pose a threat to unborn children, but women as well. “About 39 percent of the abortions now are chemical,” he explained. “And it’s really frightening what we’ve seen happening out there… because they’re self-managed [abortions] physician oversight.”
With COVID, Latta points out, that’s only going to get worse. What the pro-choice side out there is trying to do is have these drugs out there — through the mail, the internet, and through telemedicine [where doctors never even see the patient].“ His goal, with the Support and Value Expectant Moms and Babies Act, is to make sure there’s stronger regulatory oversight of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs. He pointed to the spike in emergency room visits and complications. They’re prescribing it like a simple cold medication, but "we’re talking about taking a life” and jeopardizing the mothers’.
Like Mike Lee and the dozens of other bill sponsors, he understands that it’s an uphill climb to get these bills on the table. After all, Latta said, it was impossible to even find a Democratic co-sponsor who was willing to agree that we need to make the process a safe one. “There are very few of these so-called Blue Dog Democrats left, and they’re pretty much controlled by the liberal socialists.” Still, he’s not giving up.
Republicans may not have the votes now, but at the end of the day, this isn’t just about passing a law. It’s about educating the American people and casting a vision for conservatives when they do retake the House. Former Congressman Trent Franks would introduce a Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act every year, knowing it didn’t have a chance in the GOP minority. But his persistence started a national conversation about the issue that trickled down into the states. And ultimately, a lot of those leaders acted locally to do what Franks was advocating nationally. Then, when conservatives finally did win back the House, his Pain Capable bill was one of the first proposals the Republicans passed.
“With the Biden administration and congressional Democrats already gunning to roll back abortion restrictions,” Congressman Ron Wright (R-Texas) told reporters about his party’s flood of legislation, “it’s more important than ever that we continue to be a strong voice for the voiceless.” Pro-lifers have always been good at the long game–and after four years of Joe Biden, the nation will reward them for it.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.