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CASPER, Wyo. — DONALD TRUMP has a new target for political attacks and scapegoating: transgender people.
Trump spoke for over 90 minutes at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper on Saturday. It was ostensibly a speech in support of HARRIET HAGEMAN, his hand-picked candidate to take out Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) in what Trump described here as “the most important election” of 2022 — and one that comes after a string of embarrassing primary defeats for Trump’s picks in Nebraska, Idaho, Georgia and North Carolina.
Trump meandered into issues far afield from the Wyoming race. In fact, if you haven’t tuned in lately, little has changed at a Trump rally. The former president appears to have put put on some weight, but he still looks younger than his 75 years, and the familiar mix of exaggerations, lies, sometimes hilarious mockery, dark conspiracies, personal grievances, perplexing asides, stream of consciousness riffs — all delivered in his uniform of a blue suit and long red tie — remains unchanged.
How much the event benefited Hageman was unclear. The parking lot was filled with license plates from Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado and Utah. On the security lines and in the hall, fans costumed in red ties, bedazzled MAGA dresses and at least one Trump-inspired catsuit traded notes on how many Trump rallies they’ve attended across the country.
Numerous non-Wyoming MAGA celebrities, such as Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.), who appeared before Trump, repeatedly pronounced Hageman’s name incorrectly.
As his recent losses make clear, Trump seems to understand now that people come to see him, and may ignore whatever candidate he’s hawking that day. “What’s more fun than a Trump rally?” he asked. The crowd cheered.
After an hour of Trump delivering many familiar hits — on Russia, impeachment, Jan. 6, the 2020 election, how he told NATO members he would not defend them if they didn’t “pay,” trade with China, CHUCK TODD’S alleged lack of sleep, the relative merits of the journalists CHRIS WALLACE and his father MIKE, his conversations with the Taliban, the Durham investigation, and how, “sadly,” White House physician-turned-congressional candidate RONNY JACKSON knows Trump’s body better than MELANIA does — Trump turned his attention to a newer obsession.
“No teacher should ever be allowed to teach transgender to our children without parental consent,” he said, just as some of the MAGA faithful started to trickle out. “Can you imagine?”
On the perimeter of the arena, some attendees headed for their cars stopped and began listening again on an outside monitor. Trump briefly got distracted when he caught a glimpse of himself on a video screen and noticed his hair was thinning in the back.
But he then returned to the subject.
“We will save our kids and we will also keep men the hell out of women’s sports. Is that OK?” he said, using what’s become a common GOP refrain. He continued with an animated tale about a female swimmer about to start a race who turned and noticed a new opponent, a “huge person who was a guy recently.”
Trump paused for effect and then reflected on the fraught nature of his commentary. “See? I’m politically correct, I said ‘recently,’ They can’t get me,” he said. “You have to be very careful, this is a hornet’s nest.”
He continued. He said the trans woman set a new record that would stand until “some guy comes along and breaks it again.” He pantomimed his way through a story mocking trans women in weightlifting competitions. He imagined himself as a women’s basketball team coach recruiting players, such as LEBRON JAMES: “Did you ever have any thoughts, LeBron, about one day becoming a woman?”
He congratulated himself. “Everybody’s afraid of not being politically correct,” he said. “I’m the only one that talks about it.”
These long riffs mocking trans athletes were received with thunderous applause. The only other objects of derision that tickled the crowd with similar enthusiasm were mentions of undocumented immigrants or Cheney and the appearance of House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY, who was booed when he showed up in a video at the rally.
Trump is wrong that he’s the only one in politics caricaturing trans people for political benefit. Transgender women have been allowed to compete in women’s categories in the Olympics since 2003 and the NCAA since 2010. Yet Republicans say new laws are needed to protect women’s sports and GOP candidates have been using Trump-like language in campaigns and policy around the country for years.
It’s having an impact. Here in Wyoming last week, a local school board voted to remove sexual orientation and gender identity from its non-discrimination code.
Trump is like a standup comedian. He uses rallies, especially in the offseason, to work on material. He tests the reaction among his diehard fans and watches the mainstream media’s coverage. He then rewrites the lines, calibrating them for maximum effect inside the arena and minimal blowback outside of it. You can tell he believes he’s onto something with his mocking of trans people.
There is a cynical strategy at work here. Targeting marginalized groups for ridicule forces more responsible actors to stand up for them. As Democrats have learned, Trump’s goal is to get them to spend their time outraged and defending the targets of his attacks rather than talking about their own message.
This dynamic creates a built-in political advantage to any party that no longer sees it as taboo to scapegoat certain groups. Trump, of course, knows this and he has found a new target for 2022 — and perhaps beyond.
Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
SUNDAY BEST …
— Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) on gun safety legislation negotiations, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I’m at the table in a more significant way right now with Republicans and Democrats than ever before. … Every single time after one of these mass shootings, there’s talks in Washington, and they never succeed. But there are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have ever seen since Sandy Hook.” More from David Cohen
— Texas Democratic state Sen. ROLAND GUTIERREZ, who represents Uvalde, on how hopeful he is for legislative changes, on “State of the Union”: “If I do nothing for the rest of my career but yell at Greg Abbott and others that are not willing to listen, then that’s what I’m going to do. We must have change. I have spent time with many of these families. And this is just heartbreaking. I just cannot do this anymore. It is heartbreaking. No family should go through what these people are going through.”
— Rep. MO BROOKS (R-Ala.) on whether he would testify before the Jan. 6 select committee, on “Fox News Sunday”: “It’s got to be something that you at Fox News can have a camera on so that the American people can see it. … OK, it’s got to be in public. It’s got to be congressman to congressman. It’s got to be limited to issues associated with Jan. 6 and it has to be after this Senate primary is over with. I don’t want this witch hunt committee, NANCY PELOSI, trying to interfere with a Republican primary election for the United States Senate in Alabama.”
BIDEN’S SUNDAY (all times Eastern):
— 12 p.m.: The president and first lady JILL BIDEN will arrive in Uvalde, Texas.
— 12:30 p.m.: The Bidens will pay respects to the victims at the memorial site at Robb Elementary School.
— 1 p.m.: The Bidens will attend mass.
— 2:30 p.m.: The Bidens will meet with the families of victims and survivors.
— 6:05 p.m.: The Bidens will meet with first responders.
— 7 p.m.: The Bidens will depart Uvalde to return to New Castle, Del., where they are scheduled to arrive at 11 p.m.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SUNDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
PLAYBOOK READS
9 (GIVE OR TAKE) STORIES YOU SHOULD BE READING …
1. THE UVALDE TIMELINE: WaPo, NYT and CNN have harrowing recountings of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday — detailing the events inside and outside the building minute by minute as they unfolded. They’re well worth your time, though we will warn: the details can be very difficult to read.
— WaPo’s Tim Craig, Hannah Allam, Annie Gowen and Mark Berman write: “Only now, a more reliable chronology is emerging through official statements, 911 logs, social media posts, and interviews with survivors and witnesses. The revelations tell a story of institutional failure at the expense of unprotected children. Here in Uvalde, there is little expectation that correcting the record will lead to any real policy change, especially with hyperpartisan midterm elections looming.”
— NYT’s Keith Collins, Albert Sun, Eleanor Lutz and Larry Buchanan: “What follows is an account of each of those 78 minutes, as told by video evidence, statements by witnesses and law enforcement, and accounts of 911 calls.”
— CNN’s Ray Sanchez: “‘These are our children.’ 80 minutes of horror at Robb Elementary School”
— Related read: “‘Ariely is in there,’” by WaPo’s Peter Jamison: “One daughter left Robb Elementary early. Another was trapped inside the school. A mother’s desperate search, and a family’s struggle to move forward.”
2. HOW GUNS GET SOLD: In the wake of the shooting, more attention is now turning to the manufacturer of the gun, Georgia-based Daniel Defense, that the shooter used: “The company was an early adopter of a direct-to-consumer business model that aimed to make buying military gear as simple as ordering from Amazon, enticing customers with ‘adventure now, pay later’ installment plans that make expensive weaponry more affordable,” NYT’s David Yaffe-Bellany and Jessica Silver-Greenberg write.
3. HISTORY LESSON: After the 2018 Parkland, Fla., mass shooting, Republicans in the state bucked the gun lobby and did the unexpected to pass meaningful gun safety legislation. “In a different political reality, what worked in Florida — a huge center-right state that is often seen as a bellwether of national political trends — might well be seen as a template for a national compromise to address mass acts of gun violence, such as Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Yet it’s not. Interviews this week with Republican senators revealed little stomach for the sort of sprawling bill that Florida Republicans passed in 2018,” WaPo’s Mike DeBonis writes.
— To wit: “Inside Mitch McConnell’s decades-long effort to block gun control,” by WaPo’s Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer
4. GEORGIA ON MY MIND: Now that HERSCHEL WALKER has officially picked up the GOP nomination in the closely watched Georgia Senate race, both parties are watching everything the candidate says in much harsher light. And some of his comments, particularly on gun safety legislation, since the primary have made Republicans concerned — and given Democrats an opening to go after him. “If his runaway primary victory offered a glimpse at his promise as a Senate candidate, then Walker’s answer on guns was a fresh reminder of his risks as GOP nominee in one of the Senate’s most pivotal races,” Brittany Gibson writes.
5. FAMILY BUSINESS: Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.) is playing favorites. “[W]ith his old ally Rep. ALBIO SIRES (D-NJ) retiring this year from the congressional district encompassing the county’s major population centers — the district the senator himself represented between 1993 and 2006 — Menendez appears to have decided his son and namesake must replace him. And the Democratic Party appears to have been doing his bidding,” The Daily Beast’s William Bredderman reports.
6. CHURCH AND STATE:AP’s Peter Smith and Deepa Bharath are up with a story this morning examining the rise of Christian nationalism on the campaign trail. Most recently, this trend was on display in DOUG MASTRIANO’s victory in the Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial primary (though he rejects the label). So what is it? Experts say “Christian nationalism” is “often accompanied by a belief that God has destined America, like the biblical Israel, for a special role in history, and that it will receive divine blessing or judgment depending on its obedience. That often overlaps with the conservative Christian political agenda, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and transgender rights.”
7. THE STEP BACK: “What is America’s end-game for the war in Ukraine?” by FT’s Felicia Schwartz in Washington and Amy Kazmin in Rome: “[B]ehind the confident rhetoric, there is much less clarity about what Washington actually believes can and should happen in Ukraine. There is little detail about what a strategic defeat for Russia would actually look like or what sort of territorial settlement the US might end up encouraging the Ukrainians to accept.”
8. VISUAL STORY: “Despite Dangers, More Migrants Attempt Sea Crossings to U.S.” by WSJ’s Alicia Caldwell and Arian Campo-Flores
9. THE NEW GOP: When Rep. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-Texas) came to Congress, he was a bit of an outlier, staking out far-right positions that many of the establishment in the party wouldn’t touch. Now, Gohmert has more than a few fellow far-right colleagues — but he and a handful of others are on their way out. And the races to succeed them will “help determine whether [Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR] GREENE ends up with more agitator allies or if their numbers will be small enough that GOP leaders can avoid kowtowing to their purity demands,” WaPo’s Paul Kane writes. “So far this spring, the GOP’s governing wing has had some success.”
PLAYBOOKERS
A member of Indivisible Houston confronted Ted Cruz at dinner on Friday night over gun safety reform after pretending to pose for a photo with the senator. After a brief back-and-forth, security escorted the man out of the restaurant.
The Lincoln Memorial is celebrating its 100th birthday this weekend, though WaPo writes that D.C.’s most popular monument still “beckons a nation divided.”
MEDIA MOVE — Julianna Goldman is now a contributing political columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is also the founder of women’s empowerment platform MamaDen and is a longtime CBS News and Bloomberg correspondent.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) … USA Today’s Francesca Chambers … Philip Klein … State Department’s Lee Satterfield … FP1 Strategies’ Jon Conradi … Matthew Dowd … NRSC’s Reilly Knecht … Todd Flournoy … Instagram’s Dayna Geldwert … The Forward’s Jacob Kornbluh … Bri Gillis … Alex Ford of Halcyon Strategy … Annette Guarisco Fildes … Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson … Nucor’s Eileen Bradner … Mary Ryan Douglass … NPR’s Terence Samuel … Jacob Alderman … former Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Tom Coleman (R-Mo.) … Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin
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Correction: Saturday’s Playbook misstated Jason Morris’ name.
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Source Article from https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/05/29/trumps-new-obsession-00035857
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