The Transgender Bubble Is Bursting

It’s a new litmus test for sanity

Democrats have a transgender problem.

Besides the economy and illegal immigration, where they’ve had little success in convincing people that they’re either 1) not a problem, or 2) the fault of Donald Trump, the transgender bubble is popping at an inconvenient time.

The Trump advertising team has bet heavily on transgender extremism, and it’s working. I’ve been a political ad junkie since before working for Roger Ailes in 1998, and I’ve watched thousands of them with a critical eye. Some fire up the base, others actually change voters’ minds. Trump’s pair of ads against Harris do both.

Nonsense and Unbelievable are the two most effective political ads of 2024. 

It’s not due to slick production. It’s because Kamala Harris says things that most Americans find to be, well, nonsense and unbelievable. In them, she passionately explains how she not only fought for a transgender murderer’s taxpayer-funded surgeries, but turned that into policy for California’s prisons.

Democratic leaders have morphed from treating transgenders with respect—a position widely shared by Americans—into championing the extremes of transgender ideology. Male athletes pummel females. Taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for inmates, illegal aliens, and even children. Activist trans teachers.

It’s not just the Trump campaign. Republican ads are appearing in key races across the country, including Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. 

“It’s one of the issues where Democrats are furthest from the center of the country,” GOP strategist Brad Todd points out. “They are doing something that is totally illogical to appease a tiny slice that is very radical in their base.” 

In state after state, media “fact checkers” are contorting themselves to hide the transgender stances Democrat politicians took not that long ago. It’s a tough job, even for the media. 

Here's the kicker: transgenderism isn’t really a top concern for most voters. Even few Republicans rank it as highly as inflation, crime or illegal immigration. Instead, it’s become a litmus test for sanity.

If you’re a Flat Earther, you’re not getting my vote. It’s not because I particularly care about the shape of the world, I just know you’re a nutball. In today’s political environment, it’s rare to find an issue that can swing even 1% of voters to the other side Yet transgender extremism is doing just that. 

How did Democrats get so far out on this limb? Blame their longtime enabler, the mainstream media.

It’s easy for liberals to live in their own narrative bubble. All they need to do is to stay away from Fox News and Twitter, and … voila, everyone agrees with them. Conservatives can create their own media bubble too, but it’s trickier to avoid virtually every other news outlet, comedian, and entertainment program. 

Until recently, anyone who broke with full-throated transgender support was attacked as a hater. “If you don’t believe Caitlyn Jenner is the world’s most beautiful woman, you’re a bigot.” That’s changing.

Of course, we still have an election ahead. If Democrats have an unexpectedly good night, they won’t do much soul searching. If not, they'll need to figure out how they lost, especially to someone they hold in such little regard. 

We saw this play out in 1994 after President Clinton and Democrats passed sweeping gun restrictions. It led to a Republican landslide, giving them control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1952. It quieted Democrat gun control efforts for decades.

Either way, forced transgenderism has gone from “trendy” to toxic. It’s about damn time.

—Ken