Trump blames budget crisis on trans people, claims Democrats want ‘trans operations for everybody’

US president Donald Trump has blamed the current budget crisis on trans people, stating the Democrats want “transgender operations for everybody”. 

In one of his commonplace attacks on the transgender community, Trump refused to cancel a meeting with Democratic lawmakers intended to prevent a possible federal government shutdown, and instead posted a rant on Truth Social blaming the trans community for the budget crisis.

According to CNN, Trump was supposed to meet with the Democratic leader on Thursday (25 September). It follows the Senate rejecting a measure passed by the House and another by Democrats to fund the government through 20 November. The Democratic measure included enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: “After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive. They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States…” 

He went on to list the demands he claimed Democrats have made, including an ask of more than $1 trillion dollars in new spending to  “continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens,” a reference to the ACA subsidies.

‘The ball is in your court…’

He also hit out at an alleged claim to “force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors,” “allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody”. 

Trump went on: “The Democrats in Congress seem to have totally lost their way. They obviously have no idea what it means to put America First or to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” 

He concluded: “I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter. They must do their job! Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand. To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court.” 

Despite the claims made in Trump’s lengthy rant, it is unlikely that Democrats demanded what he stated.

Gender-affirming care for minors tends to focus on exploring gender identity. Gender-affirming surgeries (which include vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, chest feminisation or chest masculinisation) on patients 18 and younger in the US are extremely rare: fewer than 1,200 were performed in the highest volume year, according to AP.

However, misinformation by anti-trans groups, however, claims that these surgeries are incredibly common.

In another untruth, he claimed Democrats want “men” to play in women’s sports, when in reality the debate concerns trans women in women’s sports.

Also, regarding “transgender operations for everybody”, the vast majority of US citizens are not trans, so the claim holds no truth as they do not require such operations. According to new data analysis by the UCLA’s Williams Institute, only 2.8 million people identify as transgender in the US, including an estimated 724,000 youth. 

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