Hillary Clinton warns Democrats’ obsession with transgender issues could cost them 2024
Hillary Clinton warned that Democrats‘ insistence on focusing on transgender issues and spending their time condemning JK Rowling could cost them the 2024 election – and cost America democracy itself.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the former secretary of state and presidential candidate agreed with reporter Edward Luce that Democrats are sabotaging themselves by focusing on the wrong issues.
‘Democrats seem to be going out of their way to lose elections by elevating activist causes, notably the transgender debate, which are relevant only to a small minority,’ Luce said, ‘What sense does it make to depict JK Rowling as a fascist?’
The former first lady and 2016 presidential candidate didn’t dispute Luce’s assertion, and answered: ‘We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy, and everything that everybody else cares about then goes out the window.
‘Look, the most important thing is to win the next election. The alternative is so frightening that whatever does not help you win should not be a priority.’
Hillary’s comments came just days after President Biden signed an executive order to make ‘gender-affirming care’ that can involve hormone therapy and surgery while accusing Republican lawmakers of ‘bullying’ LGBTQ+ children.
JK Rowling has become a lightning rod for supporters of the most hardline pro-trans policies after saying that some spaces such as domestic abuse shelters should remain open to non-trans women only, for safety reasons.
Hillary Clinton speaking at the National Action Network National Convention in New York City on April 7, 2022. In an interview with the Financial Times on Friday, she said that Democrats are sabotaging themselves by focusing on the wrong issues
Author JK Rowling at the March premier of ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ in London. She has been an outspoken critic of pro-transgender policies and has been lambasted for it by the Democrats in the US
Clinton spoke as the the Democrats’ progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez persisted with gender-neutral terms for women including ‘people who menstruate’ and ‘pregnant people.’
The terms are designed to include people who are transgender and non-binary. But many women – including those on the left – say they feel the modern terminology erases them, after centuries of battling for equal rights.
Some gay and lesbian people have also urged caution against treatment for children who say they’re transgender, after some research showed that many youngsters who expressed such feelings grew up to become gay men or women who were contented in their bodies.
‘Look, I’m all about having vigorous debate. I think it’s good, and it gives people a chance to be part of the process,’ Clinton told MSNBC in December while voicing fears over Democrats’ 2022 midterm prospects, ‘But, at the end of the day it means nothing if we don’t have a Congress that will get things done, and we don’t have a White House that we can count on to be sane and sober and stable and productive.’
Clinton’s comments in the Financial Times were published just days two days before the debate about transgender women competing in women’s sports – circling around UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas – came to a head.
On Sunday, the international federation sports federation for swimming changed its policies to stipulate that transgender women can only compete in the organization’s women’s races if they have completed their transition by the age of 12.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an outspoken user trans-inclusive phrases like ‘pregnant people’ and ‘people who menstruate,’ which many centrists say turns them away from Democrats
Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who has been the center of an ongoing debate about the place of transgender women in female sports
Clinton also spoke about the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and the implications of what could follow.
‘If you go down the rabbit hole of far right intellectuals, you see that birth control, gay marriage — all of it is at risk,’ she said.
Then referencing the The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood, she discussed what the Christian ‘endgame’ is and referenced how the future could mimic the novel and hit Hulu show.
‘The level of insidious rulemaking to further oppress women almost knows no end,’ Clinton says. ‘You look at this and how could you not but think that Margaret Atwood was a prophet? She’s not just a brilliant writer, she was a prophet.’
Bill and Hillary Clinton both suggested that American democracy is teetering on the edge of existence in a pair of separate interviews this week
Less than 48 hours before her Hillary’s interview was published, former president Bill Clinton shared similar grim sentiments in an interview with James Corden on CBS’s The Late Late Show on Wednesday night.
Corden asked Bill how he stays ‘so positive in what has been a very, very dark few years’, without mentioning Donald Trump by name.
The Democrat admitted it was ‘impossible to be pessimistic about the future’ while he was watching his grandchildren growing up, but went on to paint a bleak picture of America’s future – just hours after the third hearing from the January 6 committee hearing.
‘I actually think there’s a fair chance that we could completely lose our constitutional democracy for a couple of decades if we keep making — if we make bad decisions, Clinton added.
‘I’m not naive about this. I’ve been in a lot of fights. I’ve lost some, won a bunch. I’ve been elated and heartbroken,’ he continued.
‘But I’ve never before been as worried about the structure of our democratic form of government,’ he added.
Corden asked Clinton how he stays ‘so positive in what has been a very, very dark few years’, without mentioning Donald Trump by name. The Democrat admitted it was ‘impossible to be pessimistic about the future’ while he was watching his grandchildren growing up, but went on to paint a bleak picture of America’s future – just hours after the third hearing from the January 6 committee hearing
The Clintons’ interviews followed the Yahoo News/YouGov poll released on Wednesday showing that 55% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans share that belief in a stunning sign of pessimism about the country’s future.
Additionally the poll found that a majority of Republicans – 52% – say it’s likely that ‘there will be a civil war in the United States in [their] lifetime’ while half of independents – 50% – and a plurality of Democrats – 46% – agree.
The poll, which surveyed 1,541 adults and was conduced from June 10 (the day of the first January 6th hearing) until June 13 (the day of the second hearing), also found Americans have largely given up on one another.
Members of both parties picked negative phrases to describe the person across the political aisle.
Republicans, when asked to choose the phrase that best ‘describes most people on the other side of the political aisle from you,’ a majority used ‘out of touch with reality’ (30%), a ‘threat to America’ (25%), ‘immoral’ (8%) and a ‘threat to me personally’ (4%) to describe Democrats.
Very few opted for ‘well-meaning’ (4%) or ‘not that different from me’ (6%).
Democrats felt the same about Republicans, using phrases such ‘out of touch with reality’ (27%), a ‘threat to America’ (23%), ‘immoral’ (7%) and a ‘threat to me personally’ (4%) to describe them.
Very few used words like ‘well-meaning’ (7%) or ‘not that different from me’ (5%).
