Trump II

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

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Trump keeps escalating his anti-trans policies. Right-wing media still want more.

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Written by Ari Drennen

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In 2016, Donald Trump didn’t seem particularly invested in attacking trans people. He dismissed concerns about bathroom access, stating that Caitlyn Jenner was welcome to use the women’s restroom at Trump Tower. 

This stance contrasts sharply with the draconian executive orders President Trump has so far issued in 2025, including severe restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, a ban on sex marker changes on passports, and rollbacks of protections for transgender military service members and prisoners. But these policies did not emerge in a vacuum — they were the result of a yearslong campaign by right-wing media and Trump’s political rivals to push him further and further to the right on trans issues.

And now, it still isn’t enough. Right-wing media figures like Michael Knowles are demanding that Trump go even further by banning gender-affirming care for all adults nationwide. This escalation reveals the truth: It was never about ‘protecting children.’ It was always about eliminating trans people from public life.

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  • Trump’s rightward ratchet on transgender issues

  • Trump’s evolution on trans issues has come amid relentless pressure from right-wing media and political rivals demanding increasingly extreme policies.

    • 2016: Trump appeared neutral to even mildly supportive of trans rights. He dismissed bathroom bans and told Caitlyn Jenner she could use the restroom of her choice at Trump Tower. [ABC News, 4/21/16]
    • 2018: The Trump administration floated a proposal to federally define gender strictly by assigned sex at birth, which would have effectively erased federal recognition of transgender individuals. While the first Trump administration implemented a number of proposals targeting transgender people, a White House spokesperson insisted that “President Trump has never considered L.G.B.T. Americans second-class citizens and has opposed discrimination of any kind against them.” [The Guardian, 10/21/18; The New York Times, 12/6/19] 
    • January 2023: Trump delivered a campaign address fully aligned with right-wing media rhetoric, with Fox News and other conservative outlets setting the tone for his platform on trans issues. [Media Matters, 2/1/23] 
    • June 2023: Trump had fully embraced right-wing media rhetoric by midyear, referring to “transgender insanity” in a rally speech and remarking on his surprise at the audience reaction: “I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy. Who would have thought? Five years ago, you didn’t know what the hell it was.” [Yahoo News, 6/11/23] 

  • The GOP primary: Intensifying anti-transgender rhetoric

  • During the 2024 Republican primary, candidates competed to prove who could be harsher toward trans people, pushing Trump further to the right.

    • June 2023: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign shared a homophobic video attacking Trump, trying to portray him as too lenient on LGBTQ+ issues. [Media Matters, 7/6/23] 
    • December 2023: Podcaster Megyn Kelly used her role as a debate moderator to press GOP candidates — including Trump — to commit to even more extreme anti-trans policies on stage. [Media Matters, 12/7/23] 
    • January 2024: Right-wing media attacked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for suggesting that trans issues should be handled with nuance. The pressure forced her to adopt harsher positions, demonstrating that transphobia had become a non-negotiable stance for Republican candidates. [Media Matters, 1/23/24] 

  • Trump’s policies: Significant restrictions on transgender rights

  • Since taking office, Trump has followed through on many of his campaign promises to roll back transgender rights, issuing sweeping executive orders that significantly impact trans people nationwide, including:

    • Heavy restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors that threaten federal funding to medical centers with doctors providing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to trans youth, leading multiple hospitals to cancel services and surgeries. [NPR, 1/29/25; The Guardian, 5/3/25] 
    • A ban on changing gender markers on passports, making it harder for trans people to travel safely. [AP News, 1/23/25; Miami Herald, 2/3/25] 
    • Reinstating his previous ban on trans people in military service with an executive order asserting that “medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria” and “shifting pronoun usage or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex” are inconsistent with the military’s mission. [CBS News, 1/28/25; NBC News, 1/27/25] 
    • Rolling back protections for trans people in federal prisons, making them more vulnerable to discrimination and violence. [Them, 1/29/25] 
    • Restricting discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in schools, directing the secretary of education to develop a plan for ending “indoctrination” of minors by telling them that some people are trans and threatening teachers who facilitate the social transition of students with criminal investigations. [ABC News, 1/29/25] 

  • Even the most extreme policies aren’t enough

  • After Trump enacted a flurry of policies restricting the rights and access of trans people in the United States, right-wing media are still pushing for more.

    • The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles has called for Trump to ban gender-affirming care for all adults nationwide, demonstrating that right-wing media will apparently never stop escalating. [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, 1/29/25] 
    • An opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal encouraged Trump to go even further in preventing trans people from changing their identification paperwork by preventing corrections to birth certificates. [The Wall Street Journal, 2/3/25]

  • The right-wing media machine never stops

  • Trump’s shift from relative ambivalence in 2016 to signing aggressive executive orders to restrict trans rights in 2025 was not an accident. It was the inevitable result of a media ecosystem that thrives on escalation. As trans rights are stripped away at the federal level, right-wing media continue to demand more. This isn’t about policy. It’s a war on trans people’s right to exist. And the right-wing media machine shows no signs of stopping.