As voters cast their final ballots in the last hours of the 2020 election, the Trump campaign has been attempting to sell the president as an ally to peel away support from LGBTQ+ voters. But a newly released video reminds us of an important truth: If it looks like feces and smells like feces, that’s because it is.
A video posted by The Recount on Twitter juxtaposes claims from members of Trump’s family claiming that, in the words of youngest daughter Tiffany at an October Trump Pride rally, he has “always supported” LGBTQ people+ with his actions in office. For instance, the video pairs a recent PSA recorded by First Lady Melania Trump for the Log Cabin Republicans, in which she complains that “powerful people have tried to paint my husband as anti-gay or against equality,” with a CNN broadcast announcing the president’s ban on open transgender military service.
Other hypocrisies pointed out by the 100-second clip, which went viral on Sunday, include Mrs. Trump’s assertion that her husband is the “first president to enter the White House supporting gay marriage.” That claim, a favorite lie of the Trump administration, is juxtaposed with his 2015 comments asserting that he is
“for traditional marriage.”
While Trump would eventually relent on the issue by referring to the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling as “settled law” after winning the presidency in 2016, that is not the same as actually endorsing marriage equality.
When the First Lady claims that “Donald has been clear that gays and lesbians will be treated as he has always treated them: equally,” a NBC Nightly News broadcast featuring anchor Lester Holt reminds viewers that the Trump administration argued at the Supreme Court that it should be legal to fire workers for being LGBTQ+. The White House ultimately lost that case, with judges ruling 6-3 in June that queer and trans workers are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Other key attacks cited by The Recount include the Trump administration’s attempts to erase trans people from the federal definition of gender, allow doctors to refuse care to trans patients, and give license to homeless shelters to turn away trans clients.
“It’s one world, one love, equality!” claims Tiffany Trump in the video’s final moments. That clip was pulled from a dadaesque rally in Miami, Florida in which the president’s daughter misstated the LGBTQ+ acronym and promised a cure for HIV/AIDS, despite the administration’s repeated slashing of funding for prevention, testing, and treatment in foreign nations.
The video was posted in response to a spate of Trump Pride rallies across the country in which members of his administration and inner circle have outright lied about his record, which includes 181 total attacks on LGBTQ+ people in office.
But LGBTQ+ people know the truth, and polling indicates they’re voting like it. An October survey released by GLAAD found that just 17% percent of queer and trans voters plan to cast a ballot for Trump on November 3, significantly lower than the share who went for John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
The Trump campaign can tell all the lies they want, but if the polls prove true, November 3 will show the LGBTQ+ community is ready for a flush.
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