The Daily Beast Podcast - The ‘Sinister’ Crusade That Has Team Trump Outing LGBTQ Kids

Episode Date: February 18, 2024

Brandon Wolf, national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, tells The New Abnormal that MAGA Republicans are making LGBTQ students political pawns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Empecia to start your period of month in Shopify. coms bar records. Hi, I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy and current cable news conscientious objector. I'm a former libertarian who now sits comfortably on the left. Hi, I'm Danielle Moody, former educator and recovering lobbyist.

But today, I'm an unapologetic, woke commentator on America's threats to democracy. And I'm producer Jesse Kenned, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart conversations with some of the most knowledgeable and entertaining people in politics, media, and beyond. Our goal is to try and make sense of our current crazy world, our new abnormal, and hopefully even make you laugh through the tears. Hello and welcome to another Sunday edition of the New Abnormal. We thank you so much for being here. Today we have an extra special guest with Brandon Wolfe, who's the National Press Secretary

for the Human Rights Campaign and a survivor of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting. And he'll join us to talk about the alarming increase in anti-LGBQ Plus legislation across the United States. But first, let's have it. some fun. Are you guys ready to listen to some clips? Clip, clip, clip. And the clips. Clips. Okay. Clips, yes, clips. I have to tell you guys, I think we have a fun bunch this week that are not going to go. Yep, yep, every time, fall for the rope-a-dope over here. You know, whenever you doubt me, you're sometimes right. Okay. First, Jesse Waters. No Jesse this week. Oh, wow. Okay.

Okay, well, we now come to another installment of Dementia-Trump's ramblings. Here we have him trying to make excuses for mixing up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi. But what makes it particularly funny, you know what, I should just let him do the speaking. He's going to hang himself with his own rope. But when I say that Obama is the president of our country, they go, he doesn't know that's Biden. He doesn't know. So it's very hard to be sarcastic. When I interpose, because I'm not a Nikki.

fan and I'm not a Pelosi fan. And when I purposely interposed names, they said he didn't know Pelosi from Nikki, from tricky Nikki, tricky, Nicky, he didn't know I interpose and they make a big deal out of it. I said, no, no, I think they both stink. They have something in common. They both say, and remember this. When I make a statement like that about Nikki, that means you will never be running for vice president. She will never be running for. Well, I guess we know what his toilet paper word of the day was. I was like, so who gave him that on his index card for the day? Like, does he get all the gold stars?

Because he said it at least three or four times. Good job, Donald. But he's not quite using it right, though, right? No. No. But I really love his enunciation of interposed. Like, that was great. idiot.

Nobody with a brain believes it. Because there was lots of cheering, by the way. Yeah. No. But the thing is, his people eat it up. And they'll, you know, we've already seen this with Elise Stefanik, you know, making excuses for this. And this is what they do. And he knows it.

And he can use interpose incorrectly all he wants, but it doesn't change the fact that he's sundowning. I want somebody to send me word of the day toilet paper. Listeners, Daniel's Amazon Wishlist is available at www. Seems fun. It's always funny because after four years of breathlessly covering him, and by breathless, I mean, I'm constantly choking, laughing at how stupid he is. You've come to learn that a lot of times where he gets these things from is some idiot comes up to him and goes,

Mr. President, sir, they don't understand that you're interposing these things. And he's like, yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'll run with that. Sure. Thanks. Whatever your name was because I didn't pay attention to it. Then we get stupid shit like this at a rally. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Well, someone once said the way you know former President Trump is lying as his mouth is moving. But there's a particular brand of his lies where he just really makes up the bullshit. Some may call this narcissistic delusions, others dementia. Personally, I just wonder why you'd make up something this dumb. Let's listen. They needed the panel. It's called an anti-climb panel. I said, I don't like the way it looks. They say, the difference is they can climb over it without it with it. You can't climb. We had Mount Everest climbers and we had a lot of drug deals, frankly. We said, give us your best climbers. And they couldn't get over the paddle. We built five.

What? Yes. Give us your best climbers. This was for the border wall, I'm assuming. That's for the border wall. He's saying that they tested it out by saying give us. us your best climbers. They had a little contest to make sure that they couldn't climb over the border wall. And the winners of that contest were Mount Everest climbers and drug dealers. That's correct, because we all know that in Mexico, they're just climbing mountains all day training to get over Trump's great big border wall. And so no one filmed this because he loves to film shit. So like, nobody live streamed this contest of you can't climb the wall. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I mean, Daniel, you got a solid development deal with MTV pictures for that one. Sounds like Road Rules Challenge to me.

Yeah. You can't climb this wall. Mountain climbers versus drug dealers, way better than real world versus Florida, Bama Shore or whatever. Yeah. Or American Ninja. Yes.

This reminds me of like the paradox of like, could God create something so powerful that it was more powerful than him? And so my question is, could Trump create an anti-climbing wall so good that he himself couldn't climb it? There's the real... I thought you were going a different direction with a reality TV show that would get better ratings of the Apprentice. Oh, no. Well, that's not bad either.

That's what we do here. That's what we do here. Okay, now we're going to move on to the Trump's sycophants portion of the show. The people were willing to debase themselves to be his vice president is really a sadist a lot of them. And Congresswoman Nancy Mace really gives the rest of the lot some stiff competition in the pathetic department. Let's watch this entry of Sad

where she can't even get a Trump rally to laugh at a Biden joke. Joe Biden tells us those classified documents were secure, but that garage was just as secure as his southern border. Oh my God, it's the pause failure for me.

Yeah, yeah. The not even won. Wow. Please clap. Please clap. Please laugh. Yeah, that was sad. Where was this? This was a Trump rally this week. How did that not get like huge applause? Like, I'm actually baffled by that. Here's my theory. So Daily Beast reporting recently showed that in the last 90 days, she had 100% office turnover. I think the joke writer was one of them. Mm-mm. Fair point. For those of you who don't understand, congressional offices don't turn over even in a term, often multiple turns.

So it's a little astounding, but apparently her aspirations to be Mr. Trump's VP and how far she's willing to go have really driven the people out. Fun times. All right. So we tape these shows in the mid-afternoon. And I'm not one to observe daylight drinking time, but I can't say the same for who we're about to come to, which is Marjorie Taylor Greed's boyfriend right-side broadcasting's Brian Glenn, who will demonstrate the professionalism.

He brings to the job in both fact-checking and what appears to be. not having a drink on the job. Is that hugely accepted and popular? Then why don't you go out and throw a rally for Joe Biden? Do just what President Trump is doing. Go rent yourself a convention center hall. Go rent yourself a college basketball arena. Go find an airplane hanger somewhere.

And rent that space and throw an American first vote for Joe Biden rally. And let's see who shows up. Okay, let's see what happens. Does he have the stannema to stand on a stage for an hour and half, maybe sometimes two hours? The stanema? There's a few words in there that are, if he gets pulled over, are not going to go very well with him with an officer. No, yeah.

Oh, boy. We should also do a nice little fact check here. Biden has done five of those in the last month. Yeah. I mean, what are facts, Jesse? Yes, I know. You know, everyone has stamenema. Stenema

Stenema or an enema whatever Idiots I think particularly to the It's a funny thing Because I do wonder

How many people Know that Biden Does these rallies Because the media Will only cover them If he messes up His words I feel like at this point

If not It's like crickets That he did a rally Yeah No I think that's correct Gotta love it Okay Well to lead us out

We're now Going to Well I can't say It's his better half since I'm not getting into that fucking mess of a relationship. But this is Marjorie Taylor Green on the congressional floor showing her usual professional decorum. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm not a doctor, but I have a PhD in recognizing bullshit when I hear it. She is just a treat. That's one word for it. I wonder where she studies it because I feel like

there's a specimen real close by. I want to say so many words and I want to call her so many names. but I'm not going to. You know why? Because I actually have class. You know, producers, note to myself, bringing these last two clips up, there was just so many things that needed to be on the cutting room for, I really shouldn't avoid it in the future. Oh, God.

Folks, I am very happy to welcome back to the new abnormal National Press Secretary for HRC, Brandon Wolfe, who is also an author, and the survivor of the 2016 terror attack at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Brandon, you know, I think since the last time you and I spoke, there have been hundreds of more pieces of legislation that have come out against the LGBTQ community across the country. And it's still for me, I guess, so shocking, how hateful the rhetoric has become,

how just disgusting and dehumanizing the policies have become. And I just wanted to, before we dig into the specifics of what is happening in Kansas, just get your thoughts on the sheer number of pieces of legislation that the Republicans have rolled out. Yeah, you know, you're right to say that it's terrifying, it's shocking, it is grotesque, and it is the combination, right, of policy and rhetoric that is sweeping the country. last year was a record-setting year for anti-LGBQ plus policies filed in state houses across the country. We saw over 500 of those pieces of legislation. I regret to inform folks that this year we're already tracking over 340 pieces of anti-LGBQ plus legislation

and what, you know, we're midway through February. And so it's likely that this year is going to break that record for the highest volume of anti-LGB-plus bills filed across the country. And I think what's really sinister about all of it is that it's part of this bigger national strategy to wage war on freedom. And that strategy is being driven by MAGA politicians who are only using the LGBTQ plus community as a scapegoat, which by the way they've done throughout generations, right? This is the same language that's being used today as the language that was used by Anita Bryant in the 1970s. She had our Save Our Children campaign where she accused LGBTQ plus people of posing a threat to America's children. So this language is not new.

This dehumanization and demonization is not new. But the LGBTQ plus community right now is being used as a scapegoat in that war to decide who gets access to freedom and which communities are afforded the opportunity to be themselves in society. I think you're right to point out the volume. It certainly is sweeping the country. The rhetoric is disgusting. And it puts people in a very dangerous position. And it's all part of this very calculated, very coordinated, very well-resourced war.

on freedoms. I'm very glad that you couch it in that way as a war on freedoms because it is really this idea that LGBTQ people pose a threat in the fact that they live their lives out loud and open and proudly. And that is a threat to anyone who believes deeply in assimilation, in a binary, in gender roles that are oppressive. That what particularly young queer people, what they present and what we have seen is that they are more progressive, they are more open-minded. They are utilizing pronouns that best fit their political ideology as well as their gender identity. And I think that for me, when I see these policies come out and the sheer volume of them, I'm like they are just reaching.

Like the Republican Party is just reaching for any last grasp of power and control. because when young people are free and think critically, they are a threat. I want to draw your attention, which I'm sure you are already well aware, but to Attorney General Chris Kobach in Kansas, who wrote six letters to school districts in the state to accuse them of, quote, surrendering to woke gender ideology and said that he, without the virtue of any law on the book in Kansas, wants these people, these administrators, to out trans and non-binary youth, these students to their families.

Can you talk about just the sheer danger that presents and why this is not a, quote, parental control issue, which is how Republicans have tried to couch it? Right. You know, I just for a moment want to go back to something you said that it's really important to underscore for people. And that is what we're grappling with here is a Christian nationalist movement that demands conformity. It demands assimilation. I'm someone who grew up in a community where, you know, folks used guilt. They used manipulation.

They used the threat of the fires of hell itself to try to indoctrinate me into being someone that I'm not. Clearly, it didn't work. I'm still very gay today. But that's what we're watching play out across the country is this battle with, you know, a minority of people. It's a small faction, a very loud small faction in this country, who believe that there's only one right way to be a human being. That if you are a boy, you must wear blue, you must like cars. If you are a girl, you must wear pink. You must like playing with Barbies.

There are strict rules that everyone must adhere to. And anyone who lives outside those boundaries is subject to the use of government as a weapon against them. And there's a couple of very sinister things happening in the Kansas case that you're talking about. The first one is that the Attorney General, like so many other MAGA politicians, is trying to sew this non-existent distrust between parents and their kids' teachers, right? Educators and parents are a team. They're constantly working together to ensure that kids get a good education and that they grow up to be the very best version of themselves. But that in itself, that partnership poses a threat to this extremist movement that wants to see public education dismantled altogether.

So they drum up this phony friction between parents and parents. teachers. In reality, that team of people are so often working together. And yes, that means sometimes teachers to help young people find the language and courage to exist on the planet as their full authentic selves. And the second sinister thing I think that's happening here is that while a lot of parents are very accepting and welcoming, there are some who are not. And for a lot of young people, that means that they could be in very real mental or physical danger by forcibly being outed to their parents before they are ready to have that conversation. I'm someone who, you know, my English teacher in high school knew that I was gay before I ever told my dad because I would

have been in danger if I had come out to those around my dinner table before I was ready to do that. And so there's a reason that as a country, as a society, we entrust educators to be mandatory reporters. It is absolutely inappropriate for the state to be forcibly outing students when that could put them in harm's way. And just the last quick thing I'll give you on this is you have to keep in mind, as you said, that these politicians, these right-wing politicians, they don't care about parents' rights. These are the very same politicians who, in the same breath, that say they are champions for parental rights, argue that those same parents cannot be trusted to seek out the best possible health care for their families, namely their trans kids, and should be subject to government bans and mandates.

So at the end of the day, educators, administrators, parents, that is a critical team that's working to pave the way for young people to be successful. And they should be allowed to do that important work without politicians like the AG and Kansas trying to just serve them up as political fodder. I mean, and that is what has happened in the state of Florida, where you were from with DeSantis and ripping off safe space stickers from classrooms saying that you're going to fire teacher and teachers have been fired for teaching what I refer to as empathy and compassion. Yeah. and finding a way to celebrate and understand difference.

And I think that you said something that really stuck with me that parents and teachers are a team. They are a team for the betterment of your child in order to get them through this K through 12 gauntlet. And what the right has been able to do, what this radicalized, rabid Republican Party has been able to do is pin teachers and parents against one and other. And who that destroys is the student, is the child. And so, Brandon, you know, how do we, because I think that, again, too much has been seated by Democrats, by progressives to the Republican Party. You know, for instance, we lost the state of Virginia because of the ability of the governor there to talk about parental rights and critical race theory and make up a whole narrative

around that, that was a lie. Is it a narrative change? Is it policy pushback? What do you think that we need to do in order to flip the script here? You know, I think there are a couple of things that we have to do. And the first one, the most important one, is to know that we're on the right side of history and to be confident in the fact that we have a winning message. All of the data that we have at the human rights campaign, whether it be polling or focus group data or even election results, all of that data tells us that progressives, win on a parental rights frame. All of that data tells us that when you break democracy down into the kind of freedoms that people enjoy every day, they trust a progressive vision of how to defend those civil liberties. They do not trust the MAGA agenda. They do not trust the war on

books in libraries. They do not trust the moms for liberty candidates who are, you know, descending their school boards into chaos. They trust people who are trying to pave the path for them to live their lives without intrusion, without having to check in with the governor first. So I think the first and most important task before us is to get some of that swag back, to challenge these things head on and not seed the ground around parental rights, not seed the ground around freedom, but to call the question, whose rights, which parents rights, whose freedoms are we working to defend? And if those things actually mean something to you,

If freedom is to be an unconditional value worth defending, not just some hollow campaign slogan, then it has to mean freedom for everyone. If parental rights truly mean the rights of parents to do what's best for their families, and that has to mean all parents. And yes, that means the parents of trans kids who are going to the pediatrician trying to access the best possible health care for their kids. So I think that is probably the biggest task in front of us is to capture that swag, to challenge these things head on,

and to keep ourselves grounded in the understanding that we are on the right side of history. We are on the winning side of history. Across the country, voters over and over again are rejecting the right-wing MAGA extremist ideology. People who run millions of dollars worth of anti-trans ads in their campaigns are losing. People who make their entire political personalities about tormenting LGBTQ plus people. I'm looking at you, Ron DeSantis. They are not finding success.

electorally. Republicans have been trying to recapture the Glenn Yonkin magic. Glenn Yonkin's been trying to recapture it too, by the way. But Republicans have been trying to recapture what they thought was that magic, but they seem to have taken the wrong message away. And the message is this. People want to be left alone. They do not want to have to call their local congressperson before they make a decision about what health care to access for their family or what book their kids should be able to read. I think as soon as we lean into that as a movement, as soon as we understand that we're on on the right side, the winning side, and we have a winning message. I think we can really challenge these things head on.

I think that everything that you said is correct. I also want to challenge people who think that, well, if you don't like it here, just leave, just move. Can you explain for folks what it is like to live inside of a red state and be queer? And also why it's not just so easy, nor should anyone have to flee where they are from in order to find safe refuge someplace else. Yeah, you know, this is our country too. I am very much an American, just like everybody else.

And I live in D.C. now. I've been here for five months, but for 15 years, I lived in the state of Florida. It was my Florida, too. And that means that I have every right to feel safe, to feel included, to work, to play, to exist without the fear of state sanctioned, discrimination, and violence. And that is true for everyone. That's what actual freedom looks like, the freedom to chase your dreams. to build a family, to live and laugh and enjoy the people around you without having to look

over your shoulder every five minutes. You know, there's a couple of things that I want to drill home for folks. Number one is, as I said, it's our America too. These places are our states, too. They're our cities. There are our communities. And the second thing is there is a beautiful resistance that's happening in places like Florida, in places like Texas. And it's being driven, by the way, largely by queer people and specifically queer people of color. When I think about some of the strongest connections I've had to community, they exist in Orlando. In the heart of Red Ronda Santas, Florida, we built some beautiful moments of refuge and joy. Some of the best drag performances I've ever seen have been right there at Southern Nights in

the Milk District in Orlando. There's beautiful art being created. There's beautiful resistance being had in these places. And it's our job to lift up those voices, to amplify them, to get resources to the front line, not to simply abandon people or to tell them that they have to flee homes that sometimes span generations in search of the basics like health care and education. Yeah. And I think that that's right. And I love the way that you just said, you know, homes that span generations. We're not just talking about, you know, picking up and you and your small nuclear family leaving. It's leaving everything. Generations of humans. history and family and community. And then who are we leaving it too? I also want to underscore that when everyone leaves, then who is left to fight? Who is left to stand up to those that want to turn the clock back, that those that want to make us all the same, love the same, live the same,

pray the same. There will be no one. And so I think that it is really important to lift up the folks that are in these states to lift up the work that they are doing, the resistance that they are fighting, in all of the ways that you named that they are fighting because resistance doesn't look one way. Yeah. The other quick thing I'll give you because this I think is a really important point that you just brought to the surface, which is that we also can't just divide up the country and, you know, everybody moved to three or four cities and think that the battle is over. Right. Ronda Santas, the right wing, Donald Trump, they have the same agenda. It's being propelled by the Alliance defending freedom. It's being propelled by the Heritage Foundation by these right-wing organizations. And their goal is not to chisel away one state after another. Their goal is a national

agenda that forces people to conform to their idea of who you're supposed to be. And so telling someone to move maybe, you know, that may be necessary for them. And it may be a short-term solution, but our fight is a national fight. We are fighting to protect the entire country, not just a city here or a state there. And that requires a lot of people to be on the front lines doing really tough work. So as you said, we have to amplify them. We have to support them, get them the resources they need. Brandon, please tell folks how they can connect and get involved with HRC, how they can feel of service in this fight. Even if you don't think that you are a part of the fight you are, because we are right now locked in a battle over who gets access to American freedom, who gets access

to American democracy. We are locked in a struggle over what our country will look like in the next 10, 20, 30 years. And that requires all of us to be a part of the fight. And so I'm challenging everyone. You can go to HRC.org. There are lots of ways for you to plug in. You can do digital actions with us, sending emails, text messages, phone calls. You can help us in the election cycle. We've got on the ground actions, you know, people showing up to hearings, showing up to lawmakers' offices, having conversations with them. If giving a treasure is the way that makes the most sense to you, you can certainly do that. But my ask for folks is we're at a pivotal moment and you have to decide what it's worth to be in the fight to decide what kind of country we want to be next.

I think it's worth fighting for. I think our communities are worth fighting for. I think the next generation of queer youth is worth fighting for. And if you think all of that is worth fighting for too, I would ask you, go to HRC.org and find a way to plug in. Brandon, I can't thank you enough. One, for making the time that you do for the new abnormal, but also for all of the work that you have done prior to HRC at HRC,

the speaking out that you've done, the activism that you've done, the spark that you've lit in so many people to get connected and get activated. I really appreciate you. Thank you. It's an honor. Hope you enjoy checking out this episode of the new abnormal. We're back every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.

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