U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to "stop the transgender lunacy" on day one of his presidency, as Republicans -- set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House -- continue their push against LGBTQ rights.
"I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools," the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.
He also vowed to "keep men out of women's sports," adding that "it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female."
Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against "migrant crime," vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring U.S. control of the Panama Canal.
Transgender issues have roiled U.S. politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.
Last week, when the U.S. Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.
In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term -- and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election.
"On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness," Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.
"I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III."
He added: "The golden age of America is upon us."
The president-elect has yet to explain publicly how he plans to bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine, or to bring peace to the Middle East.
But in the sort of bellicose language he sometimes used even against U.S. allies in the past, Trump said Sunday that Panamanian authorities "haven't treated us fairly" in their operation of the Panama Canal.
He had said earlier that fees for use of the canal -- construction of which was begun by France and completed by the United States -- are "ridiculous."
And he added Sunday that if the principles behind the 1970s treaty that gave Panama full control of the canal are not followed, "then we will demand" that it be returned to the United States "in full, quickly and without question."
Thousands of ships transit the key Central American waterway every year, making it critical to U.S. and international commerce.
The president-elect, who regularly blames migrants from Latin America for America's drug problems, renewed his vow to immediately begin "the largest deportation operation in American history" upon taking office, and later went further, saying he would "immediately designate the (drug) cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
"This criminal network operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed," Trump said.
During his first term in 2019, after the killing in Mexico of nine American citizens from a Mormon community, Trump vowed to apply the terrorist designation to Mexican cartels.
But he relented following a plea from then-Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
© 2024 AFP
26 Comments
falseflagsteve
An excellent move by Trump. This madness has to end and end now.
dagon
C'mon , don't worry about billionaire oligarchs who flout not paying taxes exerting authoritarian control.
Worry about the woke mind virus, transgender agenda, and radical academic leftists.
Please focus on the MAGA priorities and the real existential threats to your livelihoods.
mist1
Sigh!
NCIS Reruns
Another bait-and-switch tactic no doubt. While Trump riles up his drooling supporters over a nonexistent crisis, he'll try to pull off something really toxic, like appointing Clint Eastwood to the Supreme Court. /s
Underworld
More populist stupidity.
Blacklabel
Sounds good to me as it is lunacy done to our children.
adults, do as you wish. But not in women restrooms or women sports.
itsonlyrocknroll
Women's young girls save spaces, changing areas, protections for women's sport.
That is my humble opinion,
I could not care less if people what to self identify with, cattle, groceries, shopping trolleys.
Let children grown up naturally, as nature intended, without any outside puberty blocking, chemical interference.
The transgender community must never be burnt at the stake for the toxic political identity ideological politics of an extremist few.
The rabid mutilation of the English language at the alter of zealot pursuits of a pronoun police state.
ian
So this is still ongoing?!
kohakuebisu
My top priorities are inflation, wars, corruption, and environmental destruction. LGBT issues are background noise by comparison.
Just saying, but didn't a transwoman get elected to Congress this time? I'm not American so I don't know the details. I'm saying this because if "ordinary people" had something against transwomen, they wouldn't elect one.
Abe234
Well I guess Yes! But so long as we mind our manners, and respect people (whether we understand, like or can understand their life style or not). I kinda understand why Trump won.( even though I don’t like the guy). I’m sick of certain groups complaining all the time. BLM, ( which I support) LGB , then it’s the LGBT, then it’s the LGBTQ. Then it’s the LGBTQI, and now it’s the LGBTQI+. Then there is the feminist movement blaming all their ills on men, or young men, and if we do anything wrong “toxic masculinity is banded about. Even Disney finally decided to drop some transgender story in a cartoon series. Im all for some manners, politeness which I think could a synonym for political correctness and some labels should be consigned to history. But I can understand why people like Trump, Nigel Farrage, and others won. The voting in of Trump et al is a reaction the Democrats thinking 99% or people really care about fringe issues. We do to a point, but we don’t vote on one single issue.
dagon
The MAGA modus operandi is to refocus animus on vulnerable groups like the transgender community and away from oligarchic capital.
So Trump is doubling down on his attacks.
He knows recent events in NYC are making people focus on class war instead.
No Culture War, only Class war.
wallace
Does he know that the daughter of his NBF is a transexual who has disowned her father?
wallace
Trump said he will medically discharge 15,000 transsexuals serving in the military.
wallace
Trump is making many promises. How many can he keep?
itsonlyrocknroll
Every democracy has celebrated "cross dressing" for centuries, entertainment, the film industry, comedy, etc.
Sex reassignment surgery to quote helps transgender or non-binary people align their physical appearance and functional abilities, for decades.
Its is extremist activism, toxicity of a few that weaponizes an identity political narrative agenda to create violent discourse poison communities' society at every level.
Daisaku
How many transexuals are in the US?
"In the United States, the number of people who identify as transgender is estimated to be:
Adults: About 1.14% of the adult population, or roughly 3 million people
Youth: About 1.4% of youth between 13- and 17 years old, or roughly 300,000 people
Total: About 1.6 million people ages 13 years and up ."
Ricky Kaminski13
This is a misleading opening paragraph from the legacy media narrative.
These are all completely reasonable policies and in line with the majority of people's thinking, instincts, and principles. In fact, they are pretty much at this stage mandated.
Unless of course, you subscribe to this victim-peddling, end-sum-game 'everything is power' mindset and worldview. The identity politics crew are the ones that can only double down in my opinion. Some of the directions and lunacy we saw under this unholy woke leftist alliance were ghoulish. 2-year-old transgender kids. Lovely stuff.
And LGBTQ folk, you have nothing to worry about. No one is coming for your rights unless you are 38-year-old dude who demands to use teenage girls' toilets, a born biological male boxer that wants to beat up women, or some mad doctor charging through the roof to put a knife to a kid before he/she has a clue who they are.
A simple win for common sense. No need for excessive tribalism, no one is coming to shut you down, Trump is not the boogeyman, you just be you. Much bigger issues on the horizon to focus on in 2025!
Tokyo Guy
Trump is making many promises. How many can he keep?
A moot point, unfortunately. He could break every single promise he makes, and his lickspittles wouldn't care. They would happily see America crash, just because Trump got in and they had their time of vicarious satisfaction in Owning The Libz.
And if things do go belly-up, be that in economic terms, national security terms, diplomatic terms...they will just say "it would have been even worse under Harris".
We are dealing with a totally lost group of people who can't think ahead five minutes, let alone five days or weeks. They only understand instant gratification.
SomeWeeb
"Hey look over there, those 1% of the population, it's all their fault!"
Meanwhile, he loads his cabinet with billionaires worth more than 70% of the population combined. Calls up Putin and tells him he's a good boy. High-fives north korea, and flips off the rest of the world.
ian
Why LGBTQ?
Quoted phrase from trump says transgender only.
Are polcies being considered about transgenders applicable to other genders also?
Abe234
No problem with people transitioning, I just don’t think it’s the military’s job to give treatment. I think if the person is doing a good job, there are no problems within the ranks then let them do their job. We don’t care what color of skin they are, what sexuality or even gender, I just wanna know they’ll do their job when called on.
one thing I have come across, and met, are people who actually transitioned, with the full op only for years later to say….. it was wrong choice.
Psychiatry is littered with terrible decisions historically. So let’s the kids grow up, when they get to teens, sex ed is important, but we shouldn’t be giving kids blockers unless they have medical condition (not a medical/psychiatric condition) , then once their ready they can do what they want as an adult. Some may think their gay, or bi, and not trans.As for pronouns. Stop being stupid. Tell me your name, and I’ll use it.
He is He, transitioned or not.
she is she, transitioned or not.
or I’ll use your name.
but then again, this is the age of the internet and social media. Crazy!
Chikatilo
Correction:
And you call Trump populist?Burgerland
" I kinda understand why Trump won.( even though I don’t like the guy). I’m sick of certain groups complaining all the time."
Absolutely.
We are dealing with a totally lost group of people who can't think ahead five minutes, let alone five days or weeks. They only understand instant gratification."
77 million lost US voters who can't think for themselves? That is quite an arrogant elite leftist hot air soundbite. With rhetoric like this, no wonder Harris camp lost so miserably. They should keep it up. It will ensure an even bigger win for MAGA camp in the next election.
GuruMick
Everyone has an opinion here...nobody has actual experience nor I doubt, even contact or friendship with a trans person ,....maybe not even a gay person.
So go on, continue to exercise control over others , spouting your "as nature intended " rubbish.
Nature gets things wrong sometimes.
Trans are accepted as a third gender in countries as diverse as Thailand and many Pacific nations.
But hey MAGA , go on, do your judging.
And THIS is a first day priority for the newby Pres.
Populist clap trap...or more "red meat for the base "
Tokyo Guy
Everyone has an opinion here...nobody has actual experience nor I doubt, even contact or friendship with a trans person ,....maybe not even a gay person.
Louis Theroux's documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church should be mandatory viewing for these people.
MilesTeg
Responding to extreme conservatism with extreme liberalism was a huge strategic mistake by the Dems. The numbers don't merit the attention, time, and energy it gets. It's a niche issue purposely ballooned to pass it off as a major, critical issue in today's society, It isn't.