As a new Congress is sworn in, the liberal media fall into a classic pattern of finding new far-left stars. In this case, Friday’s CBS Mornings fawned over Sarah McBride, Delaware’s new (and only) House representative. McBride’s claim to fame? Well, it’s being the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House.
Unsurprisingly, it also gave CBS a chance to vent underlying criticisms of the Republican bathroom policies.
Fill-in co-host (and Saturday co-host) Dana Jacobson had the flowery set-up:
A new Congress is being sworn in today, and history will be made when Sarah McBride takes the oath of office as the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House. At 34 years old, the Democrat has quickly risen in Delaware's political ranks, and now she will serve as the state's sole representative in Washington. Scott MacFarlane hit the road to learn more about her and her priorities in the new Congress.
Also unsurprisingly, many of these new stars are sent into orbit by the press, regardless of their importance within the House, as icons for liberal policy prerogatives.
McBride, speaking to January 6 correspondent Scott MacFarlane, was painted as almost a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-type even though McBride “got her start working for then-State Attorney General Beau Biden, the President's late son.”
McBride’s trans-man husband passed away in 2014 from a brief bout with cancer, which McBride said was an inspiration: “I've lived the American healthcare system. I have become deeply passionate about health care policy, housing policy, and policy around our care economy.”
As the interview continued, CBS’s MacFarlane focused on the historic nature of the candidate, and its contrast with the Republican Party and concerns raised by Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC): “When she first arrived in Washington, days after the election, for orientation, she faced an abrupt reality.”
Mace has expressed her concern regarding the use of bathrooms and one’s biological sex, and pushed a ban on such activity within the Capitol. As current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson supports such legislation, McBride embodied the media’s pawn for potential sympathy on issues that in reality have yet to impact a major election.
MacFarlane lamented this concern, asking McBride if they feel “a burden to carry” as “a history maker” (click “expand”):
MACFARLANE: Her identity isn't something McBride has shied away from talking about, but she mostly sticks to speaking out on the issues affecting all of Delaware, something her constituents recognize.
DELAWARE DINER PATRON: You know, that she is determined to deal with issues. She’s determined to govern.
MACFARLANE: Though she was voted in against the backdrop of an election year saturated with ads from Trump and some of McBride's new colleagues blasting Democrats for supporting rights of trans people. [TO MCBRIDE] You're walking in here as a history maker. Is that a burden to carry?
MCBRIDE: The only way that I can guarantee that while I may be a first, I'm not the last, is to quite simply be the best member of Congress that I can be, to show that no matter who you are and what your background is, you can be a good doctor or a good lawyer or, yes, a damn good legislator. And through that, we can build a democracy that genuinely includes all of our voices.
With the question of the continuation of either pro or anti-transgender policies occurring in the next year, McBride will no doubt be a symbol for transgenderism, which makes up less than half a percent of the population of Delaware as well as the entire country.
Paint it as they may, CBS seemed to use the significance of one representative as a pawn for not only the glorification of the Democratic political party, and if McBride doesn’t pan out, there will be a new one in the 2026 midterms.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
1/3/2024
8:39:29 AM EST
DANA JACOBSON: A new Congress is being sworn in today, and history will be made when Sarah McBride takes the oath of office as the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House. At 34 years old, the Democrat has quickly risen in Delaware's political ranks, and now she will serve as the state's sole representative in Washington. Scott Macfarlane hit the road to learn more about her and her priorities in the new congress.
[CUT TO VIDEO]
SCOTT MACFARLANE: Sarah McBride has been busy packing up to come to Washington.
REP. SARAH MCBRIDE (D-DE): This should go in the office.
MACFARLANE: Leaving her seat in Delaware's state house to become the first transgender member of the U.S. Congress.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): I don't think there's a single room outside my home that has actually played more of a role in my life than this room.
MACFARLANE: After making quite a name for herself here during four years as the state senator, she told us when we came to visit, voters in this small state know her story well.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): In Delaware, everyone's dated, mated, or related. And so it's -- I mean, that's one of the things I love about this state.
MACFARLANE: A native of Wilmington, McBride got her start working for then State Attorney General Beau Biden, the president's late son. And it was a personal tragedy that inspired her to run for public office herself.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): I was there by his side to help him fight for as long as he was able to.
MACFARLANE: When her husband Andy was diagnosed and later died of cancer at just 27 years old.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): The lessons that I took from Andy that I think about really every single day as I serve in public office and assume this role, just how much Andy was able to balance conviction with collaboration. Just how much he was able to value principle with pragmatism.
MACFARLANE: Throughout Andy's battle with cancer, McBride was his main caregiver. She said that's shaped her priorities for her new job.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): I've lived the American health care system. I have become deeply passionate about health care policy, housing policy, and policy around our care economy.
MACFARLANE: When she first arrived in Washington, days after the election, for orientation she faced an abrupt reality.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): So I'm absolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women's restroom.
MACFARLANE: South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace argued for a ban on people using bathrooms on U.S. Capitol grounds that don't match the genders they were assigned at birth.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Women deserve women's-only spaces.
MACFARLANE: House speaker Mike Johnson promptly ordered the new rule to go into effect immediately.
MCBRIDE (D-DE): I thought that they’d give me a chance to learn the building, and not get lost in the tunnels before they tried to distract from the fact that they have absolutely no policy solutions. Trans people have been working in this building for decades. Trans people have been visiting the capitol for decades. There has never been a problem.
MACFARLANE: Her identity isn't something McBride has shied away from talking about, but she mostly sticks to speaking out on the issues affecting all of Delaware. Something her constituents recognize.
MAN: She is determined to deal with issues, she’s determined to govern.
MACFARLANE: Though she was voted in against the backdrop of an election year saturated with ads from Trump and some of McBride's new colleagues blasting Democrats for supporting rights of trans people. You're walking in here as a history maker. Is that a burden to carry?
MCBRIDE (D-DE): The only way that I can guarantee that while I may be a first, I'm not the last, is to quite simply be the best member of congress that I can be, to show that no matter who you are and what your background is, you can be a good doctor or a good lawyer or, yes, a damn good legislator. And through that we can build a democracy that genuinely includes all of our voices.