In the aftermath of President Donald Trump's new policy against transgenders serving in the military, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell gave an unchallenged forum to Delaware U.S. Representative Sarah McBride to trash Republicans for acting on the issue.
Before bringing aboard McBride as a guest, Mitchell set up the segment:
President Trump is focusing on the military with his latest round of executive orders signed on Monday, including ending DEI programs and taking the first steps to stop transgender Americans from serving openly. The President's directive is not immediate. It does order the Pentagon to update its policy in 60 days and come up with a new plan in 30 days. One DOD estimate puts the number of transgender service members at up to 8,000 people.
After the Delaware Representative complained about the move to bar transgenders, Mitchell cued up her liberal guest to question the motives of Republicans: "Why do you think the DEI policies and also the issue of transgender people have been so targeted in these first opening days? And certainly this is something the President campaigned on."
McBride repeated a frequent talking point on the left that Republicans have an ulterior motive in highlighting transgender issues:
The attacks on DEI -- the attacks on transgender people are part of a political strategy by this administration -- a strategy of misdirection and distraction. This is a strategy as old as time. Right-wing leaders will often target vulnerable and misunderstood communities in order to distract from what they're doing that is deeply unpopular with the American people. For instance, just last night, this administration put a massive freeze on all federal spending that is going to assist states, localities, nonprofits.
She added:
This is federal funding that includes health care for low-income folks and people with disabilities. This is funding for Head Start, to provide child care for young people. They are trying to distract from what they are doing with their right hand because I guarantee you every time they bring up DEI, every single time they bring up trans people, they are trying to pick the pocket of American workers, fleecing unions, undermine unions, and destroy the programs and care that millions of Americans rely on every single day...
Without giving any pushback, Mitchell then followed up by asking about Trump's push to only recognize two genders on legal documents. In her final question, the MSNBC host brought up the effort by Democrats to help illegal aliens who were brought to the country as children: "I know we don't have much more time, but I know you've been very active on the movement to try to do something for Dreamers in Delaware, and they are obviously at risk with this crackdown on immigration."
The segment wrapped up after McBride excoriated Republicans again:
Absolutely. The draconian efforts that we've seen by this administration to separate families -- to deport our neighbors -- it includes Dreamers. It includes people who have been living in this country for years growing up, paying taxes, doing hard work every single day across our country, and we have to be very, very clear that Dreamers unfortunately are not excluded from this administration's draconian policies that will separate families and undermine our economy.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
January 28, 2024
12:41 p.m. Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: President Trump is focusing on the military with his latest round of executive orders signed on Monday, including ending DEI programs and taking the first steps to stop transgender Americans from serving openly. The President's directive is not immediate. It does order the Pentagon to update its policy in 60 days and come up with a new plan in 30 days. One DOD estimate puts the number of transgender service members at up to 8,000 people. Speaking at the Pentagon on the first day of his new job yesterday, the Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, laid down the law. ... Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first openly transgender member of Congress. Congresswoman, thank you very much for being with us.
So trans military members have already had to testify on Capitol Hill about the ban the last time the President was in office in 2019. Part of his new executive order reads, quote, "A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."
So that seems pretty obvious where they're going on this. What do you think the impact is?
REPRESENTATIVE SARAH McBRIDE (D-DE): The commander-in-chief's focus should be 100 percent on protecting our national security and making sure that our military is as strong as possible. And this legislative action puts at risk the careers of thousands of qualified transgender servicemembers -- individuals who, in many cases, have been serving this country for years, taking the same oath as their fellow servicemembers and meeting the exact same rigorous physical and medical standards that all servicemembers need to fulfill. This is an attempt to rid the military of thousands of qualified individuals, and it's part of a larger effort by this administration to purge the federal government of patriots who seek to serve their country. And I will say, it is telling that this President's definition of patriots is pardoning over 1,000 insurrectionists who violently assault police officers and apparently does not include patriotic transgender servicemembers who have been ably serving this country for years.
MITCHELL: Why do you think the DEI policies and also the issue of transgender people have been so targeted in these first opening days? And certainly this is something the President campaigned on.
McBRIDE: The attacks on DEI -- the attacks on transgender people are part of a political strategy by this administration -- a strategy of misdirection and distraction. This is a strategy as old as time. Right-wing leaders will often target vulnerable and misunderstood communities in order to distract from what they're doing that is deeply unpopular with the American people. For instance, just last night, this administration put a massive freeze on all federal spending that is going to assist states, localities, nonprofits. This is federal funding that includes health care for low-income folks and people with disabilities. This is funding for Head Start, to provide child care for young people.
They are trying to distract from what they are doing with their right hand because I guarantee you every time they bring up DEI, every single time they bring up trans people, they are trying to pick the pocket of American workers, fleecing unions, undermine unions, and destroy the programs and care that millions of Americans rely on every single day, and I'm hearing from constituents across the state of Delaware who are fearful of this federal funding freeze and fearful that there will be massive layoffs -- fearful that there will be programs that they rely on that will be eliminated. They're fearful about what the future has in store, and this is part of an effort to distract from that reality.
MITCHELL: I mean, one of the issues with transgender people is that they have issued an order that all government documents have only two genders. So passports, for instance, we are told, can no longer have any kind of other signifying of gender other than male of female.
McBRIDE: And it appears that they are trying to eliminate the ability of transgender men and women to have identity documents that reflect their gender identity. And that could present a very real risk -- not just for the dignity but for the safety of transgender people. It would essentially amount to forced outing of transgender people who are trying to gain government services or travel in the case of a passport. These actions have real consequences. They impose real harm on real Americans. But they are also part of an effort to distract from these very clear attacks on the economic and financial security of the American people that are happening at the very same time, and we have to be crystal clear about how all of these attacks -- how all of these efforts connect and are part of this administration's larger strategy to gut programs and care and services for the American people.
MITCHELL: I know we don't have much more time, but I know you've been very active on the movement to try to do something for Dreamers in Delaware, and they are obviously at risk with this crackdown on immigration.
McBRIDE: Absolutely. The draconian efforts that we've seen by this administration to separate families -- to deport our neighbors -- it includes Dreamers. It includes people who have been living in this country for years growing up, paying taxes, doing hard work every single day across our country, and we have to be very, very clear that Dreamers unfortunately are not excluded from this administration's draconian policies that will separate families and undermine our economy.
MITCHELL: Congresswoman Sarah McBride, it's -- it's good to talk to you. Thank you very much. I'm glad we could do this.