Anti-trans attacks are a key part of Donald Trump’s campaign message, and Republicans are spending tens of millions of dollars in the last stretch of the presidential race to flood the airwaves and social media with political ads that focus on transgender rights. “Transphobia is not just a plank but a key pillar of the Republican Party,” says journalist Imara Jones of TransLash Media. “The Republican Party has become an extremist movement.” Jones is host of the investigative podcast The Anti-Trans Hate Machine, which just launched a new season about how paramilitary groups have weaponized transphobia to forge ties to Republicans and stoke political violence. “Being anti-trans is a signal for extremists as to who is on their side, and that signal then allows them to work together to push the country more and more to its extremes,” she says.
