“No transgender for everyone,” Donald Trump declared of his second term as president in a controversial social media post Oct. 27.
In an 83-word Truth Social post that boasted at least eight flagrant lies, Trump included as part of his legacy ridding the nation of transgender identity.
“After winning THREE Elections, BY A LOT, I am now getting the best Polling Numbers that I have ever received,” Trump declared. “People see how strong the Economy is, the Trillions of Dollars of Investment pouring into our Country, the Record Setting Strong Border (After years of millions of criminals pouring through it, totally unvetted and unchecked!), ending 8 wars in eight months, no men playing in women’s sports, no transgender for everyone, rapidly falling Energy prices, and much more!”
Mark Wingfield
Not a single sentence of this post is true. It is a series of outrageous lies strung together in rapid succession to bolster the fragile ego of a president who is catching hell for demolishing the East Wing of the White House without consultation or permits while on the verge of allowing hungry Americans to lose their meager food subsidies while he builds a golden ballroom.
Other commentators have picked apart Trump’s lies about the elections and the economy and immigration — more on that in a moment — but I want to focus on the red meat he’s throwing his evangelical base in this brag fest.
“Yes, he’s a pathological liar, but he’s also a strategic liar.”
Remember first that even Trump’s lies — especially his lies — always are calculated to appeal to someone he wants to like him. Yes, he’s a pathological liar, but he’s also a strategic liar.
And the audience for the anti-trans lines is conservative evangelicals, who continue to insist transgender identity is not a real thing in the eyes of God. They are flat-out wrong, as I’ve written numerous times before. This erroneous belief about the Bible is so pervasive that the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission routinely refers to “so-called transgender” people — believing these poor souls are just deluded about who they really are.
Across the nation, and especially in Texas where I live, Republican officials are working overtime to erase transgender identification altogether. They have banned the word and eliminated the identity.
But their efforts will keep failing because transgender people always have been with us and are — surprise! — part of God’s created order. Read more here and here.
Donald Trump can issue presidential declarations until the fake gold falls off the Oval Office walls, but he cannot erase the existence of people created by God and in the image of God. He can deny them passports, force them out of jobs, humiliate them, imprison them — and worse — but he cannot stop them from existing.
“This is God’s work as Creator, not any president’s role as dictator.”
This is God’s work as Creator, not any president’s role as dictator.
Sadly, the same people who want to believe you can legislate transgender people out of existence also believe Trump’s full bundle of lies.
Despite his claims, Trump did not win three elections. Joe Biden soundly defeated him in 2020 and there is no serious evidence of voter fraud.
Trump did not win any election “by a lot.”
In 2016, he won the Electoral College 304 to 227, despite Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote by about 2.8 million votes.
In 2020, he lost the Electoral College vote 306 to 232 to Joe Biden and lost the popular vote by 7 million votes.
In 2024, running against Kamala Harris, he won the Electoral College 312 to 226 and the popular vote by only 1.4%, with 77 million ballots cast for Trump and 75 million cast for Harris. That is no mandate and is not “a lot.”
Trump is not getting the best polling numbers ever; in fact, the exact opposite is true. By every reputable poll out there, he is under water in public opinion. And a majority of Americans now see him as a “dangerous dictator.”
Nor is the economy strong. Instead, economists — at least those not yet fired by Trump — warn of slowing growth, due to headwinds from a federal government shutdown, Trump’s insane tariffs and weakening job creation.
Nor was the U.S. border with Mexico “totally unvetted and unchecked” under Biden.
“Every word of Trump’s social media post is a big fat lie.”
Nor has Trump ended eight wars in eight months.
Nor are energy costs rapidly falling. Gasoline and oil prices have dropped while residential electricity and natural gas prices are expected to continue increasing. Utility costs are rising due to increased demand, infrastructure investments and higher natural gas costs — all while Trump seeks to handicap renewal energy sources such as wind.
Every word of Trump’s social media post is a big fat lie. Every word. But we now know that to his followers, none of that matters. They have drunk the Kool-Aid and will follow his lies to their own deaths.
Which is why the radical lies about transgender people are so dangerous. These are not just words; they are marching orders to Trump’s faithful. They believe — they want — him to have the power to erase transgender identity from sight. And he is being egged on by Bible-waving evangelicals who never have met a single transgender person or heard their testimonies.
That’s why the rest of us must summon every bit of courage we can find — even if we don’t understand the biology of gender — and stand up for the most vulnerable people among us today.
I’ll tell you from personal experience you never know whose life you might save. It might even be someone you already love.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global and is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality.
Related articles by Mark Wingfield:
Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons
Painful lessons from a pastor’s viral transgender post
Why being transgender is not a sin