You cut this off mid-sentence, which leaves out the most telling part: "We need to protect the rights of all individuals, including religious freedom. I would say, leave it to the states and let them decide what works best for them." Trump is signaling a handoff to the states to escalate the fight. The inclusion of "religious freedom" serves as a dog whistle it’s about granting states and certain groups the perceived freedom to continue targeting marginalized communities, particularly trans people.

If you look deeper, Texas has already filed 35 anti-trans bills ahead of the next legislative session. This isn’t random; it’s part of a deliberate strategy to shift the battle back to state legislatures and quietly tack anti-trans measures onto federal bills while public attention is distracted by rage-bait issues. The aim is to avoid spotlighting widely unpopular policies, like stripping people of their rights.

The playbook has always been about maintaining plausible deniability. Figures like Nancy Mace and J.K. Rowling have stepped out of line by being too overt, so Elon Musk silenced both on Twitter. Publicly, trans people are portrayed as nuisances or non-people, undeserving of rights or respect. But behind the scenes, the agenda is much darker: the goal is to erase us entirely.