Donald Trump said in an interview yesterday that voters should treat the 2026 midterms as if he is on the ballot, while bringing up how he is going to make “transgender… end.”
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who is now a Fox News host, asked Trump on his show yesterday about the upcoming midterms, in which it seems likely that Republicans will lose ground in Congress.
Related
“I think we’re gonna do very well,” Trump said. “I’m gonna take a lot of time, and I’m going to help people get elected, if I can.”
The president’s party historically loses seats in Congress during midterm elections, but Trump said that that will only happen because his name isn’t on the ballot. So he wanted voters to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
Your LGBTQ+ guide to Elections
Stay ahead of the election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter.
“I see it all the time, that when Trump’s on the ballot, they win,” he said. “When he’s not on the ballot, the people don’t go to vote, and I’m asking the people … to get out and vote. Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
“Our country’s going to be in sad shape, because we’re gonna go through a lot of things,” he continued. “You’re going to have the taxes raised, you’re gonna have crazy things happening like the men in women’s sports will never end. None of this- Transgender will never end,” he told Gowdy.
“We’ve done a great job; we’re the most respected country right now in the world; we’re more respected than we ever were, and I think people wanna keep it that way, so I think we’re gonna win.”
Trump’s second administration has taken a harder line against transgender people’s rights than his first administration did, with him immediately ordering all federal agencies to stop acknowledging that trans people exist on his first day in office. He also ordered the military to kick trans service members out, issued an executive order to ban trans kids from participating in school sports as their gender, and started using all the investigative offices under his control to intimidate hospitals, school districts, and other institutions into rolling back trans rights and care.
His comments about ending transgender people echo comments he made in December 2024 at AmericaFest – after the 2024 elections but before his inauguration – where he said: “With the stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy.”
“Under the Trump administration, it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female. Doesn’t sound too complicated, does it?”
He already signed those executive orders, though, and it’s not clear what more the federal government could do at this point to erase trans people’s identities.
While the right often says that their issues with trans people are sports and what kids are taught in school, they sometimes admit that they simply have a problem with trans people existing at all. In 2023, prominent right-wing pundit Michael Knowles said “transgenderism must be eradicated” but insisted he didn’t mean killing transgender people but eliminating them “ontologically.”
Transgender people have always existed and will continue to exist because being transgender is a natural part of human diversity. Conversion therapy has not been shown to change people’s gender identities, and oppressing LGBTQ+ people only causes them to hide their identities, not change them.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.