The GOP has a transgender fixation, and Democrats aren’t helping

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on April 10, 2026.

While the man in charge of the most powerful military in world history threatened to blow an entire civilization into oblivion, “never to be brought back again,” many of us wondered how his Christian followers would respond.

Back in 2016, when white evangelicals refused to hold then candidate Donald Trump accountable for bragging about sexually assaulting women, he joked, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”

Ten years later, when he threatened, “A whole civilization will die tonight,” that theory seemed to be put to the test. Maybe murder on the streets of New York City would be OK, just like it ended up being OK in Minneapolis multiple times. But surely they would draw the line at genocide. Right?

Some right-wing influencers such as Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alex Jones called Trump out. It’s a sign of the times for the Republicans when Alex Jones becomes the voice of reason in the room.

“It’s a sign of the times for the Republicans when Alex Jones becomes the voice of reason in the room.”

Others on social media defended Trump’s threats, calling for Iran to be “turned into a parking lot.” Some said his threat of genocide was taken out of context because he closed his post by adding, “God bless the great people of Iran.” Most conservatives seemed to ignore it.

But then another scapegoat began to appear — transgender people.

A false dichotomy

“Look, I don’t think it’s appropriate. Wish he hadn’t,” wrote Christian broadcaster Erick Erickson to his 266,000 followers on X in response to Trump’s declaration of Tuesday being “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one.” Then Erickson added, “But if I have to choose between this and Trans Recognition Day or whatever on Easter, OK.”

Erick Erickson (Photo: Wikipedia)

While Erickson may not be a household name to many, he has long been popular on right-wing talk radio. After being a guest host for Rush Limbaugh, Erickson went on to host his own show, became a contributor for CNN and Fox News, and was named by The Atlantic in 2015 as “the most influential conservative in America.”

So of course, the pivot to transgender people was bound to catch on as his post garnered more than 1.5 million views.

Conservative Christian blogger Jackie Chea chimed in: “It’s not just a choice between two inappropriate Easter messages (Biden or Trump). It’s a choice between an assault on our own culture (Biden’s trans agenda) & an assault on an enemy culture that vows to destroy us (Trump’s attack on Iran).”

Besides the fact that whatever Biden celebrated on Easter is completely irrelevant to Trump’s threat of civilizational annihilation, the two aren’t at all comparable. Nobody dies from Transgender Visibility Day.

And for the umpteenth time, Biden didn’t choose to make Transgender Day of Visibility fall on Easter. An odd calendar confluence made that happen.

And yes, transgender visibility is a matter of life and death.

In a recent episode of “Highest Power: Church + State,” I discussed this with Baptist News Global contributor Cody Sanders.

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