Trump questions acceptance of transgender people as he courts his base at Moms for Liberty gathering

WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lamented the growing acceptance of transgender Americans Friday in an appearance at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.

Trump said transgender women should not be allowed to play in women's sports and said access to gender-affirming health care should be restricted. But he largely stuck to his favourite topics during an hourlong “fireside chat” in Washington, where he lashed out at President Joe Biden, deplored illegal immigration and reminisced about his parents' marriage, his path to being the reality television star of “The Apprentice” and the debate that ended Biden's reelection campaign.

“Our country is being poisoned. And your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they're going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don't even speak English," Trump said of immigrants crossing the border illegally. "It's crazy.”

Trump said school boards have become “like dictatorships" hostile to the desires of parents, echoing conservative frustration that bubbled over in public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I'm for parental rights all the way. I don't even understand the concept of not being,” Trump said.

He added: “The parents truly love the kids...You have to give the rights back to the parents.”

Trump entered a hotel ballroom in Washington as he does at his signature rallies, standing and soaking up applause and chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump” for the entirety of Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA.” Seated onstage with the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice, he shared some of his favourite stories that are mainstays at his rallies, bouncing from topic to topic in a style that has become familiar to his supporters.

The former president sought to shore up support and enthusiasm among a major part of his base. The bulk of Moms for Liberty's 130,000-plus members are conservatives who agree with him that parents should have more say in public education and that racial equity programs and transgender accommodations don't belong in schools.

Yet Trump also runs the risk of alienating some moderate voters, many of whom see Moms for Liberty's activism as too extreme to be legitimised by a presidential nominee.

A year ago, Moms for Liberty was viewed by many as a rising power player in conservative politics that could be pivotal in supporting the Republican ticket. The group's membership skyrocketed after its launch in 2021, fuelled by parents protesting mandatory masking for students and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in the last several months, a series of embarrassing scandals and underwhelming performances during local elections have called Moms for Liberty's influence into question.

The group also has voiced support for Project 2025, a detailed and controversial playbook for the next conservative presidency from which Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself.

Moms for Liberty serves on the advisory board for Project 2025, and the author of the document's education chapter taught a “strategy session” at the group's Friday gathering.

The negative perceptions about Moms for Liberty around the country could increase the potential liability for Trump as he sits down with co-founder Justice, said University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett.

“It certainly helps him rally his base,” Jewett said. “But will that be enough to outdo the backlash?”

Justice disputed the idea that her group's influence is waning, pointing to the 60% of Moms for Liberty-backed candidates who won their recent races in the Florida primaries.

That's “a really big deal,” she said, especially considering that many of the school board hopefuls the group endorses are first-time candidates running against incumbents. She also noted three Moms for Liberty members who won Florida House primaries, showing the group's reach into other political offices.

Trump's education proposals include promoting school choice, giving parents more say in education and awarding funding preference to states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure, financially reward good teachers and allow parents to directly elect school principals.

He also has called for terminating the Department of Education, barring transgender athletes from playing in girls' sports, and cutting funding from any schools pushing “inappropriate racial, sexual or political content”.

“President Trump believes students should be taught reading, writing and math in the classroom — not gender, sex and race like the Biden Administration is pushing on our public school system,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's national press secretary.

The event took on a party-like atmosphere as the group awaited Trump's arrival to a hotel ballroom in Washington. Donning shirts with messages like “Moms for Trump” and “We don't co-parent with the government,” attendees at the group's annual gathering ate buffet desserts, drank beer and cheered to a cover band playing country hits.

Vice President Harris has criticized her Republican opponent for his threats to dismantle the Department of Education. She also has spoken out against efforts to restrict classroom content related to race.

Democrats have lauded her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, for an executive order he signed protecting the rights of LGBTQ people to receive gender-affirming health care in his state. Republicans, including Trump, have lambasted him for it.

During a campaign stop earlier Friday in Johnstown in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Trump offered extensive criticism of the media for what he called unfavourable coverage and singled out CNN for its interview with Harris and Walz on Thursday.

Moments later, a man rushed the media area and made it over a bike rack barrier and close to a riser where television reporters were watching the rally. Private security pushed him back, and the man was eventually subdued by law enforcement using a Taser.

Trump at first said of the man, “he's on our side,” but it's not clear what his intent was. As police led the man away, the former president declared, “Is there anywhere that's more fun to be than a Trump rally?”

Johnstown was once a steel-producing hub but has seen its factories close over the decades. In his speech, Trump vowed to restore American manufacturing by imposing steep tariffs on goods from China and other foreign countries. He also used energy-rich Pennsylvania as a backdrop to deride Harris for once suggesting she'd be willing to ban hydraulic fracturing — a position her campaign says she no longer supports.

The former president said he was “exposing how bad it's going to be in Pennsylvania and our country if we stop doing the fossil fuel thing”.