A CNN panel this week exposed the Left’s glaring blindspot on the transgender debate, an issue the Wall Street Journal has called the “sleeper issue” of the 2024 election.
During the discussion, strategist Shermichael Singleton dared to explain a fact that’s resonating with families across the country: boys who identify as transgender competing in girls’ sports isn’t a popular policy. But CNN commentator Jay Michaelson wasn’t having it, erupting in a display of outrage and accusations of “transphobia” at Singleton’s straightforward take. CNN host Abby Phillip, rather than reining in Michaelson’s outburst, astonishingly redirected the conversation by “policing” Singleton’s language, essentially siding with Michaelson’s tantrum.
“They’re not boys! I’m not gonna listen to ‘transphobia’ at this table!” Michaelson snapped, repeatedly interrupting Singleton. “Did you call a ‘trans girl’ a boy?! … When you use words as a slur, I’m gonna interrupt.”
Phillip tried to reset the discussion, framing the trans issue as “heated” but insisted on holding Singleton to Michaelson’s preferred language. “I think out of respect for Jay, let’s try to talk about this in a way that is respectful,” Phillip said, effectively signaling to Singleton to tread carefully.
“Let me rephrase this, since I’m being targeted here,” Singleton said, before being interrupted yet again by Michaelson. “There’s no consensus that these are actually boys,” Michaelson claimed. “The whole thing about ‘trans girls’ is a canard.”
Michaelson also pushed his stance that dangerous interventions like puberty blockers and irreversible surgeries on minors represent “health care.” He added, “We’re talking about a tiny, tiny sliver of the population, and we’re using that to take away health care from thousands of people.”
Phillip finally told Singleton to “just get to your point,” and he did: “Regular people look at these things and say, ‘Ya know what, this is a bit too far. I do not agree with this. I don’t like this. I think Democrats have gone way too much to the Left on social issues,’” Singleton explained, stressing that countless families share this viewpoint. Singleton pointed out the success of ads run by the Trump team, emphasizing Vice President Harris’s support of taxpayer-funded sex changes for trans inmates. The powerful tagline? Harris is for “they/them,” while “Trump is for you.”
Women’s rights activist Riley Gaines weighed in on the exchange, tweeting, “A grown man telling another grown man how to speak. Normal people are tired of the policing of language. Call it as you see it and never apologize.”
And in a question every political strategist on the Left should take to heart, she added, “Have they learned nothing from the election?”
