As I mentioned in the post above, the Trump regime's war on the existence of trans people is clearly important enough to them ideologically and politically, to enact a series of punishments on the entire state of Maine, to cow their governor Janet Mills into submission. That's not just my interpretation as a trans woman, we literally just caught the acting Social Security Administration Commissioner admitting as much in writing:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/leland-dudek-resign

"The top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday led calls for the resignation of acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek following the revelation of internal emails confirming that the SSA canceled contracts with the state of Maine as political payback after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly defied President Donald Trump in support of transgender student athletes.

The emails—which were obtained by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—show that Dudek ordered the cancellation of enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with Maine, even though SSAd subordinates warned that such action "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."

Dudek—who is leading the SSA while the Senate considers Trump's nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano—replied to the staffer: "Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child."

He was referring to Mills, who stood up to Trump in February after the president threatened to suspend federal funding for Maine unless the state banned transgender girls and women from participating on female scholastic sports teams."

I mean good on Connolly to call for Dudek's resignation, but are centrist party strategists even paying attention to what's going on here? I can't stress how degrading it is to keep having to remind powerful cis people who were happy to promote supporting trans rights as a brand eight years ago, that the fascist Trump regime's anti-trans pogrom is going to affect everyone who isn't a fascist negatively, not just trans people. But also, that's exactly what's happening, and even as we speak these same people point to opinion polling as an excuse for leaving trans people and their civil rights to the tender mercies of guys like Stephen fucking Miller.

So, is the fascist's ongoing anti-trans pogrom still a "culture war distraction" when it's affecting education funding for the State of Maine - because their Governor won't ban trans women from school sports in deference to the Trump regime's stated quest to erase trans people from public life?

https://truthout.org/articles/usda-suspends-maine-education-funds-over-states-support-for-trans-athletes/

USDA Suspends Maine Education Funds Over State’s Support for Trans Athletes

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Wednesday that it is suspending federal funding for select education programs in Maine, citing the state’s refusal to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-trans directive to exclude transgender students from girls’ and women’s sports.

In a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the funding freeze would affect “certain administrative and technological functions in schools,” and warned that “[t]his is only the beginning.”

Rollins also noted that the USDA is reviewing Maine’s research and education-related funding to assess compliance with the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and the Trump administration’s anti-trans policy agenda. She specifically invoked Title IX — which the White House has weaponized against trans people — and Title VI, which the administration has distorted to go after diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts."

You might be tempted to scoff at this story because Department of Agriculture funding is a narrow application of force by the regime, to try and dictate Maine's compliance with Trump's executive order, but as the article notes this is part of a much larger attack on Maine's education funding to force the state's compliance with the regime's persecution of trans people via an executive order that is being challenged in court still. I have no idea if we even have laws or constitutional rights in this country anymore, but if SCOTUS doesn't want to play Calvinball, Trump's order is almost certainly unconstitutional and shouldn't survive legal challenges. Given the existence of a 6-3 fascist high SCOTUS that is quite happy to make up the law as it goes to support the Trump regime's agenda however, you'll forgive me if I don't have a lot of confidence in the courts to save trans folks, particularly trans women like me.

Speaking more broadly, I'm sharing this article to point out how shortsighted and utterly ineffective the liberal establishment's plan to stop talking about trans rights is, even in the face of an anti-trans pogrom, because they think doing so will win them elections that might not even happen or be fair at all. The fact is the anti-trans pogrom is a foundational plank in the Trump regime's larger fascist agenda; it doesn't matter if bougie lib politicians want to talk about it, they're going to make you folks either help them eliminate trans people, or talk about why the rights of trans people are human rights and must be protected. You don't get to opt out, they're pushing this agenda whether you want to talk about it or not.