Outkick - 'Tucker Carlson Completely Misses Point On Transgender Athletes In Women's Sports'

[UtopiaPlanitia]

I saw this article linked to on TwiX and thought I’d post it here. The writer argues that all politicians should pay attention to the strength of feeling in society about men and boys being allowed to play in female sports. It’s an interesting argument from the centre-right perspective about the importance of fairness for women and girls:

https://www.outkick.com/sports/tucker-carlson-misses-point-transgender-athletes-womens-sports

Tucker Carlson Completely Misses Point On Transgender Athletes In Women's Sports

The conservative political pundit says the issue is unimportant in light of bigger problems facing the country

…The problem isn't just that some males compete in women's sports. Yes, it's terrible that women are forced to share locker rooms and bathrooms with men in the name of gender ideology. Or have to sacrifice their athletic opportunities. But it's the root of why that's happening that underscores the insidiousness of the issue.

Republicans focusing on this issue, and having the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with them, is an extremely important cultural victory that has already started to change the narrative.

Many Americans look the other way while Democrat-run cities fall into complete disarray thanks to drugs, mental illness, homelessness and general mismanagement. But when Democrats say that boys can be girls and that they can use whatever bathroom they choose and compete against whomever they want, Americans are standing up and saying, "Enough!"

Adults Acting Like Adults
This is about much more than just keeping men out of women's sports. It's a signal that the adults in the room are finally starting to act like adults. The days of letting your kid eat ice cream, play video games and contribute nothing are over. It's time to teach them personal responsibility and, sometimes, that means being the bad guy – at least at the moment….

I forgot to add the link to Blueprint:

blueprint-research.com/polling/why-trump-reasons-11-8

It's pretty hard to feel sorry for the Democrat Party. They have brought this on themselves.

I agree that it’s a good snap test of a politician’s character to see what they say on this issue. And I also agree that if they lie to me about the issue of men claiming they can be women then I highly distrust everything else they say. Same goes for overall party messaging too.

I think that’s the point the writer of the article is trying to make too via the example of female sport. Outkick being a sports news outlet he doesn’t stray too far off that topic.

I think it can’t hurt the Republicans to keep the issue (along with a few others) front and centre in the mind of the electorate. And as Manteiga pointed out, the fix for the issue of males invading female sports and spaces is relatively low cost compared to fixing other big social and economic issues. So Republicans can make hard promises to the voters that shouldn’t be too onerous to keep.

If swing voters won’t vote for Harris because they think she’s “more focused on cultural issues like transgender issues than on helping the middle class” why would they vote for Trump if he focuses more on cultural issues?

So it isn’t low hanging fruit in terms of winning over swing voters, they aren’t interested.

In the US, if the economy was doing well then whoever is in power can get away with more “cultural issues” but when people are feeling under economic pressure they vote with their wallets. If the Republicans are ineffective at curbing immigration or boosting the economy, voters will be pissed off if they seem to spend too much time on cultural issues just as they were with the Democrats.

I think the UK is different, though swing voters still more swayed by finances than anything else, but here I think CapeGooseberry‘s point about truth has more impact. And Starmer seems to be of that mind to some extent - MPs just sound like dissembling idiots if they can’t way what a woman is, and voters don’t want to vote for someone they can’t trust.

Yes, many years ago he was lovely.

That's perhaps why Trump said "Don’t bring that subject up, because there’s no election right now. But about a week before the election, bring it up, because you can’t lose." The Republicans don't even need to deliver much on this - if you consider all the shenanigans around their attempt to stop Medicare's funding 'gender-affirming care ' for minors as part of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill', the main outcome is that they'll be able to say "It's thanks to Democrats that your tax dollars go towards sex-changes for kids". Same for boys in girls sports.

Of course if tariffs tank the economy it won't matter. If the election's close it might well do.

I noted that. Also that the speech was described as a 'rant'. But the crux of the argument was that winning on the matter of men in women's sports is important. It's a culture shift away from giving people what they want just because they want it i.e. 'be kind'. Mind, this argument is only a step away from the Marxist ideal: people should be forced to be free. No, they really shouldn't. But it doesn't help homeless people to let them continue to live on the streets and take drugs rather than help them to come to better life outcomes, which, in the US, probably means a huge culture shift towards free at the point of access health care, proper Federal funding of education etc where all schools are identically funded and those failing get help - which won't go down well with Republicans.

I came across a good video by Irene discussing (and disagreeing with) Carlson's dismissal of genderism's effect on women and society.