When Graham appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program afterward, she attempted to recover by pivoting from her lack of national security knowledge to transgender athletes, as The Advocate reported.
“Of course, Taiwan is our friend,” Graham said. “But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet. They are concerned about boys in girls’ sports.”
Trump continued that strategy Friday by making transgender people a central part of his argument for Graham. He attacked Andrews as a “far-left political hack who supports transgender for everybody” and accused her of telling “confused children they’re trapped in the wrong body.”
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Trump may have conflated those medical procedures with agreements his Justice Department has forced on two major hospital systems. Those settlements require Texas Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic to establish or fund services for people who voluntarily seek to detransition. They do not order hospitals to perform surgery on anyone.
In May, Texas Children’s agreed to pay the state $10 million, end gender-affirming care for minors and establish what federal officials called the country’s first “restorative care” clinic for detransitioners. The Houston hospital also agreed to terminate five physicians connected to its transgender health program and permanently revoke their privileges, as The Advocate reported.