Man, I'm really not going to forget the pundits and media people who insisted that Dems should have tried to make life worse for trans people in hopes of staving off a GOP wave. Truly remarkable how casual some of these people were with the advice, too.

As @HeerJeet pointed out the other day, this is exactly what guys like Matt Yglesias were suggesting

The GOP spent massive amounts of money specifically trying to demonize people like me, and guys like Matt Yglesias were busy arguing Dems should get in on that. I'm n ever, ever going to forget that.

Had Dems actually mounted a counter-campaign, it would have been a.) morally better, and b.) probably even better for them electorally.

I mean, just look at Nevada, which passed legal protections that specifically include "sexual orientation, gender identity or expression."

And it wasn't even close. How cool is that?

The reasons pundits say and do these things isn't because they genuinely believe something is smart politics, but rather, because it reinforces their personal beliefs on the topic. That's exactly what Yglesias was doing.

So for the rest of my life, I'm going to sit here remembering the people who made clear where they stand on this issue of my humanity. The same attacks are going to come back in 2024, and the same people will again say, "Dems should move to the right on trans stuff!" Ignore them.

Between that and the putting out "don't be so easily offended" videos and arguing in favor of laser-focus on "kitchen table issues," a real banner year for overpaid center-center-left dudes.

Imagine having $50 million spent against your ability to peacefully exist in society and some of the most overpaid pundits on the planet going, "Hey, maybe the GOP has a point and Dems should get in on this!" because that's what it's been like being a trans person lately.

Also, even in that article, written by transphobe Dave Weigel, he adopts the right-wing language of "transgender identity" and "gender ideology," two focus-group-tested terms the right uses to argue against trans people existing while making it seem innocent.

Also, FFS, maybe news organizations should consider actually employing trans people so you don't end up falling for this nonsense over and over.