How to Beat Back Trump on Trans Rights — and Much Else
About this episode
In a striking postmortem, freshman congresswoman Sarah McBride — the first openly transgender member of Congress — reckons with why the left lost ground on trans rights. Citing Pew data showing public support regressing between 2022 and 2025, she argues the movement mistook a mirage of support for real persuasion, abandoned the 'lost art' of meeting people where they are, and let social media reward maximalist positions the public never held. She urges a libertarian-inflected reset: get government out of private medical decisions, let families and doctors decide, handle sports locally, and stop feeding wedge-issue traps. McBride also reflects on being targeted by Republican colleagues (Nancy Mace's bathroom bill), her refusal to take the bait, the role of grace in politics, and why she remains hopeful that persuasion — not purity — is how the movement recovers.