That headline/title is misleading though.
The overall point of what she says is a lot more complex.
it is a fairly complex topic, I think McBride sides with the moderate and centrist Democrats and aligns with political pragmatism that tends to be business friendly and puts ideology aside in favor of deal-making.
On the one hand pragmatism makes sense because politics is about outcomes, and without deal making and compromises nothing happens.
On the other hand, being fundamentally pragmatic means being willing to compromise on anything and a dynamic can arise that allows for a race to the bottom such that the outcomes that are achieved are too far away from what is acceptable, and what is sacrificed is too much.
Furthermore, McBride has an extra burden as a trans woman to signal her loyalty to the pragmatic, more conservative Democratic leadership so she isn’t left out on the assumption her identity aligns with the Progressive Democrats who are more ideological in their commitments (and who are more vocally pro-trans than the rest of the party) and are thus more demanding and less interested in compromising (which can be used as a political strategy itself to influence the Overton window, etc. - but which can be politically risky if by not compromising you don’t get any of the outcomes you needed).
“Got too far ahead of public opinion” my ass. The right was allowed to lie pervasively about trans people for years with barely any pushback. They were allowed to drag public opinion away from us. What little pushback there was often capitulated to right-wing framing on the subject.
… was that a drag pun? well done. 👏
I didn’t even notice that when I was writing it I was so mad, lol.
I’m so mad at how feckless these people are. I can empathize with Rep. McBride not wanting her entire existence as a lawmaker to be spent on trans rights. It’s exhausting having to constantly justify your existence as a trans person and I imagine doubly so as a lawmaker. But the fact of the matter is that we don’t have that option. But the Democrats see the right swaying public opinion with lies and are saying “Welp, guess trans people aren’t popular anymore. Time to drop trans people.”
With the gay rights movement, didn’t the gains of activism consistently stay ahead of public opinion? It seems like public opinion lagged behind the changes, it wasn’t until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage that it seemed like there was a cultural shift.
Ezra Klein is a bag of hot air being boosted by billionaires because they are terrified something like a genuine populist leftwing movement in the US may be forming right now.
So… I wouldn’t take who Ezra Klein is interested in talking to and what about as indicators of anything other than a convenient and professional method for dividing us against one another.
