When President Trump accused Kamala Harris during Tuesday night’s debate of supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants, it sparked disbelief among her supporters and media allies.
Video (notice Harris did not deny Trump’s claim):
🚨RADICAL LEFT LIBERAL: Trump says of Harris, "Now she wants to do transgender⚧️ operations on illegal aliens that are in prison." Fact check: True. https://t.co/H3ZD18AWoR pic.twitter.com/8JRs0z6I8k
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) September 11, 2024
Trump was referring to a CNN report released the day before, which highlighted an ACLU candidate survey Harris completed in 2019 during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign.
In the report by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, Harris was quoted as supporting taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for both detained immigrants and federal prisoners, as noted in the ACLU questionnaire (excerpt):
KFile: Harris told ACLU in 2019 she supports cuts to ICE funding and providing gender transition surgery to detained migrants
“…Harris also wrote that she supported taxpayer funding of gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.
Harris was asked if, as president, she would use ‘executive authority to ensure that transgender and non-binary people who rely on the state for medical care – including those in prison and immigration detention – will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care.’
Harris replied, ‘Yes.’
‘It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition,’ Harris wrote. She added, ‘That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates.’ Harris explained that she supported granting prisoners and detainees access to ‘surgical care’ for gender transition. ‘Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment,’ she wrote.”
CNN host Erin Burnett was one of the first, but certainly not the last, to be shocked by Harris’ extreme stance on transgender issues.
MUST WATCH: Comrade Kamala's record is so extreme, even Erin Burnett couldn't believe it.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 10, 2024
"You would be hard to think you would come up with taxpayer-funding gender transitions for detained migrants." pic.twitter.com/6Z1fX4y0WT
Following the debate, Time magazine had to issue an embarrassing correction after falsely accusing Trump of fabricating Harris’ support for taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants.
Let’s think about how @TIME came to call this statement false.
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) September 11, 2024
They must have just thought “that’s so crazy it can’t be true.”
So they just declared it false without even checking because Trump said it.
It was big news on CNN just 2 days ago: https://t.co/j6MpZUdO8R pic.twitter.com/GI5o171tWj
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) expressed disbelief on X (formerly Twitter) during the debate, writing, “She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison. Y’all serious right now? He says anything. He just puts words together that scare people and barely forms sentences.” Bowman’s post was corrected by a Community Note: “During her 2020 campaign, Harris said she favored taxpayer-funded care, including gender surgeries, for immigrants illegally in the U.S. and detained by ICE, calling it ‘medically necessary.’”
“She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.” Yall serious right now? He says anything. He just put words together that scares people and barely forms sentences.
— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) September 11, 2024
The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser also received a Community Note correction after claiming Trump’s remark was nonsensical. In her article, she described Trump’s statement as “one of his most memorable rants,” adding, “His line about how the Vice-President ‘wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison’ was pretty memorable, too. What the hell was he talking about? No one knows.”
Even left-wing figures like Marc Lamont Hill found Trump’s statement shocking, tweeting, “‘She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens who are in prison’ is the WILDEST thing I’ve ever heard in any debate. EVER.”
Kamala Harris surrogate Alencia Johnson echoed the disbelief, telling CNN the day after the debate, “These are not the things the American people want from a president!”
While The New York Times acknowledged the truth in Trump’s charge, it also noted the context provided by a Harris campaign spokesperson who attempted to distance Harris from her past radical stance but stopped short of disavowing it, stating, “That questionnaire is not what she is proposing or running on.”
NY Times claims Trump's quote needed context…
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) September 12, 2024
The context they added was that Trump was 100% correct.
Kamala wants sex changes for illegal aliens in prison. pic.twitter.com/MaZsN1CmyO
