Donald Trump has weighed in on one of the most divisive debates of our times – and, as ever, he’s left no room for ambiguity.

The former US president posted a video on his Truth Social platform this week in which equated gender-affirming surgeries for minors to “child abuse” and “child sexual mutilation.”

Speaking directly into the camera in front of a background of American flags, he unveiled a sweeping set of policies targeting transgender people, or, in his words, a plan to “protect children from left-wing gender insanity.”

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Trump, who officially announced his 2024 presidential bid in November, has vowed to punish doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare to minors if he is re-elected, and says he will push Congress to pass a law to ban gender-affirming care for minors nationwide.

Under his plans, the Justice Department will investigate the pharmaceutical industry and individual hospitals to determine whether they “deliberately covered up horrific long-term side effects of sex transitions in order to get rich.” Doctors who treat transgender youth will also be booted from Medicaid. 

Yet this doesn’t appear to be just about protecting those who are too young to make such a life-altering decision. Trump also declared that he would instruct federal agencies to immediately cease programmes that promote the concept of gender transition “at any age” and he would prohibit federal tax dollars from being used to help pay for gender-affirming interventions.

He would introduce a federal law that recognises only two genders and would bar transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams. 

As for education, teachers that suggest a child “could be trapped in the wrong body” will be faced with “severe consequences,” he warned, such as loss of federal funding for their schools. Instead Trump would ensure schools promoted “positive education about the nuclear family” and “the roles of mothers and fathers.”

“Under my leadership, this madness will end,” he declared. 

This isn’t the first time the controversial former leader has attempted to roll back trans rights – in 2017, he announced a ban on transgender Americans serving in the military. But this is the first time he’s aggressively weighed in on debate over medical procedures for transgender youth. 

In some respects, this election campaigning technique is a break from the past. While seeking the Republican nomination in 2016, Trump promised to be a “real friend” to gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, tweeting on his estranged bird app: “Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you…”

During a campaign rally in Colorado, Trump even held up – albeit upside down – a rainbow flag with the message “LGBTs for TRUMP” scrawled across the front in black marker. 

Trump can obviously see that the wind is turning. 

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