Lesbian transphobe Bari Weiss is getting roasted online for saying that Democrats lost the presidential and congressional races because they ran on niche issues like gender fluidity and defund the police.' In reality, numerous factors contributed to the partys losses and Democratic candidates barely mentioned transgender issues during the campaign.How can progressives win again? By looking at what went wrong here, Weiss said during a recent FOX News appearance. It turns out that running on these extraordinarily niche issues like gender fluidity or defunding the police feel profoundly out of touch to ordinary Americans. So if [a] progressive [campaign] is about, you know, these niche issues that you find in on college campuses and gender studies department, and you want to keep doubling down on that, youre going to continue to lose. Related What do we do if Donald Trump wins? What a fascist in the White House could mean for LGBTQ+ rights, and the resistance it could inspire. Numerous commenters on X pointed out that Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris didnt run on those issues. The Democratic National Convention didnt have a transgender speaker and only mentioned trans issues once during a speech by Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Kelley Robinson. Exit polls showed that only 4% of voters ranked trans issues as their most important concern. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Also, Democratic candidates werent campaigning on defunding local police forces, a common refrain from racial justice activists during the Black Lives Matter protests of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. And while Weiss also claimed that Democrats shouldnt interpret the election results to mean that voters wanted a fascist regime, a majority of voters did, in fact, choose a presidential candidate who expressly promised to be a dictator,praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and repeatedly used racism and misogyny during his campaign.Weiss advice marks a troubling trend in the elections post-mortem in which Democrats blame progressives for their losses. Recently, three Democrats have said that their party should take stronger stands against transgender athletes after Republicans spent $215 million in transphobic attack ads. Weiss is an opponent of transgender rights. She is the founder of the conservative outletThe Free Press and was given $500,000 bybillionaire Republican donor Harlan Crowto help launch an anti-woke non-profit organization.The deceptively named organization, The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR), claims to be nonpartisan, but its initial board included transphobic former Fox News hostMegyn Kelly, transphobic gay writerAndrew Sullivan, and anti-LGBTQ+ activistChristopher Rufo,The New Yorkerreported.In 2021, FAIR started focusing on so-called gender ideology, a right-wing term for acknowledging the existence of transgender people. It hosted a webinar entitled Gender Ideology: Problems and Pro-Human Solutions, which featured Abigail Shrier, an anti-trans author who regularly equates trans people with misogynists, child sex predators, and mentally ill people who have succumbed to peer pressure. While FAIR took stands against issues of compelled speech and gender stereotypes namely, schools requiring students to state theirpronouns, for example, or teaching that boys who gravitate toward dolls and princesses could be girls. it wasnt willing to touch other questions, such as whether kids who identify as trans should be allowed to medically transition,The New Yorkernoted.Though Weiss helped fundraise and attract talent to FAIR, even she eventually distanced herself from the group, saying in June 2021 that she considers the organization not straightforward and not muscular enough, particularly on issues like trans women in sports.Last, numerous issues contributed to the Democrats losses this election season: Working-class voters, who have increasingly voted for conservatives worldwide, were outraged over post-pandemic inflation, even after that inflation was brought down. Joe Biden is an unpopular incumbent who makes frequent verbal gaffes. Harris, who had never run a successful presidential campaign, was thrust into the nominee role with only 107 days to do so and failed to differentiate herself from Bidens policies. It turns out, running on these extraordinarily niche issues like gender fluidity or defunding the police don't actually matteror frankly, feel profoundly out of touchto ordinary Americans.@BariWeiss on why Democrats lost so badly. pic.twitter.com/Q7vIggB7sZ The Free Press (@TheFP) November 7, 2024 who the fuck ran on 'gender fluidity' & 'defund the police'. your making shit up Rhodes (@solonebiu) November 7, 2024Bari has built a business off of offering bad faith characterizations of the left to right-leaning audiences https://t.co/5yxOZUPOiO jonathan friedman (@jonfriedman) November 8, 2024 I agree with the Bari here, except for the fact that Kamala didn't run on those issues.Bari claims that 50% of the country doesn't want a fascist regime. Yet they voted for the only candidate who was offering one. It's hard to refute that. (@GriFdotpy) November 8, 2024Please cite one example or video/audio of Harris stating defund the police. You cant Youre spewing blatant lies. Ralph, (@musicloverohio) November 7, 2024Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.