Donald Trump uses the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection to attack transgender peoplehttps://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-transgender-republican-retreat 🔗Christopher Wiggins (6 Jan 2026)
Five years after a mob of his supporters breached the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn a democratic election, President Donald Trump Tuesday addressed some of the same lawmakers who were terrified that day. But instead of marking the dark moment in U.S. history, Trump used a phrase that inspired violent acts in Washington, D.C., that day — this time to attack transgender people.
Speaking to House Republicans at a closed-door party retreat at the Kennedy Center, Trump repeatedly invoked what he derisively described as "men in women's sports," telling GOP lawmakers that Democrats "fight like hell" to allow transgender women to compete in women's athletics, and that the issue remains among the most politically potent weapons in his arsenal.
On an anniversary freighted with the memory of political violence and democratic rupture, the message was unmistakable: Transgender people remain a central foil in Trump's campaign to define his enemies, animate his base, and frame the stakes of the coming midterms.
