Trump says he will stop “transgender delusions” on his first day in office

US President-elect Donald Trump announced to a crowd of supporters in the southwest of the United States on Sunday that he would end the “transgender delusion” on his first day in office next month, a new round of attacks on the rights of the LGBTQ+ community by the Republican camp. “I will sign executive orders to end the practice of genital mutilation of children, exclude transgender people from the military, and exclude them from elementary, middle and high schools,” said the US President, who will take office on January 20. “The official policy of the United States will be that there will be only two genders, male and female,” continued the winner of the November 5 presidential election in front of a group of young conservatives gathered in Phoenix in the southwest of the country. Trump also shouted: “Wokeism must stop!” In the polarized United States, providing medical services for gender change for minors or allowing transgender women to participate in women’s sports are hot topics. In the states controlled by the US Republicans, they oppose the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In the US Congress in November, right-wing politicians wanted to prevent Sarah McBride, the first transgender woman elected to the House of Representatives, from using the women’s bathroom in the Capitol. Trump, who will become the 47th president of the United States on January 20 after defeating Democrat Harris, also stepped up his attack on immigration, another hot topic of his campaign, in Phoenix on Sunday. “I will sign a series of decrees to close our borders, to stop illegal immigration, to stop the invasion of our country. On the same day, we will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States,” he promised. “January 20th will truly be a day of liberation for America,” he asserted at the event organized by Turning Point USA, an organization founded by far-right polemicist and supporter Charlie Kirk. In a speech lasting more than an hour, in the style of his campaign rallies, the president-elect listed his priorities for the next term, which he promised would be a “golden age,” and insisted that his reforms would be implemented at the fastest speed. He did not mention the long political negotiations that averted the paralysis of the US federal government at the last minute last Saturday, but he reiterated his foreign policy priorities. “I’m going to end the war in Ukraine, I’m going to stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I promise to prevent World War III,” Trump declared, but he did not reveal any details on how to achieve this goal. He also repeated a threat he made the day before against the Panama Canal, accusing the Panamanian authorities, who have had full control of the canal since 1999, of not treating American ships “fairly.” If this does not change, the former real estate tycoon roared, “we will demand the immediate return of the Panama Canal to the United States.”