What did Donald Trump do today?
He rambled on about a transgender conspiracy theory that no cognitively sound person could actually believe.
Tonight, at a rally in a Georgia congressional district where the Republican candidate won by 29 points in 2024, Trump claimed in all apparent seriousness that "teachers" were somehow forcibly changing students' genders.
We have 5 states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy. Three or four days later. It's true. And teachers make, somebody makes a decision. Can you imagine? 'Goodbye Timmy I love you so much, I'll see you later.' And you say, 'Where's my son? My son is in the hospital.' Can you imagine? Can you imagine? They don't even need approval. It's sick. They have five, I think Minnesota and some others, cause I think it's five or six. You know that, right?
Nobody knows that. There is no place in the United States—or the entire world, over the entire history of the world—where this happens, or even could happen. What does happen is that schools in some jurisdictions allow students to choose to be addressed by names and pronouns different from those that appear on their birth certificates.
Of course, nobody actually believes this, except possibly Trump—not even the Trump-friendly crowd, who remained silent, and who had by that point become notably restless and dispirited. Even by Trump standards, this was a disturbing and desperate performance:
🤔 What the hell is wrong with Trump? 🤔 Trump gave a bonkers speech in Georgia that included Islamophobic bigotry, oddly sexual comments about men, crazed lies about teachers secretly trans-ing kids, and a variety of other insane rants Here's the lowlight reel:
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 16, 2026 at 5:20 PM
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Why does this matter?
- The very best case scenario here is that Trump knows he is lying and desperately hopes there are people dumb enough to believe what he's saying.