June 26, 2025 • 28 mins
Mainstream media outlets are panicking and Democratic politicians are accusing the Trump administration of "child sacrifice." But is there really anything to this latest LGBT horror story? I break it down in this episode of the Brad vs Everyone podcast. Plus, a socialist radical will most likely be New York City's next mayor and the right-wing backlash has been... interesting.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Will people die?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Do you think absolutely? I do not want to sugarcoat this.
This is a fatal decision.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Woke media and progressive Democrats are now claiming that President
Trump is sacrificing gay kids to the culture war. Yes, seriously,
We're going to break down the latest alarmist meltdown with
(00:27):
very little basis in reality and so much more in
today's episode of The Barad Versus Everyone podcast, my daily
show where we take on the craziest ideas from across
the Internet, our media, and our politics, all from an
independent perspective. Now, guys, as you can probably tell, no
longer in my usual home setup, and that's because I've moved.
(00:48):
I've moved to Miami out here in Florida, where I've
got a new apartment. But I've also got no WiFi
in that new apartment. So we are recording in the
business center of the new apartment complex for today and
maybe tomorrow, and apologies if the quality is a little
different or some things are in flux. But there's still
(01:08):
so much to talk about. Up First, We've got to
talk about a really startling story at first glance, but
then when you look into it, there's not actually a
whole lot of there or there, but basically, the Trump
administration just announced a change to the nine to eight
to eight hotline, which is the national federal suicide prevention hotline,
(01:29):
and this change ends a partnership with the LGBT activist
group the Trevor Project, as well as other groups like it,
where people who called who were part of the LGBT
community would be directed to those groups instead of the
original hotline. And cue the media melt down. Seriously, they
absolutely lost it over this. Take a listen to this
(01:51):
clip from MSNBC.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
The Trump administration is shutting down an LGBTQ suicide prevention hotline,
show that LGBTQ young people are four times more likely
to contemplate suicide, with trans teams at highest risk. In
a statement announcing the decision, the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration notably removed the T which represents the
(02:17):
trans community quote. The nine to eight eight Suicide and
Crisis Lifeline will no longer silo lgb Plus Youth Services,
also known as the Press three Option, to focus on
serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the
Press three Option. The CEO of the Trevor Project, the
(02:37):
organization contracted to create and help run the hotline calls
this a devastating decision. They joined me now, James Black, welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Fear and outrage. Parents are outraged, support of adulter outrage,
But our youth, they are terrified.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Will people die? Do you think?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Absolutely? I do not want to use sugarcoat this. This
is a fatal decision and it's going to create a
significant care gap with the youth who depend on these
services year in and year out.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So extremely hyperbolic claims here. This is a fatal decision
that will cost people their lives. But quite notably, the
fact that the MSNBC anchor did not point out is
that this person is the CEO of an organization that
is losing millions of dollars of grant funding because of
this move. So they've got a pretty strong incentive to
(03:25):
portray it in the most alarmist way possible. In reality,
not much is actually changing, and we'll get into it
and you'll see why the claim that this is going
to cost lives is actually kind of ridiculous. Now, I
also want to show you something from a CNN panel
where this was discussed, where the anchor asked, this is
(03:45):
My favorite line is the cruelty the point to go
to listen.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
To that this was a lifeline for a very specific
group of people who have very few people if I
called in I could talk to Basically, that's true. But
this is a group of people who needs a certain
kind of advisor and counselor to understand the unique problems
that they are confronting. And so this just feels cruel
(04:12):
and as you said, political.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It is cruelty.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
The point it is is it a feature or a bug?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Now it's not just the media who is melting down
over this. It was also many Democratic politicians who came
out with statements on Twitter and on other platforms that
directly basically accused the Trump administration of killing gay and
trans kids. It's really not an exaggeration. I'll read you
a couple of those posts. Donald Trump wants to cut
(04:39):
funding for the LGBTQ plus suicide hotline for kids. Senator
Elizabeth Warren said this is a terrible decision that would
cost lives. Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hokeel accused Trump
of quote targeting suicidal kids, and a congressman named Dan Goldman,
a Democrat, said once again, the GOP is willing to
(05:01):
sacrifice children for their insidious culture war. Now, nowhere in
any of these tweets or statements did these Democratic lawmakers
actually provide any evidence that the referral option to groups
like the Trevor Project had reduced suicide among LGBT youth
in any way. Of course, they did not offer that
(05:22):
because it doesn't exist. And I want to be clear
before I give you my take on it, on exactly
what it is that we're discussing here. Under President Biden,
first in a pilot program in twenty twenty two and
then in full in twenty twenty three, a Press three
option was added to the National Suicide Hotline, so when
someone called in, they were presented with a series of options,
(05:44):
and one of them, if they pressed, it would redirect
them away from the federal hotline that helps everyone and
offers high quality services, specifically to hotlines operated by the
Trevor Project and groups like it. Now, what the Trump
administration is doing is ending that referral pipeline, taking away
that button, and taking us back to the dark, dystopian
(06:07):
days of twenty twenty one. So not the end of
the world if you ask me, especially because the federal
hotline will continue to provide services for everyone, regardless of
their background, and nothing's really being shut down. Those LGBT
groups will still have their hotlines in operation. The federal
hotline will still be an operation, just that referral button
(06:31):
is going away. However, any LGBT teenager who wants to
can still call the Trevor Project's hotline or another one
of these groups hotlines. There's not really any options that
are being taken away. Just a referral option is what's
going the way of the Dodo bird, and frankly for
kind of good reason, which we will get into, but
first here's a statement from the Trump Administration, the federal
(06:52):
agency responsible for making this change. Everyone who contacts the
nine to eight to eight Lifeline will continue to receive
access to skilled care a culturally competent crisis counselors who
can help with suicidal substance misuse, or mental health crisises,
or any other kind of emotional distress. Anyone who calls
the lifeline will continue to receive compassion and help. So
(07:14):
the hotline is still in operation for anyone to call
and receive high quality services, regardless of their identity or background,
and yet the Trump administration is literally being accused of
child sacrifice. Is that not a tad melodramatic, a tad alarmist,
you'd think, right. And the more important thing is that
they're actually very good reasons to end collaboration between the
(07:38):
Federal hotline and the Trevor Project and groups like it,
because frankly, those groups are pseudo scientific and ideological and
activist in their approach in ways that I don't think
are actually what's best for these distress teams and may
only confuse them further. So there's a very serious argument
to be made that even lgbt youth will be better
(08:00):
are served by the traditional hotline services of the nine
to eight eight Hotline than by being redirected to these
fringe activist groups. And I'll explain why. So let's look
at the Trevor Project in a little more detail, and
they're so called resources on gender identity. This really makes
clear that the Trevor Project is an explicitly ideological organization.
(08:20):
It promotes fringe debunk theories about gender identity, and as
will come to it, takes a pseudoscientific approach to LGBTQ
youth suicide. Prevention that is not evidence based, but specifically,
these resources about gender identity on their web page suggests
that using neo pronouns like z zim ZR or am
(08:40):
or it is a legitimate way of expressing your gender identity.
It also claims factually incorrectly that biological sex is a spectrum,
and more importantly, it actually suggests pretty explicitly to youth
that if they don't conform to just gender stereotypes, they
might be transgender. It very much pushes this idea. I'm
(09:02):
going to read you a really crazy quote. If you
decide that your gender or sex just isn't right for you,
you may want to make your gender identity fit with
your ideal gender expression and presentation. This is called transitioning
and can include social like telling other people about which
pronouns you like, legal like changing your name, or medical
(09:24):
like taking hormones or having surgery. Call me crazy, but
I don't think that it is good to have vulnerable,
distressed kids introduced to this kind of thing and have
like non binary and other fake identities pushed on them
while they're distressed and confused, and to present this like
false notion that, oh, if you're just not comfortable with
(09:45):
gender stereotypes, you might be trans in this extremely ambiguous
thing that doesn't include any actual like medical diagnosis or
psychiatric standards that have to be met, just to if
you feel a little different inside, you're basically trance. That's
the gist of their Way website. Yeah. I don't think
distressed youth should be presented with that, and I don't
think that believing as such makes you a bigot. Now especially,
(10:08):
I really take issue with this language. The Trump administration
is going to be killing kids by making this move,
because not only is it really emotionally charged and manipulative,
but it's also to me almost certainly false. In fact,
I think there's probably a chance that the lives might
be saved on the margin. Now, I can't say for
sure by having people go to the regular hotline rather
(10:30):
than being funneled to Trevor and other groups like it,
because at least Trevor pushes pseudoscience about how to prevent
suicide all over their materials, which means that clearly they're
not engaged in best practices and they're not following the evidence.
So why would we entrust them with such an important
responsibility like saving the Lives of American youth. Here's what
(10:52):
I'm talking about. On its facts about LGBTQ plus suicide
resource page, the Trevor Project explicitly links quote gender affirming
medical care such as hormone therapy to quote reducing suicide risk.
But there's actually no evidence to support this claim. There
is no high quality study that links puberty blockers or
(11:14):
hormone therapy, cross sex hormone therapy to a reduction in suicide.
It doesn't exist. It's not in the room with us.
You can google as hard as you want and you
will not find it. The CAST Report and other comprehensive
reviews of the evidence have all concluded there is not
sufficient evidence to reduce to link these treatments to reduce suicide.
(11:34):
And even the ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, I played this
clip for you all the other day, admitted before the
Supreme Court this is one of the craziest transactivists in
all of America that yeah, there's actually no evidence showing
it it reduces suicide. And yet the group operating a
federally referred and funded they were getting tens of millions
of dollars in grants. A suicide Hotline for LGBTUTH. Their
(11:57):
whole thing is framed around this idea that gender trains
transitioning is life saving and these treatments reduced suicide, even
though that's not supported by the evidence. So it seems
pretty common sense to me that you wouldn't entrust them
with such an important responsibility when their work and their
approach to this issue is an evidence based This is
all complicated, but one thing really seems very clear to
(12:20):
me that this panic to media narrative and these hysterical
and outrageous statements from Democrats are not justified by the
reality of what the Trump administration is doing here. And
I've been critical of him on many things, but to me,
it actually seems like a smart move that follows the
evidence and actually may help kids get distressed, kids vulnerable
(12:44):
kids get better evidence based care. And if you ask me,
that's not child sacrifice, that's not an outrage. That's a
good thing. But what do you guys think? Have you
seen the stories about this and the media spin and
the doom and gloom that's being spun about it. Do
you support what the Trump administration is doing or do
(13:05):
you have still some concerns that I didn't address. Do
let me know in the comments. Please do make sure
subscribed if you aren't yet, and do you hit that
leg button while you're at it. Remember guys to send
in your voicemails for voicemail Friday episodes. The link to
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life situations, your crazy kind of wo horror stories, anything
(13:25):
going on in your life that you want to talk
to me about and what my thoughts or advice on.
You can send me a voicemail at the link in
the description. And now we're going to talk about one
more thing on today's show, and that is the looming
election of a self described feminist socialist who wants to
globalize the Intifada in New York City, so zoorn Mondami,
(13:50):
who I've talked a little bit on the channel before about.
He just basically we can't say for sure that he's
going to become the next mayor of New York City,
but it certainly looks likely because he won the Democratic primary,
so he will now beat the Democratic nominee for mayor
of New York City, which means he will most likely win.
And wow, there is so much to say about this topic,
(14:11):
because he is a honestly scary figure in how extreme
and radical his ideas are. He actually kind of seems
like a nice guy. He's very charismatic. I think he
did a good job campaigning, but his actual ideas really
really frightened me. And we're going to go over some
of them because it's a weird combination of like unhinged
and dangerous stuff with also just stuff that's just goofy
(14:32):
and absurd. So we're going to go through it. But
then we're also going to talk about the right wing
reaction to him, which to him winning the nomination, which
I also have some problems with actually, so we'll talk
about that as well. But first, as far as his
ideas are concerned, I mean, this is a guy who
tweeted over and over again, and y'all, I've told you
(14:53):
this before. The internet is forever, so be careful what
you post. He tweeted over and over again how he
wants to defec fund the police and build a socialist
New York. That's a direct quote, and in some of
the tweets about this are cartoonishly goofy. Queer liberation means
defund the police. Together, we can tax the rich, heal
(15:16):
the sick, how's the poor, defund the police, and build
a socialist New York and even you know, because there
was some debate about when people say defund the police,
do they really mean defund the police or do they
mean something else. He said, Nope, we want to defund
the police. And what makes this so funny is that
(15:37):
most low income, most minority people actually want more policing
in their neighborhoods. They do not want to abolish or
defund police. And that is a very radical fringe view that,
while I'm supportive of some police reforms and some criminal
justice reforms, I think is totally misguided and kind of
tells you how radical it is, like link how radical
is ideology is linking that to queer liberation or whatever.
(15:59):
Queer people which is not a thing. But like gay people,
if that's what you're talking about, don't want no police.
They don't want to defund a police department. Actually, if
someone breaks in their home or someone tries to mug
them or anything else, they would like the police to
show up and do their jobs. And the places that
have lapsed in enforcement of basic rule of law and
policing aren't lovely places to live for anyone, queer or not.
(16:24):
It's not just this one thing. This guy is Ooran Mamdani.
He has a lot of views that I think can
be described as luxury beliefs. What the critic and writer
Rob Henderson identified. Here's a video that he did for
The Times discussing this phenomenon as applied to Zooran. Socialism
(16:44):
a terrifying word.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
That's Auramndani. And he could be New York's next mayor.
And like most socialists, his luxury beliefs will harm the
working class. Luxury beliefs, a term I poined years ago,
means opinions that confer status on the upper class at
little to no cost for them, while inflicting series costs
on the lower classes. In this context, the very people
who back Mam Donnie are the ones who most resemble him,
over educated, affluent, and eager to prove their virtue at
(17:08):
someone else's expense. Take for example, Mam Donnie's plan to
freeze rents without raising rents. Many landlords cannot afford to
maintain their buildings, which leads to apartments becoming rundown or empty.
This is one reason why. Ironically, cities with Brenk control
policies have the lowest levels of affordable housing. It's a
policy that hurts working class families the most. Then there's
Mom Donnie's push for free public buses, a plan that
would cost six hundred and thirty million dollars per year.
(17:30):
An analysis by the Transportation Research Board found that some
public transit systems that have experimented with or implemented fair
free policy have been overwhelmed by the presence of disruptive passengers,
including loud teenagers and vagrants. This too, would make life
hard for low income people who depend on public transit
every day. So yeah, maybe socialism for New Yorkers is.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
A terrifying work. I thought Rob kind of cooked with that.
I thought he ate like because it is a good point.
This dude has a lot of goofy views, like government
run grocery store that are going to run massive losses
for taxpayers and put small businesses in bodegas. A lot
of wm are run by low income people, by immigrants,
by people of color out of business. He wants to
(18:11):
freeze rents, which, again that really does sound nice but
has very disastrous economic consequences that make the problem worse,
not better. I believe he wants a thirty dollars minimum wage,
which is outrageously high and will price people out of
the job market and lead to higher prices where it
is implemented. It's just in so many ways he's got
(18:32):
these radical, fringe AOC style views that I think are
extremely counterproductive and would be harmful. And then he's tied
up in some radicalism like his call to globalize the Intifada.
And look, I can understand how people feel supportive of
the palsetending people and their cause, but to use rhetoric
like that that people understandably associate with waves of terror
(18:55):
attacks the Intifadas in Israel is indicative of very streame
position that I think people can understandably be concerned about,
as is this other thing about Zoorun that he's been
very clear about wanting to use taxpayer money to fund
gender transition treatments and services for adults, yes, and for kids.
(19:17):
Here's a clip of him talking about that.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
And one of the things that we've said beyond saying
that we're going to make a sanctuary city for LGBTQI
at Blust New Yorkers, beyond saying that we're going to
establish comfice at LGBTQUI A plus affairs. Is also that
we're going to provide sixty five million dollars in funding
for genders from man care, the same amount of funding.
With the federal governments threat to pull out telling local
providers for that kind of work. And in this moment especially,
(19:43):
we want to fight the Trump administration, we have to
do so by fully funding our own services.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And rest assured. This applies to minors as well. As
Benjamin Ryan reported for the New York Sun Breakout, New
York mayoral contender zoroun Mom Donnie wants to spend sixty
five million on medical under treatments for minors and adults.
He specifically says this in his campaign platform, that he
wants to fund child sex changes on tax parent dime.
(20:10):
I find that insane. If I was a New Yorker,
I would be horrified by my tax dollars going to that.
But just remember that when the general election comes around, guys,
that's what he stands for.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I'll say all this to say that I think he
would be a disastrous mayor. I understand that the alternative
was Andrew Cuomo, the former government governor who had a
sexual harassment scandal that caused him to resign in disgrace,
who sent COVID positive patients into nursing homes, getting elderly
people killed, and try to cover up the data. So,
(20:41):
I mean, he's a little more moderate in his politics,
a lot more moderate. However, I mean, I can totally
understand why that was a horrifying option as well to
people that there were other candidates in the race. And
it's shocking to me that somebody as radical as Oroan
would become the nominee and likely the next mayor of
New York City. But I will just say that this
(21:01):
is the direction of the Democratic Party, I guess, at
least in some of the deep blue areas so here
we are. I think it's terrible. I also, however, I
don't think it will totally destroy New York City. I
think if he enacts some of these policies, it will
have really bad consequences. It'll chase businesses and wealthy people
(21:21):
out of the city even further, and it will endanger
public safety in some ways. But New York City does
have a lot going for it, and I don't think
one mayor with bad policies will totally destroy the city
the way some deep on the right suggesting. And I
also think there's been kind of an ugly reaction to
Zorron on the right wing, at least online in conservative
(21:42):
media that comes across as bigoted or unfair in some
ways because it's not about his ideas, but it's about
caricatures of him and his religion and who he is
as a person. Let me read you this tweet from
Charlie Kirk, the conservative commentator. He wrote, twenty four years
years ago, a group of Muslims killed two seven hundred
(22:03):
and fifty three people on nine to eleven. Now, a
Muslim socialist is on pace to run New York City,
So I think it's totally fair to criticize Zorn for
his actual beliefs, like him being a socialist. Totally fair.
I would never support a socialist, however, trying to connect
him to the nine to eleven attacks just because he's
(22:25):
a Muslim and he's like nominally a Muslim, but he
doesn't hold like traditionalist Muslim beliefs. I mean, he's wants
to trans the kids. Okay, so he's not a traditionalist Muslim.
But regardless, this kind of like lumping him in with
the nine to eleven attackers just because they share the
same faith seems really bigoted and unfair. Doesn't mean he
(22:46):
ever supported any such thing. I'm sure he was horrified
by it, like all New Yorkers were. He lived in
New York at the time. I'm pretty sure. I just
think it's really ugly and nasty to try to pin
blame on a whole group of billions of people for
something that a group of them did. I mean, you
could certainly apply that logic to Christians in a way
that would also be very unfair and I think very
(23:08):
bigoted that you could criticize Muslim beliefs, and I don't
think that's like islamophobic or form of bigotry, but not
all Muslims hold the exact same beliefs. And to the
extent that Zoe around mam Dami is a Muslim, he
seems like a liberal Muslim in his views, which is
why other posts like this one from Jamie Michelle, the
(23:29):
founder of Gays Against Groomers, also seems silly to me.
She replied to somebody who was congratulating Zoroon Mamdani, who
wrote a Muslim democratic socialist has won the New York
City primary for mayor, and she shared this meme that
says gays for Islam and then Islam for gays and
then shows some people hanging. I guess I understand the
(23:51):
point applied to like a global context, that there's Islamic nations,
majority Islamic nations that kill gay people, But Zo run
mom Dami doesn't support that. He's like cartoonishly woke and
pro queer and is like a hardcore ally and just
because he's a Muslim doesn't mean he agrees with those
countries that do that when his whole career and record
(24:14):
is a very different approach. This just seemed like not
fair as a line of criticism against him at all,
and when there's so much actually there to work with,
reducing yourself to stuff like this seems ridiculous. There was
also a push by a lot of like nationalist, far
right Republican types to blame the election of this radical
(24:36):
guy in New York City on immigrants, basically saying like, oh,
you know, immigrants invade America and then vote for us
to become a left wing socialist hellhole. And I don't
think that's a totally imaginary concern, but I think in
this case it's not factually true. But that didn't stop
a White House advisor, Stephen Miller from tweeting the commentary
(24:57):
about New York City Democrats nominating an anarchist so socialists
for mayor. Omits one point how unchecked migration fundamentally remade
the New York City electorate. Democrats change politics by changing voters.
That's how you turn a city that defined US dominance
into what it is now. There is a lot there
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, one of
(25:19):
which is that New York City has had a huge
amount of immigrants and immigrant born population for a lot
of the twentieth century. Even you can go very far
back in the share of immigrant born or foreign born
people living in New York City was even higher than
it is now. And also, more importantly, the people who
supported him tended to be affluent. He won many majority
(25:46):
white districts like this is you can't blame this on
the immigrants, many some of whom probably supported him, but
many of whom supported Cuomo, and many of whom didn't
vote in a Democratic primary. If anything, it's probably rich,
woke white people who are to blame for this if
you want to find a group, and I don't even
(26:06):
like doing that, like group collectivism thinking. But my friend
Dre and Carlos Sofo pointed this out on Twitter. Scapegoating
immigrants and minorities for mom Donnie's win ignores the data.
Mom Donnie one majority white precincts, dominated high income areas
and lost black neighborhoods. If anything, white progressives put him
over the top. We will have to wait for full
(26:28):
like racial and demographic data breakdown on the vote. But
I just don't buy that immigrants are to blame for
this dude when woke white people brought him about. And
regardless immigrants, a lot of immigrants who come to America
end up by especially by the second or third generation.
Actually even the first generation tends to be more so
(26:50):
like loving America, not wanting to globalize the Indefada. They
want law and order. They're more traditionalists, they're not ultra woke,
they don't want to trans the kids like I actually
just think this whole thing is based on a caricature
of immigrants that certainly does not apply across the board.
And I think blaming immigration for why, like our parts
(27:12):
of the Democratic Party and our national politics are running
so far to the left, they're like just totally losing.
The plot is a cop out because it takes accountability
from the predominantly native born, woke people who are actually
running that side of American politics off a cliff like
it's not immigrants doing it by and large, at least
that's my take. But what do you guys think? Are
(27:34):
you as concerned as me about Zaran Mamdami potentially becoming
the next mayor of New York City. Let me know
in the comments, especially my audience that actually lives in
New York. I definitely want to hear from y'all. And regardless,
that'll be it for this episode of the Barad Versus
Everyone podcast. Thank you guys so much for tuning in.
Please do make sure if you're subscribed. If you aren't yet,
(27:55):
do hit that like button before you go. So send
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guys might get a kick out of that, so make
(28:16):
sure you are subscribed to my bonus channel linked in
the description, and with that, we'll talk again real soon
Will people die?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Do you think absolutely? I do not want to sugarcoat this.
This is a fatal decision.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Woke media and progressive Democrats are now claiming that President
Trump is sacrificing gay kids to the culture war. Yes, seriously,
We're going to break down the latest alarmist meltdown with
(00:27):
very little basis in reality and so much more in
today's episode of The Barad Versus Everyone podcast, my daily
show where we take on the craziest ideas from across
the Internet, our media, and our politics, all from an
independent perspective. Now, guys, as you can probably tell, no
longer in my usual home setup, and that's because I've moved.
(00:48):
I've moved to Miami out here in Florida, where I've
got a new apartment. But I've also got no WiFi
in that new apartment. So we are recording in the
business center of the new apartment complex for today and
maybe tomorrow, and apologies if the quality is a little
different or some things are in flux. But there's still
(01:08):
so much to talk about. Up First, We've got to
talk about a really startling story at first glance, but
then when you look into it, there's not actually a
whole lot of there or there, but basically, the Trump
administration just announced a change to the nine to eight
to eight hotline, which is the national federal suicide prevention hotline,
(01:29):
and this change ends a partnership with the LGBT activist
group the Trevor Project, as well as other groups like it,
where people who called who were part of the LGBT
community would be directed to those groups instead of the
original hotline. And cue the media melt down. Seriously, they
absolutely lost it over this. Take a listen to this
(01:51):
clip from MSNBC.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
The Trump administration is shutting down an LGBTQ suicide prevention hotline,
show that LGBTQ young people are four times more likely
to contemplate suicide, with trans teams at highest risk. In
a statement announcing the decision, the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration notably removed the T which represents the
(02:17):
trans community quote. The nine to eight eight Suicide and
Crisis Lifeline will no longer silo lgb Plus Youth Services,
also known as the Press three Option, to focus on
serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the
Press three Option. The CEO of the Trevor Project, the
(02:37):
organization contracted to create and help run the hotline calls
this a devastating decision. They joined me now, James Black, welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Fear and outrage. Parents are outraged, support of adulter outrage,
But our youth, they are terrified.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Will people die? Do you think?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Absolutely? I do not want to use sugarcoat this. This
is a fatal decision and it's going to create a
significant care gap with the youth who depend on these
services year in and year out.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So extremely hyperbolic claims here. This is a fatal decision
that will cost people their lives. But quite notably, the
fact that the MSNBC anchor did not point out is
that this person is the CEO of an organization that
is losing millions of dollars of grant funding because of
this move. So they've got a pretty strong incentive to
(03:25):
portray it in the most alarmist way possible. In reality,
not much is actually changing, and we'll get into it
and you'll see why the claim that this is going
to cost lives is actually kind of ridiculous. Now, I
also want to show you something from a CNN panel
where this was discussed, where the anchor asked, this is
(03:45):
My favorite line is the cruelty the point to go
to listen.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
To that this was a lifeline for a very specific
group of people who have very few people if I
called in I could talk to Basically, that's true. But
this is a group of people who needs a certain
kind of advisor and counselor to understand the unique problems
that they are confronting. And so this just feels cruel
(04:12):
and as you said, political.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It is cruelty.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
The point it is is it a feature or a bug?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Now it's not just the media who is melting down
over this. It was also many Democratic politicians who came
out with statements on Twitter and on other platforms that
directly basically accused the Trump administration of killing gay and
trans kids. It's really not an exaggeration. I'll read you
a couple of those posts. Donald Trump wants to cut
(04:39):
funding for the LGBTQ plus suicide hotline for kids. Senator
Elizabeth Warren said this is a terrible decision that would
cost lives. Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hokeel accused Trump
of quote targeting suicidal kids, and a congressman named Dan Goldman,
a Democrat, said once again, the GOP is willing to
(05:01):
sacrifice children for their insidious culture war. Now, nowhere in
any of these tweets or statements did these Democratic lawmakers
actually provide any evidence that the referral option to groups
like the Trevor Project had reduced suicide among LGBT youth
in any way. Of course, they did not offer that
(05:22):
because it doesn't exist. And I want to be clear
before I give you my take on it, on exactly
what it is that we're discussing here. Under President Biden,
first in a pilot program in twenty twenty two and
then in full in twenty twenty three, a Press three
option was added to the National Suicide Hotline, so when
someone called in, they were presented with a series of options,
(05:44):
and one of them, if they pressed, it would redirect
them away from the federal hotline that helps everyone and
offers high quality services, specifically to hotlines operated by the
Trevor Project and groups like it. Now, what the Trump
administration is doing is ending that referral pipeline, taking away
that button, and taking us back to the dark, dystopian
(06:07):
days of twenty twenty one. So not the end of
the world if you ask me, especially because the federal
hotline will continue to provide services for everyone, regardless of
their background, and nothing's really being shut down. Those LGBT
groups will still have their hotlines in operation. The federal
hotline will still be an operation, just that referral button
(06:31):
is going away. However, any LGBT teenager who wants to
can still call the Trevor Project's hotline or another one
of these groups hotlines. There's not really any options that
are being taken away. Just a referral option is what's
going the way of the Dodo bird, and frankly for
kind of good reason, which we will get into, but
first here's a statement from the Trump Administration, the federal
(06:52):
agency responsible for making this change. Everyone who contacts the
nine to eight to eight Lifeline will continue to receive
access to skilled care a culturally competent crisis counselors who
can help with suicidal substance misuse, or mental health crisises,
or any other kind of emotional distress. Anyone who calls
the lifeline will continue to receive compassion and help. So
(07:14):
the hotline is still in operation for anyone to call
and receive high quality services, regardless of their identity or background,
and yet the Trump administration is literally being accused of
child sacrifice. Is that not a tad melodramatic, a tad alarmist,
you'd think, right. And the more important thing is that
they're actually very good reasons to end collaboration between the
(07:38):
Federal hotline and the Trevor Project and groups like it,
because frankly, those groups are pseudo scientific and ideological and
activist in their approach in ways that I don't think
are actually what's best for these distress teams and may
only confuse them further. So there's a very serious argument
to be made that even lgbt youth will be better
(08:00):
are served by the traditional hotline services of the nine
to eight eight Hotline than by being redirected to these
fringe activist groups. And I'll explain why. So let's look
at the Trevor Project in a little more detail, and
they're so called resources on gender identity. This really makes
clear that the Trevor Project is an explicitly ideological organization.
(08:20):
It promotes fringe debunk theories about gender identity, and as
will come to it, takes a pseudoscientific approach to LGBTQ
youth suicide. Prevention that is not evidence based, but specifically,
these resources about gender identity on their web page suggests
that using neo pronouns like z zim ZR or am
(08:40):
or it is a legitimate way of expressing your gender identity.
It also claims factually incorrectly that biological sex is a spectrum,
and more importantly, it actually suggests pretty explicitly to youth
that if they don't conform to just gender stereotypes, they
might be transgender. It very much pushes this idea. I'm
(09:02):
going to read you a really crazy quote. If you
decide that your gender or sex just isn't right for you,
you may want to make your gender identity fit with
your ideal gender expression and presentation. This is called transitioning
and can include social like telling other people about which
pronouns you like, legal like changing your name, or medical
(09:24):
like taking hormones or having surgery. Call me crazy, but
I don't think that it is good to have vulnerable,
distressed kids introduced to this kind of thing and have
like non binary and other fake identities pushed on them
while they're distressed and confused, and to present this like
false notion that, oh, if you're just not comfortable with
(09:45):
gender stereotypes, you might be trans in this extremely ambiguous
thing that doesn't include any actual like medical diagnosis or
psychiatric standards that have to be met, just to if
you feel a little different inside, you're basically trance. That's
the gist of their Way website. Yeah. I don't think
distressed youth should be presented with that, and I don't
think that believing as such makes you a bigot. Now especially,
(10:08):
I really take issue with this language. The Trump administration
is going to be killing kids by making this move,
because not only is it really emotionally charged and manipulative,
but it's also to me almost certainly false. In fact,
I think there's probably a chance that the lives might
be saved on the margin. Now, I can't say for
sure by having people go to the regular hotline rather
(10:30):
than being funneled to Trevor and other groups like it,
because at least Trevor pushes pseudoscience about how to prevent
suicide all over their materials, which means that clearly they're
not engaged in best practices and they're not following the evidence.
So why would we entrust them with such an important
responsibility like saving the Lives of American youth. Here's what
(10:52):
I'm talking about. On its facts about LGBTQ plus suicide
resource page, the Trevor Project explicitly links quote gender affirming
medical care such as hormone therapy to quote reducing suicide risk.
But there's actually no evidence to support this claim. There
is no high quality study that links puberty blockers or
(11:14):
hormone therapy, cross sex hormone therapy to a reduction in suicide.
It doesn't exist. It's not in the room with us.
You can google as hard as you want and you
will not find it. The CAST Report and other comprehensive
reviews of the evidence have all concluded there is not
sufficient evidence to reduce to link these treatments to reduce suicide.
(11:34):
And even the ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, I played this
clip for you all the other day, admitted before the
Supreme Court this is one of the craziest transactivists in
all of America that yeah, there's actually no evidence showing
it it reduces suicide. And yet the group operating a
federally referred and funded they were getting tens of millions
of dollars in grants. A suicide Hotline for LGBTUTH. Their
(11:57):
whole thing is framed around this idea that gender trains
transitioning is life saving and these treatments reduced suicide, even
though that's not supported by the evidence. So it seems
pretty common sense to me that you wouldn't entrust them
with such an important responsibility when their work and their
approach to this issue is an evidence based This is
all complicated, but one thing really seems very clear to
(12:20):
me that this panic to media narrative and these hysterical
and outrageous statements from Democrats are not justified by the
reality of what the Trump administration is doing here. And
I've been critical of him on many things, but to me,
it actually seems like a smart move that follows the
evidence and actually may help kids get distressed, kids vulnerable
(12:44):
kids get better evidence based care. And if you ask me,
that's not child sacrifice, that's not an outrage. That's a
good thing. But what do you guys think? Have you
seen the stories about this and the media spin and
the doom and gloom that's being spun about it. Do
you support what the Trump administration is doing or do
(13:05):
you have still some concerns that I didn't address. Do
let me know in the comments. Please do make sure
subscribed if you aren't yet, and do you hit that
leg button while you're at it. Remember guys to send
in your voicemails for voicemail Friday episodes. The link to
do that is in the description. You can send me
a voice note and tell me about like your personal
life situations, your crazy kind of wo horror stories, anything
(13:25):
going on in your life that you want to talk
to me about and what my thoughts or advice on.
You can send me a voicemail at the link in
the description. And now we're going to talk about one
more thing on today's show, and that is the looming
election of a self described feminist socialist who wants to
globalize the Intifada in New York City, so zoorn Mondami,
(13:50):
who I've talked a little bit on the channel before about.
He just basically we can't say for sure that he's
going to become the next mayor of New York City,
but it certainly looks likely because he won the Democratic primary,
so he will now beat the Democratic nominee for mayor
of New York City, which means he will most likely win.
And wow, there is so much to say about this topic,
(14:11):
because he is a honestly scary figure in how extreme
and radical his ideas are. He actually kind of seems
like a nice guy. He's very charismatic. I think he
did a good job campaigning, but his actual ideas really
really frightened me. And we're going to go over some
of them because it's a weird combination of like unhinged
and dangerous stuff with also just stuff that's just goofy
(14:32):
and absurd. So we're going to go through it. But
then we're also going to talk about the right wing
reaction to him, which to him winning the nomination, which
I also have some problems with actually, so we'll talk
about that as well. But first, as far as his
ideas are concerned, I mean, this is a guy who
tweeted over and over again, and y'all, I've told you
(14:53):
this before. The internet is forever, so be careful what
you post. He tweeted over and over again how he
wants to defec fund the police and build a socialist
New York. That's a direct quote, and in some of
the tweets about this are cartoonishly goofy. Queer liberation means
defund the police. Together, we can tax the rich, heal
(15:16):
the sick, how's the poor, defund the police, and build
a socialist New York and even you know, because there
was some debate about when people say defund the police,
do they really mean defund the police or do they
mean something else. He said, Nope, we want to defund
the police. And what makes this so funny is that
(15:37):
most low income, most minority people actually want more policing
in their neighborhoods. They do not want to abolish or
defund police. And that is a very radical fringe view that,
while I'm supportive of some police reforms and some criminal
justice reforms, I think is totally misguided and kind of
tells you how radical it is, like link how radical
is ideology is linking that to queer liberation or whatever.
(15:59):
Queer people which is not a thing. But like gay people,
if that's what you're talking about, don't want no police.
They don't want to defund a police department. Actually, if
someone breaks in their home or someone tries to mug
them or anything else, they would like the police to
show up and do their jobs. And the places that
have lapsed in enforcement of basic rule of law and
policing aren't lovely places to live for anyone, queer or not.
(16:24):
It's not just this one thing. This guy is Ooran Mamdani.
He has a lot of views that I think can
be described as luxury beliefs. What the critic and writer
Rob Henderson identified. Here's a video that he did for
The Times discussing this phenomenon as applied to Zooran. Socialism
(16:44):
a terrifying word.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
That's Auramndani. And he could be New York's next mayor.
And like most socialists, his luxury beliefs will harm the
working class. Luxury beliefs, a term I poined years ago,
means opinions that confer status on the upper class at
little to no cost for them, while inflicting series costs
on the lower classes. In this context, the very people
who back Mam Donnie are the ones who most resemble him,
over educated, affluent, and eager to prove their virtue at
(17:08):
someone else's expense. Take for example, Mam Donnie's plan to
freeze rents without raising rents. Many landlords cannot afford to
maintain their buildings, which leads to apartments becoming rundown or empty.
This is one reason why. Ironically, cities with Brenk control
policies have the lowest levels of affordable housing. It's a
policy that hurts working class families the most. Then there's
Mom Donnie's push for free public buses, a plan that
would cost six hundred and thirty million dollars per year.
(17:30):
An analysis by the Transportation Research Board found that some
public transit systems that have experimented with or implemented fair
free policy have been overwhelmed by the presence of disruptive passengers,
including loud teenagers and vagrants. This too, would make life
hard for low income people who depend on public transit
every day. So yeah, maybe socialism for New Yorkers is.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
A terrifying work. I thought Rob kind of cooked with that.
I thought he ate like because it is a good point.
This dude has a lot of goofy views, like government
run grocery store that are going to run massive losses
for taxpayers and put small businesses in bodegas. A lot
of wm are run by low income people, by immigrants,
by people of color out of business. He wants to
(18:11):
freeze rents, which, again that really does sound nice but
has very disastrous economic consequences that make the problem worse,
not better. I believe he wants a thirty dollars minimum wage,
which is outrageously high and will price people out of
the job market and lead to higher prices where it
is implemented. It's just in so many ways he's got
(18:32):
these radical, fringe AOC style views that I think are
extremely counterproductive and would be harmful. And then he's tied
up in some radicalism like his call to globalize the Intifada.
And look, I can understand how people feel supportive of
the palsetending people and their cause, but to use rhetoric
like that that people understandably associate with waves of terror
(18:55):
attacks the Intifadas in Israel is indicative of very streame
position that I think people can understandably be concerned about,
as is this other thing about Zoorun that he's been
very clear about wanting to use taxpayer money to fund
gender transition treatments and services for adults, yes, and for kids.
(19:17):
Here's a clip of him talking about that.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
And one of the things that we've said beyond saying
that we're going to make a sanctuary city for LGBTQI
at Blust New Yorkers, beyond saying that we're going to
establish comfice at LGBTQUI A plus affairs. Is also that
we're going to provide sixty five million dollars in funding
for genders from man care, the same amount of funding.
With the federal governments threat to pull out telling local
providers for that kind of work. And in this moment especially,
(19:43):
we want to fight the Trump administration, we have to
do so by fully funding our own services.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And rest assured. This applies to minors as well. As
Benjamin Ryan reported for the New York Sun Breakout, New
York mayoral contender zoroun Mom Donnie wants to spend sixty
five million on medical under treatments for minors and adults.
He specifically says this in his campaign platform, that he
wants to fund child sex changes on tax parent dime.
(20:10):
I find that insane. If I was a New Yorker,
I would be horrified by my tax dollars going to that.
But just remember that when the general election comes around, guys,
that's what he stands for.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I'll say all this to say that I think he
would be a disastrous mayor. I understand that the alternative
was Andrew Cuomo, the former government governor who had a
sexual harassment scandal that caused him to resign in disgrace,
who sent COVID positive patients into nursing homes, getting elderly
people killed, and try to cover up the data. So,
(20:41):
I mean, he's a little more moderate in his politics,
a lot more moderate. However, I mean, I can totally
understand why that was a horrifying option as well to
people that there were other candidates in the race. And
it's shocking to me that somebody as radical as Oroan
would become the nominee and likely the next mayor of
New York City. But I will just say that this
(21:01):
is the direction of the Democratic Party, I guess, at
least in some of the deep blue areas so here
we are. I think it's terrible. I also, however, I
don't think it will totally destroy New York City. I
think if he enacts some of these policies, it will
have really bad consequences. It'll chase businesses and wealthy people
(21:21):
out of the city even further, and it will endanger
public safety in some ways. But New York City does
have a lot going for it, and I don't think
one mayor with bad policies will totally destroy the city
the way some deep on the right suggesting. And I
also think there's been kind of an ugly reaction to
Zorron on the right wing, at least online in conservative
(21:42):
media that comes across as bigoted or unfair in some
ways because it's not about his ideas, but it's about
caricatures of him and his religion and who he is
as a person. Let me read you this tweet from
Charlie Kirk, the conservative commentator. He wrote, twenty four years
years ago, a group of Muslims killed two seven hundred
(22:03):
and fifty three people on nine to eleven. Now, a
Muslim socialist is on pace to run New York City,
So I think it's totally fair to criticize Zorn for
his actual beliefs, like him being a socialist. Totally fair.
I would never support a socialist, however, trying to connect
him to the nine to eleven attacks just because he's
(22:25):
a Muslim and he's like nominally a Muslim, but he
doesn't hold like traditionalist Muslim beliefs. I mean, he's wants
to trans the kids. Okay, so he's not a traditionalist Muslim.
But regardless, this kind of like lumping him in with
the nine to eleven attackers just because they share the
same faith seems really bigoted and unfair. Doesn't mean he
(22:46):
ever supported any such thing. I'm sure he was horrified
by it, like all New Yorkers were. He lived in
New York at the time. I'm pretty sure. I just
think it's really ugly and nasty to try to pin
blame on a whole group of billions of people for
something that a group of them did. I mean, you
could certainly apply that logic to Christians in a way
that would also be very unfair and I think very
(23:08):
bigoted that you could criticize Muslim beliefs, and I don't
think that's like islamophobic or form of bigotry, but not
all Muslims hold the exact same beliefs. And to the
extent that Zoe around mam Dami is a Muslim, he
seems like a liberal Muslim in his views, which is
why other posts like this one from Jamie Michelle, the
(23:29):
founder of Gays Against Groomers, also seems silly to me.
She replied to somebody who was congratulating Zoroon Mamdani, who
wrote a Muslim democratic socialist has won the New York
City primary for mayor, and she shared this meme that
says gays for Islam and then Islam for gays and
then shows some people hanging. I guess I understand the
(23:51):
point applied to like a global context, that there's Islamic nations,
majority Islamic nations that kill gay people, But Zo run
mom Dami doesn't support that. He's like cartoonishly woke and
pro queer and is like a hardcore ally and just
because he's a Muslim doesn't mean he agrees with those
countries that do that when his whole career and record
(24:14):
is a very different approach. This just seemed like not
fair as a line of criticism against him at all,
and when there's so much actually there to work with,
reducing yourself to stuff like this seems ridiculous. There was
also a push by a lot of like nationalist, far
right Republican types to blame the election of this radical
(24:36):
guy in New York City on immigrants, basically saying like, oh,
you know, immigrants invade America and then vote for us
to become a left wing socialist hellhole. And I don't
think that's a totally imaginary concern, but I think in
this case it's not factually true. But that didn't stop
a White House advisor, Stephen Miller from tweeting the commentary
(24:57):
about New York City Democrats nominating an anarchist so socialists
for mayor. Omits one point how unchecked migration fundamentally remade
the New York City electorate. Democrats change politics by changing voters.
That's how you turn a city that defined US dominance
into what it is now. There is a lot there
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, one of
(25:19):
which is that New York City has had a huge
amount of immigrants and immigrant born population for a lot
of the twentieth century. Even you can go very far
back in the share of immigrant born or foreign born
people living in New York City was even higher than
it is now. And also, more importantly, the people who
supported him tended to be affluent. He won many majority
(25:46):
white districts like this is you can't blame this on
the immigrants, many some of whom probably supported him, but
many of whom supported Cuomo, and many of whom didn't
vote in a Democratic primary. If anything, it's probably rich,
woke white people who are to blame for this if
you want to find a group, and I don't even
(26:06):
like doing that, like group collectivism thinking. But my friend
Dre and Carlos Sofo pointed this out on Twitter. Scapegoating
immigrants and minorities for mom Donnie's win ignores the data.
Mom Donnie one majority white precincts, dominated high income areas
and lost black neighborhoods. If anything, white progressives put him
over the top. We will have to wait for full
(26:28):
like racial and demographic data breakdown on the vote. But
I just don't buy that immigrants are to blame for
this dude when woke white people brought him about. And
regardless immigrants, a lot of immigrants who come to America
end up by especially by the second or third generation.
Actually even the first generation tends to be more so
(26:50):
like loving America, not wanting to globalize the Indefada. They
want law and order. They're more traditionalists, they're not ultra woke,
they don't want to trans the kids like I actually
just think this whole thing is based on a caricature
of immigrants that certainly does not apply across the board.
And I think blaming immigration for why, like our parts
(27:12):
of the Democratic Party and our national politics are running
so far to the left, they're like just totally losing.
The plot is a cop out because it takes accountability
from the predominantly native born, woke people who are actually
running that side of American politics off a cliff like
it's not immigrants doing it by and large, at least
that's my take. But what do you guys think? Are
(27:34):
you as concerned as me about Zaran Mamdami potentially becoming
the next mayor of New York City. Let me know
in the comments, especially my audience that actually lives in
New York. I definitely want to hear from y'all. And regardless,
that'll be it for this episode of the Barad Versus
Everyone podcast. Thank you guys so much for tuning in.
Please do make sure if you're subscribed. If you aren't yet,
(27:55):
do hit that like button before you go. So send
in your voicemails with your woe car stories, your personal
life scenarios you want my advice on. For my voicemail
Friday episodes, check out the merch items linked in the description. Also,
subscribe to my second channel. I'm going to be posting
some bonus videos reacting to stuff with my mom. You
guys might get a kick out of that, so make
(28:16):
sure you are subscribed to my bonus channel linked in
the description, and with that, we'll talk again real soon
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