All she will commit to, weakly, is blocking those under 18 from surgeries. She will not say she would block those under 18 from being prescribed irreversible, sterilizing hormone blockers.
Haley was asked a very direct question by a caller who identified himself as "John" about men becoming women. She did not, however, offer a direct answer. Instead, Haley said people over the age of 18 "can live any way they want."
The question and fake answer:
HOST: And with that, let's go to our last question, John. John, you're live from Dubuque.
JOHN: Hi, Ambassador.
HALEY: Hi, John.
JOHN: A lot of the stuff that Trump does, you know, and says, really bothers me, and I'm concerned about it. You know, one thing I saw him do was, he said that, uh, he had trouble answering the question, could a man become a woman? And I'm just wondering what, what your response to that question is?
HALEY: Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, let's look at the facts. Again, I'm sorry that we didn't make it to Dubuque, and, and I hate that we're not there but I appreciate you coming on here.
Look, I mean, I have said, I want to start with Trump and then get to the question. You know, this is a hard truth on my part. I believe Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. And everybody on this call knows that. And we can't be a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it. And I think a lot of that is how he communicates and what happens. It just sets us all in disarray, and we can't afford a President Kamala Harris.
Now, can a man become a woman. There's been a lot that's been talked about when it comes to all of these roles and all of these issues. I strongly believe that we should not allow any gender change surgeries to anyone before the age of 18. Period.
She's trying to sound tough here, while doing the absolute minimum.
We-- kids now can't get a tattoo until they're 18. We shouldn't have them permanently change their body until they're 18. And that includes puberty blockers, that includes any sort of hormones that would do that.
After the age of 18, we want to make sure people can live any way they want to live. I don't think government needs to be in control of anybody's life. You go live the way you want to live, you should be free to live the way you want to live, and every-- government and everybody else should stay out of your way.
But prior to 18, it is an important time, especially when you're going through your teenage years that can be confusing. I don't think we should ever in any way have any sort of permanent changes. But after 18, I'm not going to say anything. I think that, you know, you always have to believe in freedom and allowing people to live the life the way they want to live, and if that's how they choose then, you know, I don't think government should have any say in that.
Thank you for that question.
MegynKelly.com comments:
At no point did Haley actually address the question of biological males 'transitioning' to female and, presumably, the other queries that arise from that, including trans athletes' competition in women's sports, the use of women's locker rooms, etc.
In fairness, Nikki Haley's answer to this question is just Trump's rope-a-dope answer to this question, and people pretend that he's a warrior on the issue, so why not Nikki too?
The former South Carolina governor is not the first 2024 Republican candidate to make headlines for their position on this topic. Back in September, Megyn sought clarity from former President Donald Trump on where he stands on biological men in women's spaces and how he feels about gender reassignment hormones and surgeries for minors.
She also asked him directly: "Can a man become a woman?"
After a pause and chuckle, Trump offered this: "In my opinion, you have a man, you have a woman. I think part of it is birth. Can the man give birth? No, although they'll come up with some answer to that also someday. I heard just the other day, they have a way that now the man can give birth. No, I would say, I'll continue my stance on that."
Men will soon be able to give birth, Trump says, and that will settle the issue. I mean, if they can, hypoethetically, give birth, then they're women and should be allowed to compete in women's events and use women's bathrooms.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked the same question by Glenn Beck during a September sit down. "No, how ridiculous that we're even asking that question," he responded. "And you know, sometimes people will knock me because they'll say that he's talking about woke and you shouldn't worry about-- like, like people say, 'Who cares about it, right?' Look, society needs to be grounded in truth and if you're telling me a man can get pregnant and you're telling me a man can become a woman, that is not true and I'm not going to accept that as true. I'm not going to be complicit in a lie."
Trump has always been very, very liberal on this issue. He announced his leftwing take on the issue in 2016 stating that the state government of North Carolina should not block North Carolina cities and towns from mandating genderless bathrooms, stating that people should use "the bathroom they feel is appropriate." And he has not evolved since the first liberal take.
Transgender people should be able to use whatever bathroom they want, Donald Trump said Thursday.
"Oh, I had a feeling that question was going to come up, I will tell you. North Carolina did something that was very strong. And they're paying a big price. There's a lot of problems," the Republican presidential candidate said during a town hall event on NBC's "Today."
Note there he also implicitly endorses the leftwing boycott of the state by Hollywood and liberal sports leagues. He seems to have continued this "bow to leftwing corporations" line with his refusal to endorse the Bud Light boycott, and his attacks against Noted Gobalist Corporatist Ron DeSanctimonious for standing up to Trump's big donor, Disney.
Referring to comments from an unnamed commentator who on Wednesday said North Carolina should "leave it the way it is right now," Trump said he agreed.
"Leave it the way it is. North Carolina, what they're going through with all the business that's leaving, all of the strife -- and this is on both sides. Leave it the way it is," he said, referring to companies that have canceled plans to move or expand businesses in the state as a result of the law, which bans transgender individuals from using a bathroom that does not match their gender at birth.
"There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go. They use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate," Trump said. "There has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic -- I mean, the economic punishment that they're taking."
The only "problem" with mandating that people use the bathrooms of their real sex is the "strife and economic... punishment" that the left uses to destroy conservative states and voters who dissent. Otherwise, "so little trouble"!
Anyone who thinks that the 71-year-old lifetime Hollywood liberal Trump is going to suddenly "evolve" on this issue is coping very hard.