The program announced a "fireside chat" with Donald Trump. But there was no fire on Friday, August 30, in a grand Washington hotel, despite the enthusiasm of the audience, which had been won over by the Republican candidate in the November 5 US presidential election. The audience was made up of delegates from the conservative organization Moms for Liberty, which claims to defend parental rights against their supposed indoctrination by public schools.

During this exchange, led by one of the organization's founders, Tiffany Justice, who redoubled her efforts, Trump, visibly weary, multiplied his outrageous comments. Kamala Harris? "A defective person" and "a total Marxist." The 13 American soldiers killed in an attack in Kabul during the withdrawal from Afghanistan? "Caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden." Migrants? "They're poisoning the blood of our country."

But these were distractions. Trump revisited his background with emphasis, repeated his classic anecdotes and did a long imitation of billionaire Elon Musk. On the other hand, he didn't talk about what mattered most to Moms for Liberty: Family values, God, "wokeism" and teachers who would ruin their children. All he did was mention the transgender issue – the organization's great obsession. "The transgender thing is incredible," he said. "You kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s going to happen with your child." Claiming that Republicans form "the party of common sense," Trump said he was "for parental rights all the way." But he forgot to mention his main proposal, the abolition of the Department of Education.

The former president has never been comfortable with these issues, beyond his locker room jibes about women's sports being ruined by the inclusion of men. He prefers to talk about migration, crime or inflation. During the primaries, he abandoned talk of the culture war against "wokeism" to Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. But today, in this electric presidential campaign, two visions of the family are colliding, in a way that is unfavorable to Trump, who has been struggling in recent days.

The first is that of the Democratic candidate, Harris, and her running mate, Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. It is based on the right to difference and freedom, respect for private life, without local or federal government claiming to govern women's bodies. The second vision is carried less by Trump than by his vice presidency candidate, JD Vance. It's a sepia-toned take on the American family, advocating a traditional core of one man and one woman, whose purpose – the only possible fulfillment – requires having children.

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