Assuring a small crowd that she does, in fact, have some gay friends, Tiffany Trump took a chaotically hands-on role in her father’s reelection campaign this week by hosting a Trump Pride event in Florida. On Monday night, the youngest Trump daughter spoke at a (very maskless) rally at the Westshore Grand Hotel where she confirmed that the president does support "gays, lesbians, the LGBTQIA+ community, okay!”
“I know what my father believes in,” Trump said before saying something her father definitely doesn’t believe in. “Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBTQIA+ community.” She then began criticizing the “fabricated lies” about her father and her friends for believing them. “I have friends of mine who reached out. They make up stories,” Trump continued. ‘“How could you support your father? We know you. We know your best friends are gay.’” Okay!
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But before doubling down on the president's never-before-seen support of LGBTQ+ people, Trump emerged onto the stage dancing to the Black Eyed Peas' 2009 bop "I Gotta Feeling," giving off extreme crazy aunt energy. Later on in her speech, she whipped up excitement in the audience, before motioning to her mom, Marla Maples, in the front row who stood up and excitedly smiled and waved. And wouldn’t you believe it: Marla also has LGBTQ+ friends! Then, suddenly, Trump’s tone quickly shifted when she brought up her mom's friend passing of AIDS (we cannot make this stuff up).
The daughter he knows nothing about representing a community he knows nothing about 💛 pic.twitter.com/uLkl5RhbO4
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) October 20, 2020
absolutely nothing will prepare you for the tone shift in this video. i think my neck just broke pic.twitter.com/UQ9eoLigkx
— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 20, 2020
Trump — and the event’s website — maintained the same message throughout: the president has always supported the LGBTQ+ community. Because, apparently, banning transgender people from serving in the military, making it possible for LGBTQ people to be discriminated against when seeking medical care, appointing circuit court judges with known anti-LGBTQ bias, and attempting to change the legal definition of gender are the actions of allyship, I guess.
“President Donald J. Trump is the only President to openly support the LGBT community since his first day in office,” the event website reads. “President Trump stands in solidarity with LGBT citizens by supporting and enacting policies and initiatives that protect the wellbeing and prosperity of all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans.”
But advocates immediately called out the baseless claims made throughout the event. In a statement from Michele Rayner, civil rights attorney and the first Black queer woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives, published in the South Florida Gay News, she said, “Donald Trump is delusional if he thinks he can spend three years attacking our rights and then turn around and ask for our vote. Waving a rainbow flag for an afternoon means nothing after his administration appointed dozens of anti-LGBTQ judges to federal courts, codified discrimination against transgender Americans, and are fighting to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and its protections for our community.”
While it's great that Tiffany Trump used her rally moment to prop up LGBTQ+ rights, and remind us all that she has gay friends, no one really believes the Trump administration is in any way supportive of LGBTQ+ rights. This was some kind of parody, right? No? Okay.