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Grooming grooming groom Grooming groomer evolved rewind grooming grooming groomers grooming groomers groomed groombrumes grooming groom ooh Pro pedophile media fully backs this pro grooming position That compilation put together by media matters demonstrates very clearly that the Republican Party and their propagandists have a new favorite word It's grooming now the reason why they're all saying the same thing at the same time is because this is how they're selling selling their new anti-gay legislation to people. They think that the way to sell people on this new version of don't ask, don't tell, albeit for teachers, is to convince people that if we don't hide the existence of LGBTQ plus people from children, then they might see that gay people exist or trans people exist and want to be gay or trans themselves because it definitely works that way. So you have to hide this away from kids so as to not groom them into said lifestyle. Now you might think that that sounds preposterous and you might know that that's not the way that human sexuality and gender identity works. The problem is that this is working as absurd as them repeating groomer over and over again may sound to reasonable people. It's actually working. They've proven time and again that all you have to do to sell the public on some regressive policy is to repeat it again and again and again and again. And eventually what was once questionable and seemingly absurd becomes a fact to people. So the question is, what is the Democratic Party doing to counter this? What message are they using to push back against the revival of the gaze or pedophile myth essentially? And what they're doing effectively is nothing. And I wish that I were getting about that. But Democrats are just choosing to ignore this. That's the strategy that they think is going to be sufficient to combat this new wave of homophobia that we're seeing from the GOP. As Vice News reports, I see polling that shows that that outrageous characterization is landing with some folks, California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell told Vice News. But you also don't really want to give oxygen to the land of misfit toys, which is where this is coming from. New York Democratic Representative Hakim Jeffries, a member of the House Democratic Leadership, said the best thing Democrats can do is ignore the attack and focus on the pocketbook issues that polls show Americans care about the most. And the big reason Democrats are in a bleak position heading into this fall's midterm elections. I don't even really pay attention to anything she says because she has nothing rational to say. It seems to me to be a ridiculous allegation, Jeffries told Vice News when asked about Marjorie Green's remarks. We're focused right now on getting things done for everyday Americans, lowering costs, addressing gas prices, and inflation. They can continue to pedal lies and conspiracy theories, he said. Ohio Democratic Representative Tim Ryan, the front-runner to be his party senate nominee in the GOP-leaning state, said Democrats must call it out when Republicans call them anti-cop socialists. But pedophiles? Quote, I just think it's so bizarre. I think most people are going to think, like, what are you talking about? It's not what 80% of Ohioans are even thinking about, Ryan said. They're thinking about their job, their wages, and they're going to vote for the candidate who's going to fight for them. So that's the response from the Democratic Party, the one party who claims that if you elect them, they'll fight for LGBTQ plus people. Their strategy? Just ignore it because you don't want to give it any oxygen. Except the GOP and their propagandists are all screeching at the top of their lungs right now about how gay people and trans people are groomers and pedophiles. So you can't ignore this. To ignore this is to give them a victory. You have to push back and fight for LGBTQ plus people because this is working, unfortunately, like them saying, oh, well, we don't want to give any air to what they're saying is demonstrably a failure of a strategy and how Kim Jeffries in House leadership saying, oh, well, you know, we're focusing on, you know, the pocketbook issues. No, you're not. What have you passed? What are you doing? What have you done to help Americans? You didn't pass Build Back Better. So you're not focusing on economic issues. And even if you were, that doesn't mean that you can't also address this issue because guess what, even if you were to address pocketbook issues, kitchen table issues, the GOP is still going to do this. In fact, I'd argue that the better you are economically, the more that you deliver to the American people, the louder that the GOP would screech about these types of issues to distract voters from the real issues. But what they're doing, like this groomer talk is literally working. It is landing with voters. It is convincing people. So as this Wall Street Journal opinion piece points out, the law is actually popular and not just among Republicans. The public opinion strategies poll referenced by that article shows that 61 percent of voters support Florida's homophobic. Don't say gay law, they support it in 2022. And this includes 55 percent of Democratic voters, 53 percent of Biden voters and 61 percent of people who know someone from the LGBTQ community. So let me put this into context for you. The GOP has revived the gays are pedophiles myth. And guess what? They're convincing Democratic Party voters. They're even convincing people who know LGBTQ plus people. And Democrats strategy is to just do nothing. Not even respond to it minimally. What a catastrophic failure of leadership from the Democratic Party. Now, a morning consult poll isn't as charitable to this law as that previous poll, but it's still found lots of support for the core tenants of Florida's don't say gay law. And because the law is so popular, because Ron DeSantis basically single handedly repopularized explicit homophobia, now more than a dozen states have introduced their own versions of don't say gay. But the Democratic Party is saying, no, all you have to do is just ignore the Republicans as they call gay and trans people groomers and pedophiles. That's not working. Is this a joke? What are you doing? What are you doing to not respond is to literally hand them a victory? You know, there's a reason why Republicans they'll take the dumbest talking point and it's so dumb. You think in theory, Americans are smart enough to not fall for that, right? But it works every fucking time. Think back to the ACA debate when Republicans were talking about death panels. Republicans said that to almost no pushback from the Democratic Party and Americans believed it last year with critical race theory. Like you got how many Americans to believe that teachers are basically telling students who are white that they're oppressors and they're victimizing students. That's not what's happening. Like critical race theory is a post grad legal philosophy that's not being taught widely in elementary schools. But yet Republicans, they all said the same thing and they repeated it again and again and again and it worked. And Democrats responded by, I don't know, farting in the wind. You can't just not respond to these things. Now, not responding, not pushing back against this hateful rhetoric is one thing. But the Democratic Party, they still are in control of the White House, the Senate and the House. So it's not just that the GOP, rhetorically speaking, is trying to repopularize homophobia and transphobia and being successful at it. They're also introducing legislation that is harmful to LGBTQ plus people. There's literally been hundreds of pieces of anti LGBTQ plus legislation introduced in 31 states across the country, disproportionately targeting trans people, by the way, and Democrats who have control of the White House and both branches of Congress haven't introduced their own federal legislation to counter all of these anti LGBTQ plus laws that we're seeing at the state level. So Republican controlled states are now passing bans on gender affirming care for trans youth, which is medically necessary, which saves lives. And do we see any momentum to address this federally? Do we see any any momentum from Democrats in Congress to stop these bans against trans high school athletes? Do we see any momentum to counter the new version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but for teachers to counter this Don't Say Gable? I mean, the Democratic Party hasn't even passed the Equality Act, which just says you can't discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. And now they're not even going to fight rhetorically, which is an easy battle. Is it laziness? Is it apathy? What exactly is it? I don't know what it is, but here's what I do know. The Democratic Party unquestionably has failed the LGBTQ plus community. That's not to say that all Democrats are bad. There are some members of the House and the Senate who are actually good allies. But at large, the party nationally speaking, they lack discipline. They lack the courage to even push back a little bit against all of these anti LGBTQ plus laws. They're not even pushing back against the Don't Say Gay and grooming bullshit. They're just saying, oh, well, it's Marjorie Green saying it. So nobody's going to take her seriously, except they are. Americans are going to take them seriously. Americans are fucking stupid, so you have to lay it out for them in very clear terms and say, no, grooming is not actually happening. This isn't a real issue. And simply telling kids that maybe one of their classmates has two mommies isn't going to indoctrinate them into a gay or lesbian or trans lifestyle. That's not the way that works. And even if it did work that way, the only reason why you'd be against that is because you think that being gay or trans is inherently bad. When it's not, that's a bigoted position. But Democrats can't even do the bare fucking minimum. It's just it's truly demoralizing to see this. And, you know, if you're dissatisfied with the Democrats and feel as if they're not good enough allies, well, congratulations, you have no one else to support. There's no viable third party to support for to vote for. So the Democratic Party is literally the only option for LGBTQ plus people. And they basically just said, you know what? We're not going to do jack fucking shit. You're on your own. This whole propaganda machine that the GOP has, we're not even going to try to push back. We're just going to ignore it because, you know, you don't want to give any air to these types of rumors and smears. Yeah, that ship has sailed and you all essentially are complicit because they knew this was going to happen. They saw the popularity of Don't Say Gay. And like every other issue, you know, Republicans have monopolized political discourse and they've taken control of the narrative. This is the fault of the Democratic Party. There's never an issue or, you know, some topic where Republicans are so hysterical that, you know, Americans are going to think, oh, well, that's just that's a little bit unreasonable. No, they're always going to fall for it because repetition is key. That's what the Republican Party has learned. So no matter how absurd a statement you make, if everyone says it all at the same time and they repeat it again and again and again, Americans will fall for it. The fact that Democrats have not learned this by now is just criminal.