Fox News host Tucker Carlson stoked anti-trans fears in the wake of Monday's Nashville school shooting, warning of what he described as the rising threat of "trans terrorism."
Carlson cited the deadly shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school, to assert a broad and unfounded claim that trans people are waging a war against Christians.
"Why are some trans people so angry, and why do they seem to be mad specifically at traditional Christians?" Carlson asked.
Carlson attempted to justify his claim by citing several examples of acts of violence committed by gender non-conforming individuals. He singled out a suspect in a plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Nicholas Roske, as well as Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspected perpetrator of a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado whose attorneys have stated is non-binary.
"And now this," Carlson said. "And there could be more."
The transgender movement "is the mirror image of Christianity, and therefore its natural enemy," Carlson claimed.
"In Christianity, the price of admission is admitting [that] you're not God," he continued. The transgender movement, Carlson said, "takes the opposite view."
"'We can change the identity we were born with': Christians can never agree with this statement because these are powers they believe God alone possesses. That … failure to acknowledge a trans person's dominion over nature incites and enrages some in the trans community — people who believe they're God can't stand to be reminded that they are not."
Carlson predicted a growing battle between the transgender movement and Christians in the coming years.
"Christianity and transgender orthodoxy are wholly incompatible theologies. They can never be reconciled. They are on a collision course with each other. One side is likely to draw blood before the other side," he said. "That's what we concluded last week. Yesterday morning, tragically, our fears were confirmed."
Tucker Carlson: The trans movement is targeting Christians, including with violence. Most Christian leaders in this country don't want to admit that. Admitting it might force them to take deeply unfashionable positions. pic.twitter.com/PNzNBdgkoU
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) March 29, 2023
Carlson wasn't the only Republican to deflect from rising gun violence by casting blame on transgender people.
"Everyone can stop blaming guns now," tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., suggesting testosterone hormones and other medications for mental illness contributed to the Nashville suspect's rampage.
How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 27, 2023
Everyone can stop blaming guns now.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, shared similarly transphobic remarks on Twitter, arguing that "if early reports are accurate that a trans shooter targeted a Christian school, there needs to be a lot of soul searching on the extreme left. Giving in to these ideas isn't compassion, it's dangerous."
We're still learning about the horrific shooting in Nashville. But if early reports are accurate that a trans shooter targeted a Christian school, there needs to be a lot of soul searching on the extreme left. Giving in to these ideas isn't compassion, it's dangerous.
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) March 27, 2023
The New York Times reported that hate crimes rose twelve percent in 2021, according to F.B.I. data. Attacks spurred by a person's sexual orientation comprised 16 percent of crimes reported.
