One of the most brazen – craven even – ploys by Republicans in the wake of the Orlando massacre has been to suggest, incredibly, that they would be better for the LGBT community than Democrats.
At a rally Thursday, Donald Trump said “LGBT is starting to like Donald Trump very much lately, I will tell you, starting to like Donald Trump very, very much lately.” He mentioned the Clinton Foundation had taken money from countries where “they kill gays,” and continued:
“So you tell me who’s better for the gay community and who’s better for women than Donald Trump?”
As Tierney Sneed of Talking Points Memo put it last week:
“The same Republicans who have argued that gay couples should not be allowed to marry, that LGBT Americans don’t need federal anti-discrimination protections and that trans people should not use the bathroom that matches their identity are now claiming that they – not Democrats – are the party on the LGBT community’s side.”