President Donald Trump used YouTube interview Influencer and boxer Jake Paul brought up a familiar anti-LGBTQ+ trope while defending the escalating US military campaign against Iran, despite the regime’s efforts to deport a gay Iranian couple back to the country.
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The nearly 30-minute conversation, posted Friday, bounced between boxing, social media, war, immigration and politics. But one moment in particular stood out.
While discussing the growing regional conflict involving Israel, the U.S. military and Iran, Paul said she was surprised that some U.S. activists were criticizing President Trump’s military actions while expressing support for women’s rights. “I was a little shocked that a lot of activists in America didn’t like it,” Paul said. “On the other hand, they were like, ‘Oh, we support women. We want women to have all these rights.'” On the other hand, you’re liberating Iranian women. ”
President Trump responded by citing LGBTQ+ people in Iran. “We stand with gays, but they throw gays off buildings,” Trump said.
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This line has become a common refrain in conservative political rhetoric. It cites the real-life and brutal persecution of LGBTQ+ people in countries such as Iran, where homosexuality is criminalized and punishable by imprisonment, flogging, and the death penalty, as a way to defend its hawkish foreign policy.
President Trump has defended the U.S. attack on Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure in what his administration called “Operation Epic Fury,” saying it was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But LGBTQ+ advocates say the argument reduces queer people to a political talking point and is used to criticize foreign opponents while sidestepping the debate on LGBTQ+ rights at home.
President Trump’s rhetoric about protecting LGBTQ+ people from an administration that criminalizes their existence stands in stark contrast to his administration’s immigration policies.
Earlier this year, immigration authorities tried to deport two gay Iranian men who were in a relationship to Iran, where same-sex relationships are illegal and punishable by death under Iranian law. According to their lawyer, the couple fled Iran after being arrested by morality police on suspicion of “homosexual acts.” They eventually arrived in the United States seeking asylum, but remained in detention for more than a year, facing deportation proceedings that could lead to them being sent back to Iran.
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Their lawyer, Bekah Wolf, said: defender He said these were “textbook asylum cases” and that people fleeing countries where their identity could lead to torture or execution were the individuals that asylum law should protect.
At one point during the interview, President Trump boasted that the U.S. attack had effectively dismantled Iran’s military. “We wiped out their navy, we wiped out their air force, we wiped out everything that needed to be wiped out,” President Trump said. Independent reporting has confirmed that Iranian military assets were damaged during the conflict, but does not support the president’s claims that the country’s military capabilities have been completely destroyed.
President Trump also repeated his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He compared the election to a match-fixing boxing match and said he was “deceived.”
The president also claimed that Washington, D.C., has become “the safest city in the nation” and that murders have dropped from a few a week to zero. Homicides in the nation’s capital have fallen significantly over the past year, but publicly available police data shows the city still records homicides and is not ranked among the safest cities in the United States. President Trump also claimed, without evidence, that “11,888 murderers” entered the United States and that more than half of them murdered multiple people.
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Paul, who has tens of millions of followers across social media, praised Trump’s appearances on his podcast and YouTube show, which are popular with young viewers. Trump credited his youngest son, Barron, with encouraging him to pursue these appearances. “My son Barron…knew a lot of podcasters and influencers,” Trump said, adding that they were “very important” to his success with young voters.
At one point in the conversation, Mr. Trump summed up the worldview that permeated much of the interview.
“I don’t feel like winning,” he told Paul.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
