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Friday, March 07, 2025

Donald Trump and the transgender mice

There are a lot of things to despair of in Donald Trump's first month of office, but his gaffes barely register in the hierarcchy of concerns about his policies, his conduct and the consequences of his actions. Or do they? 

Those howlers speak not only to his state of mind, but also to his cognitive ability, his intelligence and his focus, all key attributes that should be present in a leader wielding such power and influence.

The latest gaffe, and one that is already searing the interweb with memes, is the reference in the Presidents address to the joint session of Congress to transgender mice. 

As the Indy100 points out, this was Trump’s first joint address since taking office in January and went on for more than an hour and 40 minutes, during which he praised his own stance on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives, tax cuts and trade tariffs.

Those watching it though were fascinated at the moment that saw the president claim the Biden administration had spent $8 million dollars to make “mice transgender”:

The comment drew laughs from those in the audience, as well as online, as people believed Trump appeared to be confusing it with “transgenic mice”.

Making mice transgenic is a revolutionary process by which scientists add human cells to mice to enable them to more accurately study the effect of disease on human tissues.

This includes studies that use transgenic mice to understand more about the role of hormones in illnesses such as breast cancer and asthma.

The moment quickly became a meme online.

“Mice after receiving gender affirming surgery” someone wrote.

Another baffled viewer said: “He just said ‘transgender mice’ yeah we’re not making it out.”

Following the speech, an official White House webpage attempted to claim that Trump definitely did mean to say “transgender”. They posted a list of studies they say were “to perform transgender experiments on mice”.

One study was titled: “Gonadal hormones as mediators of sex and gender influences in asthma.”

The White House claimed: “The Fake News losers at CNN immediately tried to fact check it, but President Trump was right (as usual).”

It wouldn’t be the first time Trump has slipped up on facts, after he wrongly claimed the European Union was set up to “screw the United States”. Trump also falsely said that Spain was a country in the BRICS bloc of 10 developing economies.

It wouldn't be the first time somebody had misspoke during a big speech of course, so why did the official White House webpage try to justify the error? 

This episode is just one of many that raises doubts as to whether Trump is fit for office, but also about the people he is surrounding himself with and their agenda. This really is car crash politics.

Comments:
Trump is not suitable for office and has surrounded himself with loyalists. They may know the truth but to stay in Trumps good books they lie. Grans-gendic mice publicity says it was to go one step towards bringing back the Mastodon. NO not the internet sight! but the ancestor!? of the Elephant A PR stunt for money I would guess .However it will have some use for research into health issues in time

PS I -- LIKE SUGAR MICE, YUM YUM! (rots my teeth)
 
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