Live from Music Row, Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed The Epoch Times editor Nanette Holt to the newsmaker line to discuss transgender trends and Marxist agenda by the Democratic Party.
Leahy: We welcome to our newsmaker line, a new friend Nanette Holt, an editor who oversees a team of Epoch Times reporters focused on family issues and Florida politics. And we’re going to talk about the transgender craziness out there. Good morning, Nanette.
Holt: Yes, good morning. Good morning to you.
Leahy: On our program every Thursday, your colleague at The Epoch Times, my very good friend Roger Simon, who I’ve known for many years joins us as well. We love The Epoch Times and you guys did a great job here sponsoring the debate in the GOP primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. So thanks so much for that and your great work. Now tell us your views on this explosion of transgender craziness. What is really driving this, and why is every Democrat in favor of it?
Holt: I can’t explain the hearts of people. I wish I could. But I will tell you what seems to be driving this troubling, exploding, burgeoning trend, and that is money. We really did some deep digging, and we were pretty shocked when we realized that the transgender industry right now represents $1.9 billion a year just on the surgeries.
That’s not including all the implements that are involved in cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and other things. That’s just the surgeries to try to attempt this change of gender. And market research shows that it is supposed to surge over the next few years to a $4.9 billion industry. There are a lot of people with a lot of reasons who want to see this perpetuated.
Leahy: This is just pure evil in my mind to ruin children and mutilate their genitals when they’re kids and to give them all these very negative puberty blockers that are going to ruin them for life. Where did this evil come and why is every single Democrat in favor of ruining a child?
Holt: You make an interesting point. There does seem to be quite a dividing line between Republicans and Democrats. One of my reporters on our team, Jackson Elliot, did this amazing graphic that you can see if you look up his work on our Epoch Times website, and he made it very easy to look at all the states and the Republican-governed states that are moving to restrict or ban gender transition treatment for children.
And the Democrat-led states are not only trying to preserve that as something that folks can do if they choose to push their children in that direction, but it actually is making sanctuary states.
So if children say, run away to these states to get away from their parents who don’t affirm this desire to try to live as the other sex, then these states are vowing to protect, and I say that in quotes, “protect” these children from their parents who don’t affirm and to make that a sanctuary.
And these states are vowing to ignore court orders from other states saying they want these children brought back to their parents. We want them brought back to our state where this has been banned. They say, no, we are going to be a sanctuary and hands off these kids.
And I thought it was really interesting that President Biden said yesterday, we can’t think of them as your children, the parents’ children, these children belong to our nation. And I thought, wow, that’s really interesting.
Leahy: Did he actually say that?
Holt: Let me look for the exact quote.
Leahy: Whoa. If you can find it, that’d be great. Here’s what’s troubling to me. This seems to be an organized plan by the Democrat, progressive, Marxist party if you will, to destroy the American family. That’s my feeling about it. Why do they want to do that, and how effective do you think it’s gonna be?
Holt: I think you’re spot on. It’s Marxism, and it’s in the playbook. It’s not been a secret. This is all pushed to Marxism. When you eliminate the family, then you put the focus on the government. People start to see government as the glue that holds everything together, not the family.
And if you can eliminate children from wanting to have a family of their own and produce children, then you really change the whole focus of their lives and their futures. I’m looking for that quote right now. I’m going to find it for you because I was so struck by that. I thought, wow.
Leahy: That is very scary. Tell us a little bit about your thoughts about where does this huge push for transgenderism and the destruction of childhood for children go?
Holt: I think they’re going to keep pushing it as long as it’s big business, transgenderism, all these companies that provide, the medical implements needed, and all these things. Once you’ve undertaken this journey to be transgender, to identify as another sex you are in for a lifetime of medical care that is big business.
There are a lot of people who, are just seeing this as keeping their market growing. They want to keep growing that market. But I’m looking for what the president said about children not belonging to us. I know Town Hall had a bit about it. I’m having trouble finding it.
Leahy: I believe you. We’ll find it. You don’t have to necessarily find it right now, but we’ll find that clip. I noted you’re speaking of President Biden this morning. We played about a minute of the three-minute video. We played the audio of Biden announcing his reelection campaign.
It was slickly produced, reminiscent of 1984, where Joe Biden is playing the role of Big Brother. If you’ve not seen it yet, the first word that Joe Biden said in his reelection campaign was, talk about Orwellian was freedom. Freedom, personal freedom, which is basically what he wants to destroy.
Holt: Up is down and black is white. I did find the quote here. Here’s the quote from the president. “There’s no such thing as someone else’s child. Our nation’s children are all our children. How scary is that?
Leahy: That is scary. Where did he say that?
Holt: Oh goodness. I’m not prepared for that quiz.
Leahy: That’s alright.
Holt: Sorry.
Leahy: We will find it. We’ve got the quote. He said it yesterday. We’ll track it down. But oh my goodness. This is very clear. That is basically Big Brother (ie. Joe Biden) He’s not the guy. It’s all the managerial Marxists behind him that are propping him up with this. He’s basically saying we want to destroy the American family.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Nanette Holt” by The Epoch Times. Background Photo “Children” by Piron Guillaume.
