The latest Republican performative outrage
We’ve seen this kind of thing before from Republicans, of course. When, along with taking away everyone’s guns, Barack Obama allegedly was coming for their right to say “merry Christmas” as well. The (literally) dozens of videos of the former President wishing Americans a “merry Christmas” barely slowed them down. And those trigger-happy ammosexuals still have their guns, too.
Now Republican National Committee Chairwoman and former Trump spear-carrier Ronna McDaniel is claiming that Democrats are trying to take away a woman’s right to call herself “mom.” “I am not a ‘birthing person,’” McDaniel declared with all the counterfeit indignation she could muster, “I am a mother, and it’s the most important job I will ever have.”
Of course, what McDaniel is really doing is taking a sideways swipe at transgender men or non-binary persons. When it’s applied at all the term “birthing person” normally refers to a transgender man or non-binary person. In any case there is in fact no widespread adoption of the term among Democrats, and even if there were, there’s no movement to take away anyone’s right to say “mom.” That’s just more fiction, created by Republicans as part of their effort to teach stupid people how to be mad at Democrats.
Now Fox News is parroting this nonsense as well, of course. “Seriously, this is, for Democrats, the new phrase they want you to use… you’re not a mother. Nope! Done! You’re a birthing person,” Fox News host Pete Hegseth said. Hegseth then played a clip from a congressional hearing where the term “birthing people” was used twice. At the same time, the term “mothers” was used separately. He missed the perfect opportunity to show the Patterson–Gimlin film “proving” the existence of Bigfoot while he was at it.
Just for the record, no one is trying to stop anyone from saying “mom.” That’s ridiculous on its face. But when you have no platform or policy you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for something to get outraged about. And what could be more viscerally affecting, particularly to a southern boy or girl, than to deprive them of their right to say “mom” or “momma”? Them’s fightin’ words, and cynical manipulators like McDaniels know this with perfect certainty.
So my advice to y’all out there in Palmer readership land is, next time a dumb Republican comes up to you, red in the face and shaking with outrage, screaming that you want to take away their right to say “mom,” just tell them that’s only the beginning. We also want to take away the Easter Bunny, apple pie, the girl you left behind and American sunsets. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, and especially all you moms out there, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.