You know what’s super relevant to LGBT voters? Random partisan attacks on the secretary of education. Or something.
At least, that was Sen. Cory Booker’s tactic at Thursday night’s CNN LGBT issues town hall, sponsored by the left-wing activist group the Human Rights Campaign. When asked about what his administration would do to help LGBT people, Booker meandered and threw around buzzwords but ultimately landed on attacking Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Booker started hand-waving and saying that he would appoint someone to head the Department of Education who would actually support LGBT students.
Blah blah blah.
First off, why is a Democratic Party presidential candidate, of all possible responses, attacking Betsy DeVos 10 minutes into an LGBT debate? Of all the things Booker could have gone to, this one is particularly shallow and transparently partisan.
Also, the idea that DeVos is some viciously anti-LGBT bigot is wrong. Yes, DeVos revoked, at Trump’s instruction, a regulation mandating that public schools accommodate transgender bathroom preferences. But she fought to include a provision to combat anti-trans bullying, too.
Booker’s attempt to beat up on DeVos is particularly pathetic due to his rank hypocrisy. Booker actually has a long association with DeVos, so much so that the left-wing outlet The New Republic dubbed him her “foot soldier.” He even served with her on the board of the pro-school choice advocacy group American Federation for Children for years. They were good friends, and Booker was more than happy to work with the supposed anti-gay villain when it suited him, just not now that he’s running for president, apparently.
This is classic Cory Booker. It’s partisan hackery at its worst, and hopefully town hall viewers and primary voters will see right through the senator’s act and ask themselves why he doesn’t actually want to spend his time addressing real issues.
