Last month, the National Security Council released its Counterterrorism Strategy, the first since Trump took office. The document details which threats the government wants to prioritize.
Of note is how it singled out groups which are “radically pro-transgender” as a potential terrorist threat. They are listed in the same sentence as groups which are “anti-American” and “anarchist”, all lumped into the category of left-wing extremists.
While this document shows the anti-trans prejudice of its creators, and signals what threats they view as the most pressing, the document is not telling trans people that the government will “find you and [sic] kill you”, as one viral fake screenshot alleged.
The Trump Administration’s Counterterrorism strategy is not a threat to ordinary trans people, nor is it a threat to those who are politically active in support of trans rights, according to all publicly available evidence. It isn't even a policy document in the typical sense of the word.
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This is a strategy in the broadest sense of the word, and does not contain any details about how the suspect groups in question are even to be combated, only that they should be combated. This is a far cry from saying the government will find you and kill you if you fall into this group.
The Counterterrorism Strategy pertains to groups and activities deemed to be terrorists by the United States government. While politicians and political appointees might use the word terrorism to refer to people they don’t like, the legal system has a set definition that cases are judged against.
The law governing the charge of terrorism defines it (when done on US soil) as violence done “(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping”.
This definition applies to a very narrow group of people, nearly all of whose actions under this act would still otherwise be illegal. While that does include people doing violent direct action in support of trans rights, the Counterterrorism Strategy does not make their actions any more illegal than they otherwise would be. The government is simply signaling that such groups will be under more scrutiny.
If this is to have any meaningful effect on ordinary people, or anyone not engaged in political violence, then the government would either have to change the legal definition of terrorism, or ignore the law on this matter.
Changing the legal definition would be the most noticeable option. If the law were changed to reflect their definition of who the administration says is “radically pro-transgender”, that would be a noticeable escalation. That would allow the infrastructure built to combat terrorism to be deployed against people fighting for trans rights.
There is no publicly available evidence of this being done.
Another option would be to violate the law as written to go after trans people. If this resulted in anyone being detained, arrested, or prosecuted, this would come to light relatively quickly, meaning that it couldn’t stay secret for long.
Reporter Ken Klippenstein thinks this Counterterrorism Strategy is written to do exactly that.
He has been alleging for almost a year that the FBI is preparing a campaign to suppress trans people and their supporters, and claims that this document is part of a plan to put that plan into action.
His conclusion is based on two confidential sources at the FBI claiming that “The Trump administration is preparing to designate transgender people as “violent extremists””. Seeing as these sources are not public, I cannot comment on this claim.
Based on the evidence available to the public, ordinary trans people should not take this document to be a threat to them, even if they themselves are activists. There are countless real threats to be taken seriously, but this is not one of them.
This document reflects the bigotry of those who made it, but it does not reflect a viable plan to put that bigotry into policy.
When you see something sensational, ask what the source behind it is, and whether that source can be trusted.
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