TEX-MESS

Facing a tight race for his political future, Ted Cruz is taking the low road: He’s going all-in on appalling anti-transgender ads.

• Texas has a special way of breaking Democrats’ hearts. While the state has grown undeniably more blue over the past few years, Republicans keep squeaking out wins — including the last time MAGA Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) kept his seat by just two points. This year, Cruz has been forced to watch his lead over challenger Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) shrink from six points last July to just over three points a month before Election Day. In response, Cruz is doubling down on a toxic new tactic: scaremongering about right-wingers’ latest pearl-clutching panic du jour, the transgender community.

• “Somehow it’s become controversial to say boys and girls are different,” a narrator in a recent Cruz campaign ad says, warning that there will be “boys in girls’ bathrooms” if Allred wins in November. Another shows an actor, dressed as Allred in a football uniform, decking a female athlete. “Does a teenage girl have any right not to have a fully naked grown man right next to her in the changing room?” Cruz said at a campaign event this week, Semafor reports. Notice the intentional use of “girl” and “fully grown man” to describe kids who are… the same age? Of course, these claims are total bullshit intended to rile up his base. But Cruz clearly sees this issue as a winner for him. He’s poured millions into two such ads recently — including his biggest ad buy so far last month — and just launched a third to play during football games in Dallas and Houston this weekend.

• “Texans will see through these ridiculous lies,” Paige Hutchinson, Allred’s campaign manager, said in a statement to What A Day. “Ted Cruz will say anything to hide from his extreme abortion ban that forces women and girls to carry their rapists’ child and has no exceptions for the mother’s health.”

• As the Human Rights Campaign notes, “attacks on transgender youth generally, and trans athletes specifically, are fueled by discrimination, not facts.” Regardless, anti-trans fear-mongering is becoming mainstream in GOP campaigns this election cycle. Republicans nationwide have poured more than $65 million into anti-trans ads since August, according to a New York Times analysis. Former President Donald Trump has rolled out a number of his own ads in the past month, including two declaring that Vice President Kamala Harris “is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” You can’t make this stuff up.

Debates over the future of trans rights in America are heating up, while people in the community are discriminated against at higher rates.

• Let’s be completely clear: GOP lawmakers haven’t even been able to cite examples of trans girls in local sports when introducing legislation to stop it. Not to mention that trans people make up a tiny fraction of the population (and trans boys don’t seem to concern conservatives). Cisgender people aren’t the ones in danger: Transgender people, especially Black trans girls and women, are much more likely to be victims of violent crime than cisgender people. There are numerous examples of far-right rhetoric leading to violence against the LGBT community in recent years.

• Over 3 percent of high schoolers identify as transgender, while another 2.2 percent question their gender identity, according to a survey conducted last year. Those kids report more frequent instances of bullying and suicidal thoughts. Eleven percent of cisgender girls and 5 percent of cisgender boys said they’d attempted suicide in the past year — while roughly 25 percent of transgender kids have said the same. Similar to past debates over gay marriage legalization, the trans community is receiving an outsized amount of national attention as lawmakers — who aren’t sympathetic to the struggles trans people face everyday — try to control the way they live, and even deny their existence. The Supreme Court is slated to hear a case next year about whether states can ban hormone treatments for minors.

Our friends at the What A Day podcast dive deep on this issue in Texas with Semafor reporter Dave Weigel today. Give it a listen.

‘WAFFLE HOUSE INDEX’

How bad will Hurricane Milton be? Here’s one indicator: The Waffle House Index is blinking bright red.

The shorthand, federally recognized tool for estimating the impact of a natural disaster was dreamed up in 2004 by former Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, who quipped: “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad.”

Unfortunately, this one’s looking bad. Across Tampa, Cape Coral and St. Petersburg — where the Category 4 hurricane is expected to hit hardest — many locations have shut their doors, the Associated Press reports. At this point, hours before Milton is expected to make landfall, the chain’s social media page on X is largely focused on disaster updates. And it’s always a bad sign when even your local waffle joint is telling you to run for cover.

The Waffle House index pays homage to the outlet’s reputation for tenacity in disasters, and for continuing to serve customers even in towns that have lost power and water. Locals in impacted areas can take some reassurance if the local Waffle House is planning to remain open — or head for the hills if it’s closing. Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) thanked the “Waffle House Operations Team” for helping to prepare the public during Hurricane Helene and Milton.

Disaster scenarios are built into Waffle House’s business strategy. The chain’s 1,600 outlets are dotted throughout the south and across the Gulf Coast. That means battling hurricanes has become a core corporate function of this waffle chain in the age of climate change, when warmer water temperatures are making storms stronger. Its locations intentionally aim to be operable when bad weather hits, partially because, in the past, business skyrocketed when restaurants quickly reopened, the AP reports.

Employees are even trained on what they can serve if the power goes out. (For the record: No employees should have to risk their lives in a natural disaster when they already have to serve drunk college kids at 4am. Crooked Media stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Waffle Service.)

NEWS NEWS NEWS

The U.S. isn’t trying to revive a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, CNN reports. The Biden administration, which had initially proposed a 21-day ceasefire, is instead trying to influence Israel’s actions in Lebanon and against Iran.

The Kremlin confirmed that Donald Trump sent Covid tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin, hilariously contradicting the Trump campaign, which tried to deny the transaction. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did, however, deny that Putin had phone calls with Trump after he left office — another claim from Bob Woodward’s upcoming book.

GOP VP candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) said both he and Trump believe in a “peaceful transition of power” no matter who wins in November. (Lol, okay pal. We know how that went last time.) But Trump’s team hasn’t yet participated in the government’s process for that transition to happen, which could threaten the process… again.

Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke with our friends at Pod Save The World about his new book “The Message,” which touches on the issues facing Palestinians and Israelis. “Sometimes people can derive the wrong lessons … from oppression,” he said on the pod. It’s a great listen, highly recommend

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What A Day is proud to partner with Bookshop.org in supporting independent bookstores. Every purchase you make on Bookshop.org directly funds local booksellers. Thanks to fellow readers like you, over $32 million has already been donated to help keep local, independent bookstores serving their communities. Bookshop.org is a certified B-Corp and all deliveries are carbon-neutral.

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