Spicer press conference. Which bathroom you use is not

Posted: Feb 24, 2017

How much absurdity have we signed on for when there’s not just one question about bathroom use at a White House press briefing, but the bathroom questions go on and on and on . . . even though they’re basically all the same question and they keep getting the same answer? Sound familiar? Google “Trump presser Russia.” As they so often do, the media either totally miss the point or understand it perfectly well and still refuse to let the issue go. They seem to think they’ve got Trump because he once said “Caitlyn” Jenner could use whatever bathroom “she” wanted at Trump Tower. That, Spicer calmly and repeatedly tries to explain, is exactly the point. Trump Tower is a private property owned by Donald Trump, and he can make whatever rule he wants there. It is not a matter the federal government needs to be dictating to everyone. Seems simple enough to you and me, but . . . Spicer’s strongest point here may be when he points out how the Obama Administration completely disregarded legally established process when it issued this “guidance” on bathroom use. There was no opportunity for public comment, for example, and Spicer has the media dead to rights when he points out they would have had a conniption fit if a Republican president did that in the issuance of a policy they did not like. Remember, as well, there was never federal legislation passed on this matter. It was strictly an executive order that added a new requirement to states and other units of government receiving federal aid: Adopt Obama’s bathroom policies or else. This is a sneaky way Democrats like to impose their will by fiat on the rest of the country. Maybe they can’t get a matter through Congress, but someone somewhere is depending on federal money. Make your little cause a condition for them to receive it, and watch how quickly they’ll get in line. When the Texas court struck down the guidance, Obama demurred on complying, and he was treated as a hero. Now the media are all over Trump for following the law (just as he’s doing on the immigration order, by the way), which is kind of a strange criticism coming from people who are terrified the new president is going to be a seperation-of-powers-busting dictator. As so often happens, the press misses the point when a Republican says something is a matter for the states to decide. They keep coming at him with lurid tales of terrified “transgender youth,” and they can’t imagine that in light of such stories there could be any possible response besides a sweeping federal mandate. Spicer simply tells them, look, talk to the states. There are matters for Washington and matters for the states, and this is one of the latter. You have to remember, for liberal, politics is heroic. They imagine this litany of civil rights threats (as long as it’s not againt Christians) and envision brave Washington heroes swooping in and saving the day for everyone. It’s hard for them to understand or accept that some things are not the job of Washington because that’s how our system of government was set up. Either that or they know that perfectly well and they just don’t care because they think this issue is an effective hammer with which to pummel Trump. One of those ;