US Counterterrorism Strategy targets anti-fascists and people who are “radically pro-transgender”

Transcript

Courtney: Hello everyone and welcome back. My name is Courtney. I’m here with my spouse Royce. Together we are The Ace Couple, and today we’re gonna try to make this episode very short because if we don’t make it very short, I fear it will be very, very long.

Royce: So this episode is keep Courtney from ranting.

Courtney: Essentially, essentially. Um, I think the way we need to frame this to keep me from just going on several hours long, uh, political tirades, as I often, uh, am inclined to do— I think this is going to be less of an actual political breakdown and analysis of the things that are happening and more our personal experience reading these things, receiving these things, and just personal observations and the first handful of things that, uh, come to our mind. Uh, because we are indeed talking about the recently released 2026 United States Counterterrorism Strategy, and it is a joke, and there are so many things we can talk about. Pertaining to how and why it is a joke.

Courtney: But first and foremost, it is very clearly— although it says otherwise, they’re trying to cover their bases— it’s very clearly an attempt to target Trump’s political enemies. And, you know, more realistically, the Heritage Foundation’s political enemies, cuz we’ve definitely been watching them for years and the ways that they have influenced, uh, politics in the current administration, and they definitely got a couple of things from their wish list put in this report as well. But what was my personal, uh, introduction to this report as an American citizen who remembers a time before 9/11 when these counterterrorism reports were not in the current state that they are now.

Courtney: Well, I got, on the day this was released, concerned text messages from my mother with screenshots of excerpts of the counterterrorism strategy that she then highlighted because my mother read excerpts of the counterterrorism strategy and thought, “Oh no, they’re talking about my daughter.”

Courtney: So what were these, uh, excerpts? Well, specifically, the presidential foreword ends with the threat of “We will find you and we will kill you.” This, on its surface, not too terribly weird in the framing of American counterterrorism because we hear things like this or have heard things like this all the time when you think about, uh, figures like Osama bin Laden. But this strategy is identifying who the threats are, who the terrorists are. And this report says that there are 3 major threats in the US right now. The third being violent left-wing extremists, including anarchists and anti-fascists.

Courtney: Expanding on this, it later goes on to say, in addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, Our national counterterrorism activities will prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist. Now this has been on the Heritage Foundation’s wish list for some time, especially following— the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Heritage Foundation specifically requested to the FBI that transgender extremists be designated a domestic terror threat.

Courtney: And I don’t know if you all remember those first hours and days following that assassination, but I sure do. And I remember that immediately following all this, conservative news outlets started speculating that the shooter himself is trans. This was said before we knew anything about who it was. And of course, when speaking to the shooter’s extremely conservative family, they jumped on a quote from, I believe, his mother that just said that he has been getting more pro-gay and pro-trans over time. And then of course they had a field day with, oh, he knows a transgender person, oh, he’s roommates with a transgender person, wait, he was dating a transgender person. All of this is being used to paint, quote, “transgender ideology,” which by the way, that is in itself a red flag if you ever see “transgender ideology” in news, as a legitimate domestic terror threat.

Courtney: And we know that none of it is in good faith because— I honestly stopped watching the endless stream of speculation. I believe the last time I saw news about who the shooter actually was, they were saying that he was in a relationship with a trans woman. And at that point, I decided I frankly did not care because it was very, oh my gosh, someone who did a crime knows a trans person. Got ’em. Which is just not how the law or terrorism or threats work. And because before we knew anything about the guy, they were already saying, “this probably has something to do with those transes.” Like, that was very much the landscape of the media at that time.

Courtney: So they were trying to engineer the problem to point to long before they had any evidence. Not to mention the fact that we do have data in this country that violent right-wing extremists actually cause a lot more deaths in this country than violent left-wing extremists. That’s been true for a very long time.

Royce: That’s been pretty constant. For a very long time. And that was true during all of the immediate post-9/11 panic about Middle Eastern terrorists.

Courtney: Mm. And it’s all just so frustrating and dystopian, ’cause the current administration pardoned— literally over 1,000 insurrectionists? Who literally stormed the capital of our country? Yeah, in fact, I found this figure, based on both government and independent analyses, Right-wing extremist violence has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities, amounting to approximately 75% to 80% of US domestic terrorism deaths since 2001. By contrast, left-wing extremist incidents, including those tied to anarchist or environmental movements, have made up about 10% to 15% of incidents, but less than 5% of fatalities. So not only are there fewer incidences of left-wing extremist incidents, but they overwhelmingly amount to fewer fatalities as well. And yet right-wing extremism didn’t make it into the counter-terrorism strategy, but anti-American, pro-transgender, and anarchist ideologies did.

Courtney: I— you, you might as well describe my ideology. You’re describing me. I’ll, I’ll own it. I am anti-American, American. I am pro-transgender. And I work with peaceful anarchist organizations doing good work every single week. And because I never really know who all is listening to these podcasts, just in case there’s anyone out here listening who doesn’t really know anything about anarchism, if you are someone who has only heard the media use anarchy as synonymous with violence and destruction, I’m gonna say we don’t have time to go into that today, but maybe just do your homework a little bit. Maybe research what it actually means and what anarchists actually believe and the kind of work that they tend to do.

Courtney: And of course, in this counter-terrorism strategy, they frequently cite the persecution of Christians. They even mention the Charlie Kirk shooting as, y’know, coming as a result of extreme transgender ideologies, but it specifically labels it politically motivating killings of Christians and conservatives. And I have seen smaller-scale, local instances of anarchist organizations being targeted by the police, being— removed from peaceful demonstrations, it seems to me that this is going to continue being an escalating issue. We will talk more about that pretty soon, I am sure, ’cause I’ve been biting my tongue on it for a while.

Courtney: But even aside from the alleged domestic terrorism that they’re talking— even the foreign policy here is— such a joke. First of all, they say that, uh, Trump ended the war in Gaza, which— that’s a joke. I’ll, I’ll actually— I’ll put a link to all of the sources we’re citing in the usual places, uh, show notes on our website, or if you’re listening on YouTube, it’ll be in the description box. But from a reporter in Gaza published just a couple of weeks ago, entitled “The War on Gaza Has Not Ended: 100 Days After Trump’s Board of Peace Was Ratified, Nothing Has Improved Here.” It’s all talk and no meaningful humanitarian action. No mention of the genocide that Israel has committed on Gaza.

Courtney: And mentioning the— recently waged war in Iran as— somehow necessary counterterrorism work, despite the fact that 2 months ago a top Trump counter-terrorism official resigned over the war in Iran. In his resignation, he said Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation. He specifically said it is very clear that we are just doing this because Israel wants us to.

Courtney: And obviously every— political administration is going to have its own unique flavor of propaganda. That comes with the territory of being a government and having public policy and a communication strategy. But it— I’ve just seen this get so increasingly dystopian, the amount of brainwashing necessary for someone to read these things and genuinely be in a place where they believe what they are being told. And those people are out there, don’t get me wrong. I fully believe the people writing these things don’t believe a word they’re saying half the time. Except maybe Trump himself. But— it’s so clear that everything coming out in any sort of official capacity is just sycophantic and—

Courtney: Let’s take this for example, uh, for the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, America has returned to a common sense and reality-based counter-terrorism strategy. The amount of times I see this administration use the phrase common sense— I know it works on their base, but we can go through point by point and debunk nearly every single point that they are making. But aside from that, the actual Americans who are concerned about the state of our country, who are more often than not peacefully resisting the fascist regime that we currently have, are themselves the ones being terrorized.

Courtney: Think about ICE, think about Renée Goode. We have Americans who are being shot, we have Americans who are being kidnapped. ICE as just one organization has mass surveillance. We see ICE agents threatening protesters on the streets, harassing and stalking protesters. We have local law enforcement who all across the country are arresting Americans for peacefully feeding hungry impoverished individuals. Not a crime.

Courtney: And yet Americans doing that good work to look out for one another, to protect each other, are being arrested, are being detained. Our government is the one terrorizing us. They’re claiming that it’s Americans who are radically pro-transgender who are the threat, while the very state that we live in is invalidating not only driver’s license but birth certificates. Of transgender Americans who are simply trying to live their lives. Many of them are not even activists. A good number of them are, because once you’re in a marginalized community being persecuted to this extent, many people feel moved to try to do something about it. But so many Americans right now are just trying to get by. Just trying to help one another out.

Courtney: And so yeah, I do think there is something deeply deeply flawed when the kind of work I have been doing, boots on the ground activism lately, have, y’know, included but not limited to offering car rides to my trans friends to the DMV, to rapid respon— response trying to go and bear witness to ICE kidnappings that are happening all around us within minutes of our home, to feeding hungry people on the street, and our country releases a counterterrorism strategy and my retired, disabled, lifelong American mother reads this and says, “oh no, they’re talking about my daughter and her community and her friends.” Something is deeply fucked up and it has been for a long time. And that’s why we have continued to talk about these issues.

Courtney: And I don’t know, I’m a little frustrated now and then when some of these organizations pulling the strings in the background, such as the Heritage Foundation, are ones that we have spoken about for years. And back when we first started talking about them, we did have some people even who are ostensibly in our community, on our side politically, saying that we were just being alarmist. The problem isn’t as bad as we were saying. Is it bad enough now? Is it bad enough now for you?

Courtney: If you also are a concerned American and you are consistently seeing news like this and just feeling hopeless, I really, really encourage you to get out into physical community spaces and do something. Not everybody has to be— the kind of person who’s putting themselves in legitimately very dangerous situations. If you are not someone who is physically or mentally able to do that, that is fine. There is so much good work that can be done from behind the scenes, anonymously. I frankly do not know what I would do with myself if I was consuming all this news and not knowing that I am spending as many hours as I am capable doing each week trying to do something.

Courtney: And quite frankly, I don’t think posting news or updates or your frustrations or concerns online is enough. I think, if anything, that tends to lead to increased feelings of hopelessness amongst most people. And on that note, I am actually due out in the community to do the same kind of work I do every single week in an hour, So, I gotta get ready to go. So if you do want to learn more, of course I will put all those links in the usual places for your further reading.

Courtney: But as always, we are going to leave you off with today’s featured marketplace vendor, Lauren Fox Makes Things. Lauren Fox makes analog and digital collages, and— Lauren is both an ace and autistic artist. There are some really, really neat collages here. Please do check them out. Links are in the same usual places. I actually did purchase an ace-specific collage. Most of them are not— there are a lot of more general concept collages, but there is this very cool one called Dawn of International Asexuality Day. It’s got the ace colors, the purple, gray, white, and black, and— from a distance, it’s just a pretty color and design, but of course, as with any collage, you look closer and you start to see these little, uh, nice things like cakes and queer buttons and playing cards and all sorts of motifs that we love here in our community. And Lauren Fox also has a Ko-fi where you can order commissions if you’ve got your own idea for a type of collage you would like to see. Links to see Lauren Fox’s work are in the show notes on our website and the description box if you’re listening on YouTube.

Courtney: And if you are listening on a platform that allows you to comment If you are someone who is doing work in your local community, uh, please leave a comment if you feel comfortable doing so and let me know what you’re doing, what sort of organizations you’re supporting. As someone who no longer, uh, posts or exists on social media sites, it has freed up so much of my time and mental burden. To do work in the real world, and I am always curious to see what other folks are doing in their neck of the woods. Plus, I think it’s always wonderful for people who do not necessarily know where to start. It’s overwhelming, the number of issues we have right now and the number of organizations you can try to work with and ways to get involved. So within our tiny little podcast community, maybe in the comments we can give each other some ideas for where to start. And as always, thank you all so much for being here, and we’ll talk to you next time.