Rachel Levine’s image appears in Trump ad criticizing Harris over transgender rights

A 30-second ad for former President Donald Trump includes footage of Vice President Kamala Harris saying she supports taxpayer-funded gender transition surgery for inmates. A narrator intones that Harris is “for them/them.” President Trump is for you.”

Displayed next to Harris is an image of former Pennsylvania Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate to a federal position. Levine is currently the United States deputy secretary of health.

By juxtaposing images of Harris and Levine, who is not identified in the ad, The creators of the ad appear to be implying that Levine is an incarcerated criminal.

“One of the biggest challenges with online misinformation like this is recontextualized media,” said Matthew Stamm, director of the Multimedia Information and Security Laboratory at Drexel University’s College of Engineering. “Real footage is taken but presented in a different context to make it appear that Secretary Levine is a prisoner when she is not.

“It’s very easy to do. You don’t need technical skills.”

Here’s a look inside Trump’s announcement and its implications.

What is the advertisement based on?

During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump criticized Harris for her support for taxpayer-funded health care for transgender people, including what is known as gender-affirming surgery.

“Now he wants to conduct transgender operations on illegal aliens who are in prison,” Trump said. “This is a radical left liberal who would do this.”

Her statement was based on Harris’ response to a 2019 American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire, in which Harris supported policies that ensure incarcerated transgender people have access to medically necessary treatments, including gender-affirming surgeries.

The questionnaire asked: “As president, will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for health care, including those in prison and immigration detention, have access to comprehensive treatment associated with transitioning?” gender, including all necessary surgical care?

She answered yes, adding, “it is important that transgender people who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, including access to treatment associated with gender transition.”

Harris is seen in the ad giving similar answers in a 2019 interview with Mara Keisling, founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Harris’ campaign said last month that the 2019 questionnaire is not what the vice president is proposing in this election and is not part of her platform. Campaign officials did not say where Harris currently stands on the issue.

What else does the ad show?

In addition to Levine’s image, Trump’s ad includes an image of Harris near a photo of a man wearing lipstick and a dress, who has been identified as former Department of Energy official Sam Brinton. Brinton, who identifies himself as “openly gender fluid,” will receive mental health treatment to avoid jail time on charges of stealing a woman’s luggage in 2018.

There is another photo in the ad that appears to show Harris standing near drag performer Pattie Gonia.

The ad also includes an image supposedly depicting inmates, which is actually advertising still promoting the television show. Orange is the new blackk.

“I’m not sure many recognize Levine in the ad,” said Michael Hagen, a political science professor at Temple University who is an expert on campaigns and elections. “She is the least provocative of the images of the people in her.”

The ad is “complicated, not just a culture war ad about Democrats’ association with transgender surgery. It also speaks to taxpayer funding of surgery, illegal immigration, crime and the prison population,” Hagen said.

Hagen concluded that the ad is not simply aimed at Trump’s base, but also at disengaged voters “who might be repelled by the images.”

Do most Americans really care about transgender people?

Joey Teitlebaum, senior vice president of research at Washington-based Global Strategy Group, which conducts public opinion research and strategy for Democratic campaigns, said the announcement infuriated her.

“Disparaging an honest public servant like Rachel Levine takes the Trump campaign to its lowest point,” he said. “Levine as a criminal? Trash is a good word for it.”

Teitlebaum said he believes the ad is irrelevant because most people don’t spend much time thinking about transgender people, who are a fraction of the population. The number of Americans over the age of 13 who identify as transgender is about 1.6 million, or 0.47% of the population, according to the UCLA School of Law.

When Americans consider transgender people, 83% say they should have the same rights as everyone else, according to the University of Minnesota. This flies in the face of commentators like conservative Tucker Carlson, who called transgender people “the natural enemies of Christianity.”

Overall, the ad “reeks of desperation and campaign malpractice,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) in a statement to the Advocate, an influential LGBTQ publication.

Neither Levine nor Trump campaign spokespeople responded to requests for comment. Harris’ campaign declined to comment.

In the end, it may turn out that “the ad is defamatory of Levine by association,” said Matt Jordan, a misinformation expert at Pennsylvania State University. “It comes straight out of the far-right playbook: turning something microscopic into a massive culture war.”