Trend alert

Young men love saying “vehicle” now. They’re always like “gotta have my vehicle.” That’s one of the things I learned while reading through the alleged texts that Tyler Robinson, Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter, allegedly sent his roommate. “I had planned to grab my rifle…but theres one vehicle lingering,” they read. “I’m wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle.” Young men also love to “circle back.” They’re always circling back to their vehicle. Also in those charging documents, filed by the Utah County Attorney’s office on behalf the state, Robinson’s mother describes his roommate as “a biological male who was transitioning genders.” The Attorney’s office later echoes that description, referring to the roommate as “a biological male who was involved in a romantic relationship with Robinson.” Now, purportedly non-reactionary mainstream media outlets like NPR and CNN are quoting that phrasing from the charging documents verbatim, agreeing that the roommate is indeed “a biological male,” and I love that a lot. I think it’s cool, maybe even really cool, that rightwing political figures and their propagandists-in-arms have found a way to invoke the specter of transfemininity without having to say the word “trans.” I love that they can decide that someone’s a trans woman and call that person a trans woman without having to actually say “trans woman” while doing it, and I also love how they’ve found a way to do it while simultaneously implying that trans women don’t exist. I love that trans women don’t exist because we’re actually all just men, but also we somehow exist just enough to collectively conjure a Dog Day Afternoon, commanding young men through the power of hormone to publicly execute neo-nazis. I love that this longtime dogwhistle, “biological male,” remains undetectable to mainstream media ears. Or maybe they hear it? I love that too. I really love that that’s possible. I love how anything might be possible. I love possibility itself.