Latest news with #MichaelKnowles
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Influencer who dropped OnlyFans account on day of her 18th birthday makes $1.6m
A Gen Z influencer who went viral at nine years old for her foul-mouthed antics, claims to have made $1.6m after joining OnlyFans the day of her 18th birthday. Rapper and content creator Lil Tay was thought to be rage baiting followers when she told male fans that she would be dropping the link to her OnlyFans the minute she legally became an adult. Men had been counting down to her birthday and she teased the release by tagging conservative American commentators like Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles. However, when her birthday rolled around last week, Lil announced she was the 'youngest girl on OnlyFans' and began promoting content reportedly recorded at 12.01 that morning. She's since claimed that she made A$1.6m in her first three hours on the X-rated platform, saying, 'We broke the f**k out of that onlyfans record'. A screenshot of her earnings showed that just over half of the income came from subscribers who paid A$30 to follow her content, while the remainder came from direct messages. 'For all the grown haters who've been hating since I was nine years old, look at me now,' she said in a video shared on social media. 'What y'all got to say? Y'all been doubting me for seven years. You can hate me all you want — you can't say Lil Tay ain't winning. 'Oh yeah, and thank you to all my supporters who pre-ordered since 2018, or whenever you did.' Many of her followers were shocked she went through with the creation of the account. '$1,000,000 worth of people who need they hard drives checked,' one person said, while another agreed, ' who bought it should be arrested.' A third said, 'Pls tell me this is a joke.' Others have been raising questions about her age as when Lil Tay rose to fame in 2018 she was supposedly 9 years old, which would make her about 16 in 2025. In 2023, she was involved in a death hoax where her social media accounts claimed that both she and her half brother had died. She later came out to say this was not true, but she was reported at the time to be 14 years old. OnlyFans has a strict 18 years and over policy for both content creators and followers. The platform asks for a person's address, government-issued identification card and bank account information as part of its age verification process. 'You must be at least 18 years old to create an account and access content on the OnlyFans platform as a Fan or as a Creator,' the website states. 'It is against our Terms of Service and our Acceptable Use Policy for anyone who is under 18 years old to view, access or post content on OnlyFans. We invest heavily in technology and human moderation teams to make sure this policy is followed. If anyone seeks to get around these policies and controls, OnlyFans will take appropriate action against them.'
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Controversial star Lil Tay sparks backlash over her staggering OnlyFans earnings just hours after turning 18
Controversial star Lil Tay has prompted fierce backlash after revealing her staggering OnlyFans earnings with her 5.7 million Instagram followers - just hours after turning 18. The controversial influencer wasted no time launching an OnlyFans account - dropping the link just after midnight on her landmark birthday. She claimed the content was taken at exactly 12.01am, calling it 'freshly 18' content and adding in her bio: 'Please don't tell my mom.' Lil Tay promised fans glimpses of her 'birthday suits' and, within just two hours of joining the adult content platform, she had 100,000 subscribers. By the third hour, she had raked in over $1 million, posting a screenshot of her earnings with the caption: 'We broke the f**k out of that OnlyFans record.' But her announcement immediately prompted disgusted followers to brand the news as 'deranged' and slammed subscribers. 'You've been watching her since she was a child, and the second she turns 18, you're throwing money at her?' one user wrote. Another added, 'Whoever is paying y'all some f**kin creeps and weirdos.' Tay had been teasing the launch for weeks, conducting a public 'vote' on whether she should do it - tagging conservative commentator Michael Knowles, YouTubers like Jake Paul and Pearl Davis, and even Ben Shapiro. Knowles responded: 'No amount of money is worth your dignity.' But Pearl had a different opinion: 'You may as well do it because I don't think you have much else to offer to the world.' Even Lil Tay's half-brother Jason Tian seemed to be disturbed by her decision, as he appeared on her livestream yelling at her and taking her phone. Born Claire Eileen Qi Hope, Lil Tay first went viral in 2017 at age nine after posting videos full of foul language and violent behavior. It later came out that her brother Jason was feeding her lines off-camera, sparking concerns that she was being exploited by her family for money. Around the same time, her mom, Angela Tian, lost her job as a real estate agent for allegedly using her employer's properties and cars in her daughter's videos. After a brief hiatus her Instagram account suddenly went dark. Then, in 2018, the drama shifted to a custody battle between her estranged parents. Her father, Christopher Hope, wanted her to focus on music with more structure and oversight, while her mother and brother preferred her chaotic influencer persona. The situation escalated in 2019 and again in 2021 when Jason launched a GoFundMe and accused their father of abuse and stealing millions from Tay's earnings. Her father denied all allegations. Then in August 2023 a post from Tay's verified Instagram account claimed that both she and her brother had died. For 24 hours, fans believed it - though her father and ex-manager declined to confirm the news. A day later, TMZ reported that both siblings were alive. Lil Tay later alleged that the post was part of a hacking incident, though fans has suspicions that it was her father behind the hoax. Soon after, it was reported that her mother had gained full custody, and her father was ordered to pay $275,000 in child support. But the drama didn't stop there. In September 2024, Lil Tay's account announced she was in the ICU recovering from open-heart surgery after being diagnosed with a life-threatening tumor. The update included photos from her hospital bed and an echocardiogram. Now, less than a year later, she's back online, newly 18 and already stirring fresh controversy. While Tay seems to be excited about her 'comeback' - calling critics 'grown haters' and bragging, 'You can hate on me all you want, you can't say Lil Tay ain't winning.'
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Does it matter if your bank shares your political views?
Last week, Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles said that he had been cut off by a payment processing company and suggested that it was because of his political views. While Knowles later learned an administrative error was to blame, the conversation renewed discussion about whether Americans are losing banking accounts because of their politics, as first lady Melania Trump said happened to her and her son, Barron. Enter the parallel economy, where conservative-themed products and services, such as coffee and cellphones, are thriving, and now banks hope to, as well. The offerings include Old Glory Bank, marketed as 'the pro-America bank owned by Main Street, not Wall Street.' A financial technology company called ProLifeFintech is offering checking, saving, business and investment accounts for people who don't want to support banks that directly or indirectly support abortion providers. Regent Bank, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, seeks to attract customers who are people of faith — its website offers a daily devotional and says Regent's purpose is 'to show God's love to our employees, clients & communities.' These are not the Henry F. Potters of the banking world. What is debanking? Debanking, according to Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, generally refers to the closure or denial of an account because the bank or the government considers it too risky — whether because of the type of commerce involved (say, gun sales or cryptocurrency) or because of the individual or company. The term describes not just account closures at a bank, but also a credit union, payment processing service or any other type of financial company. President Donald Trump raised the issue the week of his second inauguration when he said, in remarks to the World Economic Forum, that Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase were withholding services to conservatives, something that both banks deny. But in an interview, Anthony said that debanking is a real thing, and something that consumers are right to be concerned about. 'To be clear, I don't think billions of people are having their accounts shut down every week, but it is happening enough that people are recognizing that this is an option on the table, this is something that could happen to them," he said. 'One of the best ways to protect yourself against an account closure is not just looking for someone like Old Glory Bank, which specializes in serving conservative clients, but really just looking for another option, having a backup option. That's a great way to build out a lifeline for anyone,' Anthony said. Robert E. Wright, an economic policy historian and a fellow at the Andersen Institute for Finance & Economics, said that debanking became an issue for conservative Americans during the Canadian trucker protests in 2022. Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which allowed Canada to suspend personal bank accounts and insurance policies of protest organizers. It's impossible to know how many people have been debanked, but the most recent figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation show that about 4% don't have a bank account, a number that has been falling over decades. Earlier this year, members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs were told that nearly 12,000 consumers filed complaints over the past three years with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying their accounts were improperly closed or they had been unable to open an account. Who runs Old Glory Bank? Old Glory Bank did not respond to an interview request, but in testimony before a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, Old Glory Bank President and CEO Mike Ring said his bank was created as a market response to both regulatory and participatory debanking. The founders of the bank, who include Dr. Ben Carson, Larry Elder and former Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin-Christensen, bought an Oklahoma bank with one branch in November of 2022 and launched nationwide digital banking five months later. Ring told committee members that Old Glory Bank has since grown from 300 local customers to serving more than 50,000 individuals and 2,000 small businesses. 'I humbly submit that we have better products than the mega banks, plus better service. Our customer service center is in beautiful Durant, Oklahoma, (not offshore), and we actually love our customers and respect their views,' Ring said in his testimony. Ring was speaking the language of conservatives when he said, 'We actually love our customers and respect their views.' One of the selling points of the parallel economy over the past few years has been 'don't give your money to people who hate you.' But it's not just conservatives worrying about debanking. In a rare moment of agreement with the president, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said at the same hearing, 'Donald Trump was onto a real problem when he criticized Bank of America for its de-banking practices.' Are conservative-facing banks new? Michael Kofoed, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a Deseret News contributor, said that while niche banking has long been a part of the American banking system, the introduction of political themes is a new development. 'That doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad. It's just new,' he said. He added: 'Banking depends on trust and trust can come from many places such as religion or perhaps even politics. Whether having similar political views or concerns about cancel culture translates to solvency is always the tough part. ... I trust someone because they have a shared experience with me, but that experience may not be correlated at all with whether a business is successful.' That said, Old Glory customers are insured through the FDIC, as are customers of ProLifeFintech because of its affiliation with Regent Bank. Consumers might not earn any more interest by choosing a niche bank like these, but might benefit from what economists call 'the warm glow,' Kofoed said — which he described as the sense that 'I did something right by investing in something that matches my values.' But as much as niche banks are benefiting from people feeling passionate about political issues, they've really been enabled by the technology that allows people to bank anywhere. Fewer of us are using physical banks at all. Newsweek reported in March that in the fourth quarter of 2024, '45 percent of U.S. bank account holders reported conducting activities in person at a branch, a decrease from 53 percent from the first half of 2019.' Kofoed himself says that he uses a Utah bank even though he lives in Tennessee. Ring, Old Glory's CEO, told the House Banking Committee that Old Glory has customers in all 50 states. 'Aligned with godly principles' On a video on the ProLifeFintech website, co-founder Betsy Gray said she had an abortion before she became a Christian and it was 'a tragedy in my life.' Later, when she was running a medical clinic, she was dismayed to learn that her bank donated money to a major abortion provider, and she couldn't find any others that didn't also do that. 'So many of the major banks promote the shedding of innocent blood,' she said in the video. Gray said that God spoke to her heart and said: 'Start my bank. Start pro-life bank.' 'We're so excited to have a financial institution truly aligned with godly principles,' she said. ProLifeFintech said its spokesman was not available, but the company's website says it offers a 'range of financial products and services designed to meet your needs and support your family's financial journey, all while honoring God and aligning with your values.' It offers checking, savings and money market accounts through Regent Bank. The company celebrated its opening in March with an event that featured co-founder Nick Vujicic, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Vujicic, an evangelist and motivational speaker who was born without arms or legs, wrote on X, 'In a world where many financial systems back causes contrary to God's moral laws, ProLifeFintech is a bold stand. It's a powerful alternative to the 'woke' financial systems that are on the rise.' Anthony, at the Cato Institute, noted that banking services organized around values or religious principles aren't new. 'One case that is very widespread is Islamic finance, offering services in line with the Muslim faith and making sure that it is compliant with Islamic doctrine.' Similarly, the Kosher Financial Institute keeps track of financial institutions compliant with Jewish law. And Christian-leaning banking has also been around for more than a century, though with mixed results. For example, Stewardship Bank of Oregon, which Christianity Today described as the nation's 'first Christian bank,' didn't last four years. But St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association, which opened in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1908, was a success and went on to become St. Mary's Bank, now open to anyone in the U.S. The future of niche banks Wright, the author of 'Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich,' among other books, said although offerings like Old Glory Bank may be new to the parallel economy, banking and politics have been entwined from the earliest days of America. 'We've always had a two-party system that began in Washington's first administration, partly because of a bank. It's why the Republicans split off from the Federalists,' he said. Yet despite Americans' growing distrust of institutions, most of us still use big banks, although that number is declining, Kiplinger reported earlier this year. But it's all part of a cycle, Kofoed said. 'Ever since (Andrew) Jackson killed the Second Bank of the U.S., it's as part of America as apple pie that we go from not trusting big banks, to setting up small ones, to those getting wiped out, to banks getting bigger, and we kind of go through this cycle. It's not necessarily good or bad cycle, it's just how we are as an American culture,' he said. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Daily Wire's Michael Knowles Says JoJo Siwa Dating ‘Big Brother' Co-Star Proves LGBTQ+ Is ‘Fading': ‘No Longer a Lesbian!'
Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit kicked off on Friday, and while the roster of buzzy speakers included conservative media heavyweights like Tucker Carlson and Fox News' Laura Ingraham, it was Daily Wire's Michael Knowles who walked away with one of the more bizarre viral moments from the Tampa, Florida conference. In an elongated riff on the merits of traditional family values — merits that include the dissembling of LGBTQ+ rights, particularly for the transgender community — the 'Michael Knowles Show' host and Fox News regular argued that LGBTQ+ people are, in fact, 'fading.' Look no further than 22-year-old singer, dancer and actress JoJo Siwa, her said. More from TheWrap Daily Wire's Michael Knowles Says JoJo Siwa Dating 'Big Brother' Co-Star Proves LGBTQ+ Is 'Fading': 'No Longer a Lesbian!' | Video David Gergen, Political Commentator and Presidential Advisor for Reagan and Clinton, Dies at 83 Skydance in Early Talks to Acquire Bari Weiss' The Free Press | Report White House Mocks Congressman With AI-Altered Photo on Social Media 'Speaking of the LGBT, it is not just the T that is fading from the public square,' Knowles said in the clip circulating online Friday. 'After decades of nonstop lavender propaganda, Pride parades are getting canceled for lack of attendance. Lack of interest!' That first point was met with cheers of support from the audience, but the crowd really went wild for his next bit: 'JoJo Siwa is no longer a lesbian!' he exclaimed, visibly heartened by the enthusiastic applause. 'Nature is healing, that's great.' Knowles then pivoted to the sanctity of marriage and the importance of uplifting the so-called 'trad wife' mentality. 'Divorce rates are about the lowest they've been in 40 years. Young women are increasingly rejecting the corporate rat race, the widget factory — and to the horror of the feminists, they are aspiring to be wives,' Knowles continued. 'It's kind of funny … This radical change in ideology has actually caused us to come up with a new term: Do you know the term I'm talking about? 'Trad wife.' Do we have — look at all the aspiring trad wives, this is great!' Watch the moment from Day 1 of Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit below: Elsewhere in his speech, Knowles said that trying to 'redefine marriage' as anything other than being between a man and woman has left the country 'miserable.' 'We tried to redefine marriage, the fundamental political institution, the most basic human relationship. We tried to blow it up and turn it into something else. We even had the temerity to try and erase God,' he said. 'None of it has worked out very well. The reason it hasn't worked is not for lack of trying. The reason it hasn't worked is that we followed all of those ideas to their logical conclusions, and the conclusions made us miserable.' As far as his argument that Siwa is no longer a 'lesbian,' that's somewhat true — she no longer identifies as such. The former 'Dance Moms' star and pop singer previously came out as gay four years ago. But Siwa backtracked a bit in April and explained that she no longer identifies as a lesbian and prefers the label 'queer,' saying that she felt pressure to define her sexuality at a young age. In June, she went public with her current partner, former 'Love Island' contestant Chris Hughes, a man she met while appearing on 'Celebrity Big Brother.' Siwa's sexuality was previously a hot topic on her season of 'Celebrity Big Brother' earlier this year after her co-star Mickey Rourke was booted from the reality series in April for using derogatory, homophobic language toward the young entertainer. In the incendiary moment, Rourke asked Siwa if she dates men or women — after she answered that she's gay, Rourke said, 'If I stay longer than four days, you won't be gay anymore.' 'I can guarantee I will still be gay and I will still be in a very happy relationship,' Siwa answered. Rourke continued and told Siwa, 'I'll tie you up' and eventually used a homophobic slur. Rourke also said he was 'going to vote the lesbian out real quick' before yelling, 'I need a f–k' and pointing at Siwa. Rourke later apologized in the show's confessional room. 'I apologize. I don't have dishonorable intentions – I'm just talking smack,' he said. 'I wasn't taking it all so serious. I didn't mean it in any bad intentions and if I did, sorry.' The post Daily Wire's Michael Knowles Says JoJo Siwa Dating 'Big Brother' Co-Star Proves LGBTQ+ Is 'Fading': 'No Longer a Lesbian!' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
The Independent
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
No state is safe: Trans people are planning to move overseas rather than live in Trump's America
Isabella remembers the moment she knew she needed to leave the U.S. It was March 2023, when Daily Wire host Michael Knowles gave a chilling speech to one of the most influential conservative gatherings in the country. "There can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. It is all or nothing," Knowles told the Conservative Political Action Conference. "For the good of society, and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen victim to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely: the whole preposterous ideology, at every level." To Isabella, who is trans, this declaration was a clear sign of the Republican Party's increasing embrace of hardcore anti-trans politics — and a potential harbinger of "genocidal action." This spring, after years of preparation, she moved to Chile. She is not alone. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision in US v Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee and other red states' rights to ban transition healthcare for minors, four trans people told The Independent that the case had solidified their plans to escape the USA. Like every single person interviewed for this story, Isabella would only speak under a pseudonym out for fear of reprisals from far-right extremist groups, or perhaps even government officials. And while the Skrmetti decision only concerned trans children, those who spoke to The Independent feared that the Court's reasoning could make it easier to restrict trans healthcare for adults too — as Republicans are already trying to do nationally. "Before the 2024 election, my timeline for relocating abroad was more like five to ten years out, if at all. Before today, I was considering sometime within the next year or two. But now, I am thinking of moving by the end of the summer," said Wayne, a trans man in his late forties in Washington state, on the day the Skrmetti ruling came down. Though he also has personal reasons to leave the country, he said the Skrmetti ruling was "another falling domino." "I don't want to leave my country, but things have been on a downward trajectory for trans rights for the past several years," he said. "We have transitioned from a system of democracy into an electoral autocracy... no one is coming to save us." 'I won't accept second class status' In the past few years, 25 U.S. states have passed laws restricting banning transition healthcare for minors, according to the pro-LGBT+ Movement Advancement Project — covering an estimated 37 percent of all trans under-18s. Some states have also enacted restrictions on adult care, and Republicans in Congress have made repeated attempts to defund or limit access at the federal level. Meanwhile, conservative rhetoric about trans people has become ever more venomous. Knowles likened them to "demons." One Republican candidate claimed pro-trans teachers should be "executed." Multiple serving GOP legislators have falsely claimed that random mass shooting suspects are trans, while Donald Trump Jr has alleged — contrary to all available evidence — that trans people are "the most violent domestic terror threat" in the country. Then came Donald Trump's second inauguration, and his blitzkrieg effort to centralize federal power under the office of the president. Since then migration has become a regular topic among trans people both online and in person, along with acidic social media debates about the ethics and class politics of fleeing one's country. "My plans for emigration have been in a holding pattern,' said one trans lawyer in her forties, who began transitioning roughly 25 years ago and is now considering leaving the country. "Getting all the documents and background checks and apostilles to be able to move, and contacting contractors... but not making any decisions yet in the increasingly vain hope that abandoning my family and home country won't become a necessity,' she said. "This [Skrmetti] decision definitely made me get back into planning mode. I had begun to build up some steely resolve about fighting for my country... but days like this really suck out all the air. "When you find yourself crying at random songs, no matter how limited their emotional appeal would be in any other situation, it's hard not to look at your hands and then up and the sky and say 'where do I go now?' "I won't accept being a pariah, or being denied hormones despite being post-[surgery]. I won't accept second or third class status." The lawyer also argues that the SCOTUS ruling may be widened, since there is "nothing in the decision that indicates it will remain confined to pediatric care questions." Stacy Davis, a 42-year-old Nashville realtor who has a trans child, told The Independent that her family will stay in Tennessee as long as they possibly can, even if it means traveling regularly for medical care at great expense. But if they are forced to move, it would probably be abroad. 'I think it would have been easier to move from Tennessee to a blue state if [Kamala Harris] would have won, because at least then we would have had some reassurances that on a federal level we would be more protected,' she said. But now, 'it almost feels like a blue state can't save us.' Multiple groups have sprung up to help trans people migrate, either within the U.S. or internationally. Some are open and legally incorporated, such as the Denver-based non-profit Trans Continental Pipeline. "At the heart of it, we're glorified movers, trying to help people get where they want to go and out of traumatic situations," founder Keira Richards told Mother Jones last year. Other groups are more secretive and ad-hoc, fearful of attacks and harassment by anti-trans extremists. "We've had a few people today contact us and/or announce their desire to emigrate faster from the USA, considering the broader implications of this ruling," a member of one such group told The Independent. "People of course are stockpiling hormones and getting passports in order if they can... I can tell you our top destinations are Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, and the Netherlands in particular." The group includes trans people in countries across the world, this person said, including some lawyers who help people understand the implications of new U.S. anti-trans policies. In some places, they have contacts who can help trans immigrants get settled in and find community. Group members gather and share information on immigration pathways, visa requirements, and the level of freedom and protection available to trans people in various countries. 'We've read our history books. We know where this goes' The story of one trans woman we'll call Rachel illustrates how individual areas and then the entire USA have become progressively more hostile to trans people. Back in 2023, having already moved from the Tennessee countryside where she grew up to the big city of Nashville, she felt forced to flee her home state entirely. "At that time I was highly skeptical that it would ever get to the point where I had to emigrate," Rachel told The Independent. "I have to say that I completely stand corrected." Initially, Nashville had felt safe enough for her to finally transition. But beginning in around 2020, when conservative news site The Daily Wire moved its headquarters to Nashville, she felt a major "tonal shift." Relatives who'd once been supportive began to turn against her. Nazi flyers were stuffed into her mailbox. She received "direct threats" from people she believes were probably her neighbors, and suffered repeated housing discrimination despite having a steady income. Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, a prominent anti-trans activist, held a "rally to end child mutilation" at the state capitol. In March 2023, on the same day Tennessee's Republican governor Bill Lee signed the healthcare ban at the heart of the Skrmetti case, someone draped a huge swastika-emblazoned banner from a Nashville bridge thanking him for "tirelessly working to fight trannies and fags." At another point, Rachel recalls, someone projected the words "TRANS-FREE TENNESSEE" on a local building. Rachel even had a brush with Skrmetti himself: that is, Tennessee's attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti, against whom the Supreme Court lawsuit was filed. In 2022 he demanded detailed patient records from Rachel's trans healthcare provider Vanderbilt University, leading to accusations that he was trying to compile a "list" of trans people. "Skrmetti seems like the ghost that will hound me for the rest of my life," complained Rachel. "It's always Tennessee! It's a state out of which the current manifestation of conservative politics has grown. And I was there to witness it.' Now those politics have taken root in the White House, and Rachel is applying for citizenship in the foreign country where one of her parents was born — something she's always been eligible for, but only recently started seriously working on. For her, the new Supreme Court decision changed nothing. But listening to the oral arguments before Trump's inauguration, and anticipating which way the case would go, was part of what made her plan to leave in the first place. Even though she isn't totally sure whether she'll go, Rachel wants to be ready at short notice. She keeps many of her belongings in storage, and has abandoned some of her hobbies for fear that the equipment would weigh her down. "I think that everything is on the table at this point," she said. "The same rhetorical patterns, in some cases precisely the same accusations, that are being levied at trans people were being levied at the Jewish population [in Nazi Germany]. "We've read our history books. We know the outcome of that is... I think it's naive to think that it's impossible in the United States." (Knowles, for his part, has insisted that his 2023 CPAC speech was not a call for cultural genocide against trans people because they are not a group with shared genetics, and also because they are "not a legitimate category of being.") To Isabella, living in Chile has been both a challenge and a relief. She's still figuring out her medical care, still learning Spanish, still trying to meet new friends. "Winter and summer are flipped, which is so weird to me," she said. Not everyone could have made the move, she notes. She was lucky enough to have some local contacts and a job that she could keep doing from her new country, as well as the financial resources necessary to uproot her life. But she no longer has to deal with the daily drumbeat of assaults on her rights and unashamed demonization of her identity. "You feel like you can breathe better, and you're not worried that you're gonna be the victim of some terrible attack," she said. Even so, she can't completely stop worrying. Conservative politicians across the world have found trans people a tempting punchbag, including in nearby Argentina. The feminist philosopher Judith Butler has argued that transphobia is a central element of modern fascism, from to Hungary to Brazil to the USA and beyond. "You never know, these days, because transphobia is global," said Isabella. "The question is, is it going to come to Chile? That's always a fear. So I'm always keeping my eyes open."
