As though to prove that you can never be woke enough, on Monday Representative Rashida Tlaib attacked The New York Times. The squad member did so because she claimed that the Times was publishing anti-trans content. It was, she said “providing a platform for transphobic hate and propaganda with horrifying consequences.” She went on to claim that “Texas just entered NYT articles into evidence to push for the TX Dept of Family & Protective Services to take trans kids away from their supportive parents.”

As is usually the case with Rep Tlaib there are so many problems in that statement that it is hard to know where to begin. Though I would note one in particular. What exactly is a “trans kid”? Does anybody really know? Our society pretends to be radically certain and knowledgeable about this. But in fact we know almost nothing about it.

We have almost no idea why some people believe they are born in the wrong body. We have very little idea of when this is a passing feeling and when it might be a permanent one. And we have almost no understanding at all about the extent to which claims by children that they are trans are in fact a demonstration of “social contagion,” where one kid in a school comes out as trans and a whole bunch of others start to follow suit.

Yet Tlaib pretended to know all of this and more. She speaks about “trans kids” as though it is as straightforward and obvious as saying “ginger haired kids.” Not only does she want to keep up that misplaced certainty. She wants others to keep it up too.