Rachel Maddow from MSNBC strongly criticized Donald Trump and Elon Musk, calling them “numbskulls” while correcting a false claim about government spending. She was responding to Trump’s statement that taxpayer money was being used to make mice transgender.
During his speech to Congress on Tuesday, Trump argued that government spending was out of control and claimed that money—around $8 million—had been used for gender reassignment procedures on mice. He credited Musk for uncovering this supposed waste of funds.
However, multiple fact-checks revealed that the government had actually spent money on transgenic mice, not transgender mice. According to Snopes, transgenic mice are genetically modified for medical research. Scientists alter their DNA to make them more similar to humans in order to study how human diseases develop and how treatments might work. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) describes them as mice that have had new DNA inserted into their genetic code to help with medical studies.
On her show Friday, Maddow called out Trump and his supporters for spreading misinformation. She pointed out that transgenic mice have been used in research for years to study diseases, not for gender reassignment.
“One of the things he said in his speech was that the government was funding research to make mice transgender, and Republicans reacted with shock and laughter, acting like it was true,” Maddow said. “But actually, it’s transgenic mice. These mice are genetically modified so scientists can study human illnesses.
It is transgenic mice, you numbskulls! But sure, go ahead and shut down all the labs studying diseases because apparently, you think like a five-year-old.”
