CNN’s Zakaria criticized by left for column urging Democrats to ‘forget pronouns’, Washington Post changes title

The Washington Post edited CNN columnist and host Fareed Zakaria’s opinion column on Thursday after receiving a fierce backlash from the left for pointing out that the Democratic Party is too preoccupied with « pronouns » and gender ideology on issues that concern most Americans.

On Friday night, The Washington Post changed the title of its article from its original headline, « Forget pronouns: Democrats must become the Construction party, » to simply, « Democrats must become the Construction party. »

Zakaria’s headline and argument that « doing things » is « much more important to most Americans than using the right pronouns » angered leftists, including the husband of Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Chasten Buttigieg.

On Thursday, Zakaria shared the article with its original headline on Twitter Thursday, commenting, « Democrats need to get back to being the party that gets things done, builds things, and makes government work for the people. That’s much more important to most Americans than using the correct pronouns. »

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CNN host Fareed Zakaria has received backlash after criticizing the Democratic Party leadership for its fixation on far-left social issues like gender « pronouns. »
(Reuters)

The next day, Secretary Buttigieg’s husband responded to Zakaria’s message with a scathing lecture. He tweeted: « Addressing someone by the name/pronoun they prefer is free, easy and kind. Using them builds community and belonging. Democrats can walk and chew gum. We can repairing roads and building bridges while making it a little easier to go about your business. That’s freedom.

Buttigieg continued, « It is grossly inappropriate to ask Democrats to vote out an entire group of Americans to win. Democrats are making historic investments and bold moves while delivering legislation that saves lives and strengthens the democracy on which Republicans continue to vote no,” he added.

Zakaria defended himself against Buttigieg’s criticism. « I hope it’s clear that I don’t take issue with any minority group. (I belong to several myself.) I argue against giving Republicans an easy way to demagogue and divert attention, » he tweeted, echoing the argument made in his post. .

He added, « If the Democrats are wiped out mid-term, that won’t help these beleaguered groups! »

Others tore up Zakaria’s article, including New York Times writer Elizabeth Spiers. She posted a screenshot of Zakaria’s original headline and called her article « a misinterpretation of that Times poll to begin with, » referring to the columnist quoting a recent New York Times poll in her article.

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Chasten Buttigieg criticized Zakaria’s latest Washington Post column. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Spiers also wrote, « but if you’re confusing civil rights with pronoun etiquette and completely unaware you’re repeating a transphobic GOP talking point, maybe back off the keyboard. »

Liberal podcaster Kimberley Johnson also slammed Zakaria, tweeting, « Who’s running on pronouns, @FareedZakaria? No candidate is building pronouns into their platform. It’s a social issue that most Democrats embrace…C It’s lazy journalism and it’s transphobic. You pick a group and it’s disgusting. »

« Why do we act like we have to choose between building things up and using the right pronouns? Do both, » urged Vanity Fair editor Franklin Leonard.

Comedian and podcaster Kate Willet tweeted, « Besides being wrong, it’s just not true. Democrats failed to pass Build Back Better because centrist Democrats blocked it. Nothing none of this has anything to do with trans people or pronouns. »

Transgender author DE Anderson took Zakaria’s argument personally and responded forcefully, tweeting, « Oh f— that. We can do all of this while respecting who the people are. Also notice the rhetorical trick here : reduce trans issues to « pronouns » and dismiss them as stupid. It saves you from having to consider that the Republicans are determined to kill us more easily.

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Spectators show their support for transgender and non-binary people during a trans march in Toronto, Ontario on June 21, 2019.
(Anatoli Cherkasov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)