Former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., made a number of bizarre claims during an interview with a religious news program last week, among them that "transgender Black Marxists" are trying to take down the U.S. government.
"These are transgender Marxists — transgender Black Marxists — who are seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family," Bachmann said in the interview on The Victory Channel, televangelist Kenneth Copeland's right-wing Christian network, while discussing the Black Lives Matter and anti-racism protests taking place around the country.
During the lengthy interview, Bachmann, long a controversial figure, propagated various pieces of misinformation, including a skewed COVID-19 death toll and the assertion that George Floyd, who died in May in the custody of police, actually "killed himself with an overdose." She called the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, a "communist takeover" and suggested that the election of Joe Biden could precipitate a "communist revolution."
Bachmann, who said she is a member of President Donald Trump's "faith advisory group" (a group the White House told NBC News does not exist, even though it has been reported on extensively), shared her own protest story with the show's hosts, Greg Stephens and Tim Fox. During a recent visit to the White House, Bachmann said, the "Holy Spirit" spoke to her just as protests were about to erupt on the streets of Washington.
"We had our hands raised. We were worshipping the Lord on the South Lawn of the White House," she said. "Before too long, the mob started. ... All of a sudden, I sense the Holy Spirit just speaking to me. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, 'It's time to leave.'"
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During the interview, Bachmann, a Republican who served in the House from 2007 to 2015 and ran for president in 2012, praised Trump as an "incredible guy" and a "John Wayne American." She credited the "power of prayer" for his surprising 2016 victory.
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Bachmann criticized Democrats for mentioning "God" only once in their 2020 party platform, while saying "LGBTQ is mentioned 55 times in the platform" (it is mentioned 32 times). Republicans have not released a 2020 platform, instead repurposing their 2016 document, which supports marriage as "the union of one man and one woman," even though same-sex marriage has been legal across the U.S. since 2015.
