The way I read jimothy’s comment is that Republican politicians are using trans people as a distraction from issues they don’t want to address. Conservatives are making problems by claiming trans people are bad in order to deflect attention away from problems their constiuents actually care about.

Conservative voters, if presented with the choice of healthcare or trans athletes, would absolutely prefer their politicians to focus on healthcare. A farmer in Iowa does not actually give a fuck what bathroom a trans person uses, their attention has just been redirected in that direction by grifters.