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Republicans in Tennessee have boldly demonstrated how to take on one of the biggest problems America is facing: drag shows.

While liberals and public opinion polls and people who have not lost their minds naively believe things like school shootings, the economy, crime and poverty are more pressing issues, Tennessees Republican-led state government and a number of conservative lawmakers across the country, have remained laser-focused on great-ifying America by demonizing drag performers.

On Thursday, the Volunteer (As Long As Youre Not Volunteering At A Drag Show) State became the first to restrict drag performances. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill that bans drag shows in places where minors might watch them and on public property.

The bill was, I assume, in direct response to the zero people who have been killed by drag shows and the nones of people who have witnessed a drag performance and then been emotionally or psychologically ruined.

Addressing the point of legislation that some might consider several steps beyond stupid, the governor waved to a nearby elementary school and said: I think that the concern is whats right there in that building. He was presumably referencing children and not, you know, desks and lockers and administrative staff and whatnot.

Lee, who has apparently never seen the internet or a TikTok video, continued: Children that are potentially exposed to sexualized entertainment, to obscenity, and we need to make sure that theyre not.

Indeed, the nonexistent epidemic of drag shows in this country presents a real and present danger to our children, as it is the only avenue by which they might be exposed to sexualized entertainment, aside from television, streaming services, YouTube, movies, video games, music, advertisements, casual conversations with friends and the entirety of the electronic world available to them on the powerful hand-computers they keep in their pockets.

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Things like school shootings apparently do not pose a threat to children, as the Tennessee governor in 2021 made it legal for people to carry handguns without a permit. So, to be clear: drag show = danger, carrying a gunwithout a permit = safe, and patriotic!

According to the Washington Post, at least 26 bills have been introduced in 14 states by Republican legislators taking aim at drag events this year. Along with the fact that the bills are just weird and puritanical, opponents fear the broad wording in them could effectively outlaw drag performances in some parts of the country.

Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said in a statement that laws like Tennessees drag ban along with an even more pernicious bill Lee signed into law last week banning gender-affirming care are not about protecting youth, they are about spreading dangerous misinformation against the transgender community; they are about doubling down on efforts to attack drag artists and transgender youth.

Advocates who oppose a bill that would restrict where certain drag shows could take place march from a rally outside of the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville on Feb. 14, 2023 to the Cordell Hull legislative building.

Warbelow is right. Republicans are using drag performers and transgender people as a bogeyman to fire up the dwindling number of Americans who will fall for that kind of mean nonsense.

What's wrong with you?: Anti-transgender rules, rhetoric and legislation are a shameful stain on America's soul

Tennessee is ranked 36th overall for child well-being, according to the 2022 Kids Count Data Book put out by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. You know what didnt cause that? Drag shows.

Tennessee ranked 44th out of the 50 states in the 2022 Americas Health Rankings report by the United Health Foundation. Drag shows didnt hurt anyones health.

The state ranks 14th in the country for infant mortality, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And not because of drag shows.

Based on crime statistics from the FBI, Tennessee was ranked the fourth most violent state in the country in 2021. Drag shows had nothing to do with that.

One in five children in Tennessee live in poverty. But yeah, definitely go after those drag shows.

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It would be possible, I suppose, for Tennessee lawmakers and politicians in any of the states eyeing bans on drag performances or busily attacking things like gender-affirming care and transgender rights to focus on insignificant matters like the health of their constituents, crime or the conditions children experience.

TikTok star Charli D'Amelio and Mark Ballas are the new "Dancing With the Stars" champions. This would be OK for Tennessee Republicans, but not drag shows.

But then, who would tackle the scourge of drag shows? Who would protect the youth from something that isnt threatening the youth? Who would make a small subset of citizens lives miserable in order to make a point thats both incorrect and wholly unnecessary?

Kudos to Tennessee Republicans for being too dumb to realize what theyre doing is a bad idea, and too cruel to care.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee drag show ban attacks LGBTQ community, doesn't protect kids

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Tennessee Republicans target America's greatest threat: Drag shows ...

The GOP's fractures were put into sharp relief at this year's Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), with Republican strategists and activists simultaneously mourning and praising the transformation of a once-seminal event.

Party operatives who spoke to ABC News lamented the makeover of the annual conservative event from a headquarters for broad debate into a confab seemingly hostile to ideas that deviate from former President Donald Trump's "America First" populism. But conferencegoers, decked out in "Make America Great Again" hats and Trump paraphernalia, were content with the conference's narrow focus -- and, in some cases, eager to taper it more.

"It is a broad cross section, but that's kind of a bad thing, you almost don't want that," Joe Walters, a 24-year-old attendee from Westchester County, N.Y., said, claiming that the "establishment" had "turned its talking points into something that sounds more Trumpian."

"I wish it were more Trumpian in some sense."

Guests listen as former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Founded in 1974, CPAC became known as "Woodstock for conservatives," drawing in a broad cross section of Republican activists and lawmakers looking to jump up the political ladder, including Ronald Reagan, who debuted his "city on a hill" vision at the inaugural conference.

And while CPAC often followed emerging attitudes among the grassroots, it regularly featured speakers from across the Republican spectrum. However, the conference in recent years began shunning those who didn't espouse the populism that has engulfed the grassroots since Trump's 2016 campaign.

That trend was laid bare at this year's meeting, with several likely presidential candidates choosing to not even come, and a hostile reception waiting for those who did.

Prospective candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and more chose to spend their time elsewhere -- including, some, at a donor retreat in Florida hosted by the anti-tax Club for Growth, a powerful group embroiled in a feud with Trump.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

And while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who launched her presidential campaign last month, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is actively mulling a campaign, made the trip, they were met with only tepid applause during their red-meat-packed speeches.

After leaving the ballroom following her speech, Haley was accosted by attendees shouting Trump's name before aides escorted her away.

"Ten years ago, it was an opportunity to test your messages to conservative leaders and influencers all over the country and to have a big audience get to know you from the podium and everything else that was included. And I don't think that's where it is today. I think it's a narrow, small tent," said one aide to a possible 2024 contender. "I think last time I was there, it almost felt like a college crowd than it did a serious thinker crowd."

"As somebody that's been involved in the movement for 20-plus years, it's sad, because it was at one time the premier event for conservatives to come together."

When asked if they thought CPAC could expand its focus to the broader GOP tent rather than on one tentpole, the person was pessimistic.

"I think there's a lot of people that hope so. But there's gonna have to be a wholesale change over there, and I don't see that coming anytime soon," the source said. "Sometimes you just have to have a hard reset."

At CPAC, though, such a "reset" seemed unlikely.

Trump's imprint on the party was apparent across the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center outside of Washington, with a mockup of his Oval Office set up and clothing stalls seen in the conference's shop and allies like Steve Bannon holding court in the hallways.

And while years ago, conspiracy theorists were kept away from the event, this year, Kari Lake, the 2022 Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee who attributes her narrow loss to widespread election fraud, was picked for the keynote address at this year's Ronald Reagan dinner.

"I had a feeling that after this week at CPAC, with all of the patriots that we've seen come on stage, we have that fire stirring in our belly. We have that DNA rising up in us -- that founding father kind of patriots stuff -- and we're ready to go out there and fight these people," she said.

When over a dozen conferencegoers were asked by ABC News who they were planning on voting for in the 2024 GOP primary, all but one said they were backing Trump, with the lone dissenter saying he's planning on voting for DeSantis.

"Trump forever. It's always Trump first before anybody else," said Adam Radogna, a 33-year-old small business owner from Cleveland, Ohio. "I'm sick of hearing all these other candidates. It's always Trump unless he's not on there."

And when asked whether they'd like to see other would-be contenders speak at CPAC, some scoffed at the prospect of people like Pence addressing the MAGA faithful.

"He will get booed. No, nobody wants Pence," said Melissa Locurto, real estate broker from Long Island, citing Pence's refusal to overturn Trump's loss in 2020. "I'm glad he's not here. I'm not a supporter."

Nikki Haley, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 presidential election candidate, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., March 3, 2023.

Sarah Silbiger/Reuters

The event represents a potent reality check as the 2024 primary gets underway.

Speculation outside of the halls of CPAC has run rampant over the power Trump's continued sway in the GOP, with strategists forecasting a competitive nominating contest while conceding that the former president remains the frontrunner.

But this year's conference underscored the fact that the former president maintains immovable support among a section of the GOP grassroots, as highlighted by the results of this year's straw poll.

"Feels like MAGA country," Donald Trump Jr. said in his speech Friday.

In CPAC's famed straw poll, 62% of respondents said they want to see Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, while DeSantis, thought to be the former president's toughest rival, came in second with 20%.

And in his speech, Trump sounded a defiant tone, indicating he'll try to bulldoze any opponent, Democrat or Republican, and "throw off the political class that hates our country."

"We will route the fake news media, we will expose and appropriately deal with the RINOs," he said, using the slur for Republican in name only. "We will evict Joe Biden from the White House. And we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all."

With Trump's sway at CPAC, even attendees looking for alternatives to the former president in the next election sounded doubtful.

"I haven't talked to anyone that's a DeSantis supporter. I've only really seen Trump people," said Ben Kelley, a 23-year-old DeSantis supporter. "Maybe if I ask around, more will be for DeSantis."

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has repeatedly told Congress that the "border is secure," and the White House continues to insist that this is true. However, facts on the ground demonstrate otherwise.

It is difficult for many Americans to accept President Biden's refusal to take straightforward and simple steps to stop illegal immigration, and the reality of the unprecedented and ongoing border crisis is painfully evident. Almost 2.4 million illegal migrants were apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022. This is a historic high that doubled the previous record number of apprehensions from 2021.

Apologists for the Biden administration have argued that the unprecedented number of "encounters," as they call them, at the border indicate a get-tough approach to illegal immigration coupled with a compassion for asylum seekers.

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The "system is broken," they tell Americans, because of actions taken by the previous administration. But policies put in place by President Trump proved extremely effective at deterring illegal immigration. President Biden rolled back most of these policies as soon as he took office while putting in place others that have encouraged the massive waves of illegal immigration we are witnessing right now.

If the Biden administration were returning illegal crossers back across the border or to their home countries, or detaining them while they wait for immigration hearings as is required under current law, there would be much less outrage at the situation. Instead, the administration has released over a million illegal immigrants into the United States knowing full well that they are overwhelmingly economic migrants, not legitimate asylum seekers.

Then there is the issue of so-called "got-aways," illegal aliens who take advantage of Border Patrol agents overwhelmed with the processing of millions of other illegal entrants. In fiscal year 2022 alone, the Border Patrol was able to reliably estimate that 600,000 people had evaded apprehension and successfully made it into the United States illegally. We have no idea who these people are, or where they are now, or what they are doing.

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is promising to address the border crisis with oversight and legislative reforms. A serious step toward that end is the Border Safety and Security Act (H.R. 29) recently introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

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The bill creates a non-pandemic-related authority for DHS to turn away illegal aliens at the border. DHS would have the option to either detain asylum seekers pending their hearings, return them to the country from which they entered to await their hearings -- as was done under the Remain in Mexico program -- or return them to their home countries.

House leadership should move quickly to get Roy's bill passed. The longer they wait, the worse the border crisis will become as the Biden administration grows more emboldened in its flouting of the letter and intent of existing immigration laws by claiming its discretion to admit illegal immigrants -- or to disguise them as legal by abusing parole authority -- is unlimited.

A handful of House Republicans are standing in the way of getting Roy's bill passed, arguing that it would totally prevent foreign nationals from making asylum claims.

This is completely false. It would only require DHS to comply with existing law and detain asylum seekers until they have a hearing with an immigration judge.

Right now, the Biden administration is using the asylum system as cover to release hundreds of thousands of individuals into the United States who make frivolous or fraudulent asylum claims, in many cases granting them work authorization.

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If Roy's bill clears the House, it will put pressure on the Democrat-controlled Senate to take it up. Last year, nine Senators in the Democrat caucus voted to extend the use of Title 42, the measure put in place by the Trump administration that enabled Customs and Border Protection to quickly expel illegal border crossers.

As Secretary Mayorkas becomes increasingly defiant of Congress and with an eye toward the 2024 election, with voters already heavily favoring Republicans on immigration, will vulnerable Democrats reject a commonsense approach to stemming the border crisis?

Much damage has already been done andRoy's bill will stem the bleeding at the border, but there remain other remedies that must be applied. Congress should prohibit migrants who have passed through a safe third country from claiming asylum in the United States.

No doubt many who are arriving at our southern border are seeking a better life, and many are hoping to escape poverty or other deplorable conditions back home -- but these are not legal conditions for asylum.

Congress must respect and reiterate the original intent of the asylum system to prevent future abuses by the executive branch.

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There is no good reason for members of Congress who say they want to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the United States to oppose Roy's border bill.They should enthusiastically promote and support it.

The Biden administration will not secure the border on its own initiative, no matter the cost to the American people. Congress must act now.

Lou Di Leonardo is a resident of Fairfax County, Virginia, who served as a founding member of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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Republicans say they want to secure the border. Then why are they ...

Leading Republicans like former President Donald Trump, and at least two possible 2024 White House contenders, are increasingly focused on battles around LGBTQ issues and education -- a dynamic that political operatives say is likely only to intensify in the lead up to next year's election.

"We are in a cultural, cold civil war right now, Robert Blizzard, a GOP pollster, told ABC News.

I think that Republicans, just as Democrats on their side, are looking for the strongest warrior to lead their cause into '24, Blizzard said. And I think that that's part of the reason why you're seeing Republican candidates or presumptive Republican candidates for president start to lay down some policies and some positions to establish their credibility in that battle"

While Republican strategists have preached the idea that GOP voters want a revival of Trump's presidential policies without his bombast and baggage, other operatives say the voters have different preferences, which are set to dominate the party's 2024 primary.

That appetite is seemingly being manifested in new policies and legislative pushes by Trump himself as well as governors weighing White House aspirations and others, all not long after a midterm in which expected Republican gains were sharply curtailed over a perceived excess on social issues and focus on the 2020 election, strategists said.

Exit polling backs up this view: Surveys showed midterm voters cared strongly about abortion access while disapproving of Trump-brand election denialism, as younger people and independents broke for Democrats despite widespread disapproval of President Joe Biden and concern about the economy and high inflation, according to an analysis for ABC News.

Among the GOP grassroots, though, the mood is different, some in the party told ABC News -- which could be crucial in deciding who is nominated in the next general election.

"They want more You talk to activists at committee meetings and stuff like that, that's their focus," said one former official in Trumps administration, who asked not to be identified given the sensitivities of their current political work.

The contours of this are already coming into view on several issues, with proposals stretching the bounds of previous battlefields.

On education, Trump has called for school principals to be elected while cutting federal dollars for any school or program that teaches "critical race theory," which historically refers to a higher-education concept not taught in K-12 classes but which is now linked by some conservatives to curriculum related to racial differences and oppression.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, thought to be Trump's biggest rival in the 2024 primary -- though he has pushed back on questions about his future -- has waged a high-profile fight to get the Advanced Placement course on African American studies revised in his state.

And South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who hasn't ruled out a 2024 bid, has ordered her state's education department to review materials for "divisive concepts."

On COVID-19, DeSantis has cited his record of rolling back what he called unnecessary restrictions early in the pandemic, while Noem cast herself as the leader of the "freest state" in the country for the lack of some restrictions to begin with, which she said were government overreach.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at the South Carolina State House, Jan. 28, 2023 in Columbia, SC.

Win Mcnamee/Getty Images, FILE

"When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom's linchpin," DeSantis said in a statement last month as he backed a permanent ban on COVID-19 mandates.

Perhaps the issue that's gotten the most attention among the prospective primary field is transgender rights.

In recent years, Trump and other Republicans have highlighted instances of transgender athletes competing in college sports, which they say is unfair, though trans athletes and advocates say that is an oversimplification of the underlying health and science and competing against another gender is its own problem. New policies go significantly further than what Trump discussed as president and as a 2016 and 2020 candidate, when he described himself as friendly to some in the LGBTQ community.

In a sprawling and strict plan released last month, Trump urged punishing doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors and passing a law banning such procedures for minors in all 50 states. In a video statement then, he called it "left-wing gender insanity."

DeSantis has also pushed for state rules restricting minors' access to gender-affirming care though he, too, has expanded beyond minors, requesting 12 state universities provide data on the number of students and others who received gender-affirming treatment over the last five years.

Noem signed legislation in South Dakota to ban gender-affirming care for minors, arguing at the time that South Dakotas kids are our future. With this legislation, we are protecting kids. And former Vice President Mike Pence's advocacy group Advancing American Freedom is set to rally conservatives against transgender-affirming policies in schools with a public relations blitz. (Pence indicated to ABC News David Muir last year that hes weighing whether to make 2024 presidential bid.)

Trump's plan included a proposed executive order that would direct all federal agencies to "cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age" -- restrictions that, if enacted, would help prevent transgender people from existing in public life, advocates say.

Self-interested candidates are going after transgender people to score political points. Its normal to not understand what it means to be transgender at first, and extremist politicians are exploiting that for their own gain," Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director of the political arm of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement.

"Last years midterms elections are proof that while this may gain votes from the most fringe voters in the primaries, its backfires in the general elections. Most Americans agree that there are higher priorities, like the rising cost of living, than attacking transgender people," Heng-Lehtinen said.

Republicans who spoke to ABC News said they are still divided over how far to take the fight over transgender rights. Others, however, said there is indeed a desire among conservatives for even stricter measures.

"I think we're in the majority, people that think that it should be limited to an individual at a certain age. I don't think the parent has a right to make that decision for a child, because that child is not an adult," said Moye Graham, the chair the Clarendon County GOP in South Carolina, an early primary state.

In a nominating contest though, Republicans interviewed nearly all agreed: There's little downside to stretching the boundary of the political discussion on transgender rights and other culture issues.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks after being sworn in to begin his second term during an inauguration ceremony outside the Old Capitol Jan. 3, 2023, in Tallahassee, Fla.

Lynne Sladky/AP, FILE

"When it comes to some of the public education stuff, the [critical race theory] stuff, the transgender stuff, especially with kids, I don't think there's a primary electorate risk for going too far whatsoever," said a longtime Trump aide close to his 2024 team, who asked not to be quoted by name.

The general election next year, may be a different story, strategists and local officials acknowledged.

Republicans are still sifting through the aftermath of the 2022 midterms, when the GOP only narrowly took the House and lost a Senate seat despite historic tailwinds based on disapproval of President Biden.

That has even some conservatives warning against focusing too much on social issues -- or going too far on them.

"I think people ... want to have a community that they're comfortable living in and don't want things, particularly in schools, pushed down on their kids that they don't believe in. But the bigger issues end up being the economic ones. What's happening in terms of inflation, where are we going to have growth in the economy so we can continue to prosper?" said Club for Growth President David McIntosh.

"I've seen tendencies of candidates who pick up, maybe, a trend that they think's happening in the base of the Republican Party and then in order to jump out in front of the parade, come up with ideas that are just terrible ideas," McIntosh said.

Not every would-be 2024 candidate is culture warrior. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who said on ABC's "This Week" in February that he's considering a run, has largely endorsed his state's "live and let die" mantra; and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors -- which the state legislature overrode.

"The Republican Party that I grew up with believed in a restrained government that did not jump in the middle of every issue. And in this case, it is a very sensitive matter that involves parents, and it involves physicians. And we ought to yield to that decision-making, unless there's a compelling state reason," Hutchinson said in 2021.

Potential Republican contenders like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan have also not sought to advance the same kind of transgender-related legislation as DeSantis, Noem and Trump.

Still, operatives said they are anticipating a cycle of escalation as the 2024 primary takes center stage.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you saw people try to one up each other, maybe going a little bit further on some of these issues," said Sam DeMarco, the Allegheny County GOP chair in Pennsylvania, a battleground state. "And I think the American people will judge what they believe is prudent or not."

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