Transistor vs. Transgender: Manufactured Outrage Over CHIPS Act Rhetoric

"Transistor vs. transgender" isn't a malapropism — it's manufactured outrage. Trump wasn't confusing microchips with social politics. He was attacking the DEI provisions attached to the $52B CHIPS Act — the standard federal requirements pushing companies to diversify hiring, offer child-care plans, and partner with minority-owned businesses. His hyperbole (claiming firms need "transgender" execs to qualify for funding) got misheard as "transistor" — and the internet ran with the funnier, safer story. The real story: it was intentional political rhetoric, not a gaffe. Engineers can relax — nobody's confusing your circuit boards for culture war talking points.