Trump is playing the cultural zeitgeist of the moment with his trademark cruelty, going out of his way to demonize people with zero regard for the impact on human lives. And with its quick capitulation, the NCAA, under [Former Massachusetts Governor] Baker’s leadership, is embracing that cruelty[…]

Against the backdrop of his own evolution on transgender rights in Massachusetts, Baker’s cave-in to Trump is unsurprising. […] Before Baker was against transgender rights, he was for them. And before that, he was against them.

Under different leadership, the NCAA once stood up to laws it considered discriminatory. In 2016, the NCAA pulled events out of North Carolina after that state passed a law that required transgender people to use bathrooms of the sex they were assigned at birth. […]

Trump’s ultimate goal has nothing to do with fairness. It’s about erasing those who identify as transgender from existence. Banning transgender women from college competition is just one step along the way. By accepting his executive order without any pushback, Baker and the NCAA help him down that path.