In the very online world of social media and politics, there’s a personality who embodies idiocy and xenophobia: meet Chaya Raichik, the personality behind the infamous Libs of TikTok (and Twitter) account. Yesterday, Raichik gave a jaw-dropping interview with the Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz. The result was a perfectly focused reflection of the bizarre times we live in, where internet trolls get to dine with presidents and sway public policy.
If you don’t know about Libs of TikTok, count yourself one of the luck ones, because Raichik is one of the vilest characters to emerge from The Great Trans Panic of 2023. She has become the epicenter for targeting gay people, trans people, liberals, progressives, and anyone beyond her uniformed, twisted, made-up right-wing world. She takes great satisfaction from especially harassing those in the LGBTQ+ community, turning them into targets of online hate.
With her Libs of TikTok brand, Raichik somehow found her way from obscure online agitator to real-world political influencer, aligning with Donald Trump, and even snagging a spot on Oklahoma’s Library Media Advisory Committee. If you live in Oklahoma, you should be embarrassed that your state government has outsourced the decision-making of what kids in Oklahoma get to read in your schools to a stochastic terrorist.
The interview with Raichik, conducted capably and professionally by Taylor Lorenz, a journalist from the Washington Post, can only be described as the most perfectly defined self-own interview of the recent memory. Raichik shows up wearing a T-shirt with Lorenz’s face on it (no subtlety points there), and then proceeds to dodge answering Lorenz’s questions by being about as stupid as possible. From endorsing the Great Replacement Theory to throwing out bizarre comments on culture and immigration, Raichik’s performance was less about answers and more about one-liners with no basis in reason.
Here’s a paraphrased example from the interview (36:55) of how astoundingly dumb Raichik is while talking about gender and trans ideology:
| TL: | What are some things that you’d like to see meaningful changes with in terms of policies. |
| CR: | I want to eradicate gender ideology from public life completely. |
| TL: | From public life completely? |
| CR: | Yeah, the whole thing is built on a lie. |
| TL: | Well, you certainly have a gender yourself. |
| CR: | No, I don’t. I have a sex. |
| TL: | I agree that gender is a completely social construct. |
| CR: | No. It doesn’t exist. There are zero genders. I have a sex, I’m female. |
| TL: | So you want to live in a sort of post gender world where everybody can kind of express themselves through personality, however they like? |
| CR: | That’s what it is now, but they’re just calling a gender. |
| TL: | Would you still be okay with people wearing dresses if you know they appear to be biologically male or women shaving their heads? Would still be okay with that as long as they’re not calling themselves by a different name? |
| CR: | Don’t sexualize kids. |
And there it is. A non-opinion ending with the same bullsh*t about endangering kids. She agrees that people should live whatever lives they want. She clearly says this, but then labels the phenomenon as ‘gender’, which she also claims doesn’t exist. What a galactic moron.
Lorenz goes on to remind her that ‘one group of young people that’s constantly sexualized is young women’. But Raichik cannot accept that “normative” hetero society has forever presented kids within adult themes, through beauty pageants, fashion, literature, and all manner of situations. Clearly, exploitation of kids is terrible, but there is no equivalence to the false trans panic, like Raichik claims. (Lorenz’s counterpoint was made authentically, but misses the mark as a rebuttal scenario, IMO.)
Then Raichik’s attempt to play the victim, accusing Lorenz of strategically releasing the interview to catch her off-guard during Shabbat. As if the timing of a publication is the real issue here, not the content of her character or the implications of her platform.
The aftermath of this interview was as polarized as you’d expect. Raichik’s fans claimed victory, seeing the interview as a triumph against mainstream media. On the flip side, anyone with a sense of decency found themselves scratching their heads, wondering how we got to a point where this level of discourse is not only accepted but celebrated by some.
What’s utterly frustrating is the clear display of Raichik’s inability (or unwillingness) to engage in any meaningful conversation about the real-world consequences of her actions. Instead, she hides behind a facade of trolling and controversy, all while influencing policies that affect real people’s lives. The support she’s garnered, despite the evident lack of substance or empathy in her platform, is a sad commentary on the state of our society and its political polarization. Bad people want to be part of a club, and Raichik’s hate club serves them well.
This story is more than just a spicy piece of internet drama; it’s a wake-up call. It’s about recognizing the power of social media to shape our world in ways so that xenophobia becomes the underlying rally cry. It’s a reminder of the responsibility that comes with influence and the urgent need for accountability in the digital age.
Libs of TikTok is a hate organization, not just because of what Raichik says or does, but because it perpetuates her fandom to violent and deadly ends. She’s dumb as a stump but also knows her influence has tragic results, and she doesn’t care as long as the money keeps flowing, and her influence remains strong.
