Skip to content

Josh Hammer vs. transgender people

Josh Hammer is a conservative American author, lawyer, and anti-transgender activist. Hammer frequently publishes anti-trans writing in Newsweek.

Background

Joshua Benjamin Hammer was born on February 12, 1989  in Westchester County, New York. Hammer earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 2011. After working in anti-trast research, Hammer earned a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 2016. After working at law form Kirkland & Ellis and clerking for Judge James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Hammer was an editor at The Daily Wire and contributor at The Blaze. In 2020, Hammer joined Newsweek as opinion editor. In 2020, Hammer joined Creators Syndicate as a syndicated columnist.

Anti-trans activism

In October 2022, Hammer attacked Dylan Mulvaney after Mulvaney interviewed President Joe Biden.

President Biden’s recent interview with transexual TikToker Dylan Mulvaney is a clarifying event for anyone who pays attention to America’s culture wars. The first notable aspect of the interview was the mere fact that it happened — that the president of the United States, in the home stretch of a midterm election season, deemed it a prudent use of his time to sit down with such a radical activist. The second notable aspect of the interview is what our senile commander-in-chief said in the course of his conversation.

At one point, Mulvaney asked our hapless supremo if he thinks states should be permitted to “ban gender-affirming health care.” (NB: “banning gender-affirming healthcare” is Newspeak for “protecting innocents from the delusional, Hippocratic Oath-violative predations of those who seek to chemically castrate or hormonally pervert others.”) Biden’s extremely telling answer: “I don’t think any state or anybody should have the right to do that — as a moral question and as a legal question. I just think it’s wrong.”

Following the September 2025 murder of Charlie Kirk, Hammer wrote:

The body of my friend Charlie Kirk, who was tragically assassinated last week during a campus event in Utah by an alleged leftist transgender-adjacent â€œfurry” fetishist, had barely returned home to Arizona before some grifters ostensibly on the right started trying to capitalize on his memory. Instead of focusing on the metastasizing evil of a distinctly leftist political violence or the fact that transgenderism had yet again found itself implicated in a horrific shooting, as any sane conservative would have done, these agents of chaos decided it would be most appropriate to “just ask questions” about — you guessed it — the Jews.

Hammer promoted the 2023 anti-trans book Lost in Trans Nation by Miriam Grossman.

Hammer is host of The Josh Hammer Show, produced by Newsweek. Guests have included Heather Mac Donald, James Lindsay, Ben Shapiro, and Leor Sapir. Hammer also hosted America on Trial with Josh Hammer.

References

Curtis, Amy (October 14, 2025). Josh Hammer Joins the Salem Podcast Network. Town Hall https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2025/10/14/josh-hammer-salem-media-n2664918

Staff report (November 2, 2023). Newsweek Launches Josh Hammer Weekly Radio Show. Talkers https://talkers.com/2023/11/02/newsweek-launches-josh-hammer-weekly-radio-show/

Brown, Michael F. (June 5, 2023). New pro-Israel group claims criticism of George Soros isn’t anti-Semitic. Electronic Intifada https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/new-pro-israel-group-claims-criticism-george-soros-isnt-anti-semitic

Gais, Hannah; Hayden, Michael Edison (December 11, 2022). White Nationalists, Other Republicans Brace for “Total War.” Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/12/11/white-nationalists-other-republicans-brace-total-war

Ward, Ian (December 9, 2022). Critics Call It Theocratic and Authoritarian. Young Conservatives Call It an Exciting New Legal Theory. Politico https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/09/revolutionary-conservative-legal-philosophy-courts-00069201

Hayden, Michael Edison (November 4, 2022). Newsweek Embraces the Anti-Democracy Hard Right. Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/11/04/newsweek-embraces-anti-democracy-hard-right

Koppelman, Andrew (February 14, 2022). Josh Hammer and originalism’s entropy. The Hill https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/594070-josh-hammer-and-originalisms-entropy/

Mahoney, Emily L. (June 16, 2022). MAGA influencers flock to Florida, chasing political clout and connections. Tampa Bay Times https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/06/16/maga-influencers-flock-to-florida-chasing-political-clout-and-connections/

Stahl, Jeremy (June 15, 2020). Conservative Activists and Pundits Are Melting Down Over Gorsuch’s Embrace of LGBTQ Rights. Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/carrie-severino-meltdown-neil-gorsuch-lgbtq-rights.html

Selected writing by Hammer

Hammer, Josh (February 2, 2026). Is This the End of Transgender Hysteria? Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/is-this-the-end-of-transgender-hysteria-11474700

Hammer, Josh (January 14, 2026). In Transgender Sports Case, SCOTUS Must Side with Truth and Common Sense. Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/in-transgender-sports-case-scotus-must-side-with-truth-and-common-sense-11359767

Hammer, Josh (September 19, 2025). A fringe on the right is twisting Charlie Kirk’s memory.  Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-09-19/charlie-kirk-israel-jews

Hammer, Josh (September 4, 2025). The Conversation That America Needs To Have on Transgenderism. Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/josh-hammer-report-conversation-that-america-needs-have-transgenderism-opinion-2124460

Hammer, Josh (June 6, 2025). How Democrats Can Stop Alienating Young Men: Some Unsolicited Advice | Opinion. Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/how-democrats-can-stop-alienating-young-men-some-unsolicited-advice-opinion-2081758

Hammer, Josh (March 6, 2025). Democrats are drifting dangerously out of sync with the American people. Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-03-06/democrats-political-center-transgender-athletes-immigration

Hammer, Josh (December 6, 2024). In Transgender Case, Can SCOTUS Cut to the Moral Heart of the Issue? Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/transgender-case-can-scotus-cut-moral-heart-issue-opinion-1996483

Hammer, Josh (May 19, 2023). Release the Manifesto. Townhall https://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2023/05/19/release-the-manifesto-n2623457

Hammer, Josh (October 27, 2022). Now is the time for a strong social conservatism. Spectator World https://spectator.com/article/now-is-the-time-for-a-strong-social-conservatism/

Book

Hammer, Josh (2025). Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West, Radius Book Group, ISBN 978-1635769739

Media

Sky News Australia with Rita Panahi and Josh Hammer (December 1, 2025). Trump administration trying to ‘crack down’ on transgender agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3eAVxwVTsQ

Jonathan Harris with Josh Hammer and Michael Grimm (March 31, 2024). Trans Visibility Day Lands on Easter, Conservatives Blame Biden | Newsmax | Jonathan Harris. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSTgAmSYWfA

Sky News Australia with Rita Panahi and Josh Hammer (March 5, 2024). America ‘wild, wild west’ of no regulation around transgender surgeries: Josh Hammer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfqmBY5xJA

The Josh Hammer Show with Josh Hammer and Leor Sapir (May 2, 2023). Transgenderism in America: A Great Medical Scandal (Feat: Leor Sapir). https://art19.com/shows/the-josh-hammer-show/episodes/32ad7c82-505f-43ab-918a-35bb5e9dcabd

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Newsweek (newsweek.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Jews Against Soros (jewsagainstsoros.com)

Creators (creators.com)

Horowitz Freedom Center (horowitzfreedomcenter.org)

Young America’s Foundation (yaf.org)

Claremont Institute (claremont.org)

Edmund Burke Foundation (burke.foundation)

  • Josh Hammer
  • burke.foundation/people/josh-hammer/ [archive]

Palm Beach Freedom Institute (palmbeachfreedom.org)

Article 3 Project (article3project.org)

Internet Accountability Project (article3project.org)

American Moment (americanmoment.org)

United Jewish Gun Coalition (ujgc.org)