I was talking to a friend of mine who's a teacher in Iowa and, you know, she teaches kids - English is their second language, and they're scared that they're going to get sent home, their family's going to get broken up. Regardless of whether [Donald Trump] does it or not, whether it's true or not, the rhetoric creates a climate of fear and tension, and that's not good for the country.

I think this [ statement that Donald Trump would fight for LGBTQ people] is not just a story of the media spinning people up, but it's a story of special interests on the left, who also feel like their candidate lost, and stoking the flames on the fire because it helps spin up their supporters and help their donations and help their organizations. And it helps, frankly, polarize the country to their short-term benefit and at the expense, frankly, of progress for LGBTQ Americans.

I will tell you my position now, as somebody who is ardently against [Donald Trump], as the sort of standard-bearer of the Republican Party and as sort of an impostor in the conservative movement, is, frankly, cautiously optimistic.

I had folks in the RNC spinning me the night of the election because they were sure that their guy [Donald Trump] was going to lose. But they were trying to make the case the RNC had at least done its job.

That something that really concerns me because I have good reason to believe and be hopeful, rather, this was the best posture of any Republican in history towards LGBTQ issues.

[ Donald Trump] is a man who ran on building a wall. And I know it was about legal immigration, but he did say incredibly vociferous things about Mexican-Americans and the Latino community that, frankly, regardless of if you take him literally or not, which most of his supporters don't - while they took him seriously, they didn't take him literally.

You have a sense that [Donald] Trump will probably reimagine where the Republican Party is on that issue and some others. But then I think conservatives may win in some areas, too - tax reform. So it's just - it's an enormously exciting time in terms of the possibilities.