Posted on 07/28/2017 9:34:04 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Defense Secretary James Mattis was caught off guard by President Trump's announcement that he was banning transgender people from serving in the military, according to a New York Times report.
Mattis, who was on vacation at the time of Trump's decision, only had one day's worth of notice before Trump tweeted his announcement of the policy, the paper reported.
The report described him as "appalled."
Sources close to the Defense secretary told the Times that Mattis was infuriated by the tweets, and saw them as an insult to transgender Americans currently serving in the military.
On Wednesday morning, Trump wrote on Twitter that after consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military."
"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail, Trump added. Thank you." A letter from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford on Thursday indicated that the policy would not be changed until the White House issued further "guidance."
There will be no modifications to the current policy until the presidents direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance, Dunford wrote.
Mattis, according to the Times, had been quietly lobbying Republicans for months to defeat a GOP-led amendment to the 2017 spending bill that would prevent the military from spending money on transition surgery or hormone therapy for transgender service members. The report states that Mattis initially resisted the policy allowing transgender Americans to serve in the armed forces, but accepted that the policy was to remain in place.
His predecessor, former Obama Defense Secretary Ash Carter, ripped the Trump administration for reversing the policy.
To choose service members on other grounds than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military, Carter said in a statement. There are already transgender individuals who are serving capably and honorably.
"This action would also send the wrong signal to a younger generation thinking about military service.
Carter wasn't the only critic of Trump's announcement. Sen John McCain
(R-Ariz.) joined several colleagues to criticize the policy, as well as the decision to announce it in tweets.
There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train and deploy to leave the military regardless of their gender identity, McCain said Wednesday after the announcement.
He called Trump's announcement yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter.
Thousands of service members could be affected by Trump's new policy. A 2016 study found that anywhere from 2,000 to 11,000 active-duty service members identify as transgender. The study noted that not all of these service members will seek transition surgery or hormone therapy while part of the military.
Yeh Mad Dog Mattis outraged over trannies. I doubt it.
11,000 active service members now serving?
BS double exclamation!!!
What a bunch of F’n liars.
I dare you to say that to his face.
Not sure.... Mathis has been off the reservation it seems for awhile
Not sure if he was a good pick or not at this point
Has Mattis ever put his war history books down for long enough to notice a woman in the room? Does he have a clear idea of what a woman is?
Red flag
I bet he’s not...
They spelled ‘ecstatic’ wrong...
You’re too kind to him. He sometimes seems to be a programmed plant instructed to do things that destroy the US.
Not sure if it’s fake news. Once during the campaign he was asked about gays in the military, his answer was something like, “I don’t care who people sleep with.”. IIRC... Maybe he is a social liberal and has no problem with trannies, etc.
I have it on good second-hand authority that the friend of an uncle of a professor of a college where my aunt’s child went heard it on the radio that the mother of a man who read it on the internet heard that some guy was talking about, on the subway, that he heard his barber met a prostitute who saw a police report about a poster about this girl who saw on TV that three guys in a bar were talking about a spokesman who mentioned in a press conference that he heard his father had mentioned that he heard some shortwave radio guy that saw clouds that lettered out that a podcaster had seen some magazine that said a postal employee delivered a letter that read that Kevin Bacon had overheard from a news anchor that four girls in an elementary school mentioned that their parents had heard on their CB radio that a trucker had saw some guy who said that he had a friend who knew a roomate of his the read about a blogger who posted that he had a girlfriend that overheard at a Phish concert a morse code message came in that that someone saw on the internet that a cat had a tattoo of a message that cave drawings revealed that a message from a race living in the Pelaides star cluster showed that a mime had shouted that the Pope issued a directive that signage on a bus read that Ronald McDonald revealed ants had formed into words on the ground that showed that the Alien guy on TV demonstrated that a bunch of people standing at Levine and Broad Street showed that Mattis was appalled.
LOL!!!!!
How’d you find my “source”?
It was a lot of work!
When you men get home and face an anti-war protester,
look at him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend,
because she knows shes dating a ..............."
Maj. Gen. James Mattis
Just posted a link to a Mattis report. Worth reading.
When Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked him whether gay and lesbian troops could continue to serve openly in a Trump administration, Mattis offered 16 words that are as vital a national motto as E pluribus unum:
“Frankly, Mattis said. I’ve never cared much about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with.”
Unnamed sources, to whom Mattis revealed his mind. IIRC Pres.Trump tweeted but also issued some position paper about it, maybe I'm wrong. At any rate, AFAIC the MSM is pure bulls*** unless PROVEN true by "real" sources.
Too bad he said that, right? We could have gotten a more appropriate former military man to fill his spot. Someone like...John McCain. Oh, well.
You might want to reread that quote. It’s classic “sidestepping” a question.
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