Posted on 07/26/2017 2:26:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is high-grade political cover for any congressional Republican who’s inclined to oppose the ban but leery of becoming a lightning rod for the right. McCain will be the lightning rod. And meanwhile other Republican pols can point to him and say, “I’ll defer to the war hero’s judgment.”
Agree or disagree, though, he asks a good question. The Pentagon was already reviewing the trans policy and planning to make a recommendation later this year. Why couldn’t Trump wait for that?
The Department of Defense has already decided to allow currently-serving transgender individuals to stay in the military, and many are serving honorably today. Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. 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. We should all be guided by the principle that any American who wants to serve our country and is able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so—and should be treated as the patriots they are.
“The Department of Defense is currently conducting a study on the medical obligations it would incur, the impact on military readiness, and related questions associated with the accession of transgender individuals who are not currently serving in uniform and wish to join the military. I do not believe that any new policy decision is appropriate until that study is complete and thoroughly reviewed by the Secretary of Defense, our military leadership, and the Congress.
The cynical theory for why Trump moved now is that he needed to change the subject by any means necessary from the many chaotic storylines plaguing him — Russiagate, the Sessions feud, the Senate GOP voting on a health-care “mystery bill,” Rex Tillerson possibly leaving, Anthony Scaramucci planning purges in the White House. The extra-cynical theory is that Trump’s particularly worried that his dogging of the populist Sessions will start to alienate his base, so he’s giving them some culture-war material to keep them happy. But there’s a non-cynical theory too, per Politico: A dispute over whether to fund sex-change surgery for U.S. troops was holding up a spending bill in the House that included money for all sorts of other Trump priorities, including the border wall. In order to resolve that dispute, he simply announced a new policy this morning. And apparently pulled the rug out from under his Defense secretary in doing so:
That’s why House lawmakers took the matter to the Trump administration. And when Defense Secretary James Mattis refused to immediately upend the policy, they went straight to the White House. Trump — never one for political correctness — was all too happy to oblige…
The announcement, multiple sources said, did not sit well with Mattis, who appeared to be trying to avoid the matter in recent weeks. Congressional sources say Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), the original author of the House’s transgender proposal, tried numerous times to phone Mattis to discuss the transgender issue.
Sessions and Tillerson are already on their way out. What’s one more cabinet secretary at this point? Note, by the way, that House lawmakers weren’t asking for a total ban on trans soldiers, which is what Trump announced this morning. All they wanted was a ban on using taxpayer money to pay for gender reassignment surgery. Why did Trump go so much further in his order? (“This is like someone told the White House to light a candle on the table and the WH set the whole table on fire,” said one House aide to Politico.) Who the hell knows? It’s cost him at least one celebrity fan, though!
There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them? https://t.co/WzjypVC8Sr
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) July 26, 2017
The article you want to read about this morning’s Twitter-nouncement is this one from the Examiner, which convincingly argues that the major players here, namely the Pentagon and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, were completely blindsided by it. Supposedly “a handful of the most senior people [at Defense] were aware of the change” but it’s unclear how much advance notice they were given and how much of an opportunity for input they were afforded. Trump being Trump, he may have woken up this morning, decided he need to “shake things up” news-wise, and dialed up Mattis to let him know he was going to pull the plug on Obama’s trans policy on Twitter in five minutes. This quote from an unnamed administration official suggests at least some strategic thought went into it, though: “This forces Democrats in Rust Belt states like Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, to take complete ownership of this issue. How will the blue collar voters in these states respond when senators up for re-election in 2018 like Debbie Stabenow are forced to make their opposition to this a key plank of their campaigns?”
Will Stabenow be forced to do that, though? How much will Rust Belt Democrats really be hurt by disagreeing with Trump on this, especially if they’re getting cover from Republicans like McCain and Ken Buck? Josh Barro argues that it’s all a matter of framing. If the left turns this into an opportunity to lecture the working class about their supposed bigotry against trans people, yeah, it’ll explode in their faces. If they stick to McCain’s point, they should be fine.
The key is to keep the frame about inclusion and service: Allowing capable Americans who wish to serve their country in the military to so do…
I would be more worried about [a backlash] if Trump had rolled out his ban in the politically smart way: by having the Pentagon announce it and then saying he was supporting the decision of his generals. That would have put Trump in a strong position, politically, to say his choice was in the service of military readiness…
Instead, Trump made himself the face of the decision. Trump is unpopular, and a lot of people will default to assuming whatever choice he made on an issue they had not considered deeply was incorrect.
That’s the most inexplicable part of this. If Trump really cared about the policy, he would have had the august, apolitical Mattis announce it. Instead he announced it himself — and not even with a presidential statement. He farted it out on Twitter. Bizarre.
In lieu of an exit question, read veteran J.R. Salzman on the risk faced by trans soldiers in combat. War is tremendously taxing mentally, Salzman notes from experience. How much can you depend on someone in those circumstances who’s already taxed mentally by emotional and psychological issues related to their gender?
Maybe we should let old Juan McLame have a transgender marine or two commit multiple fecal felonies on him and see if he then feels similarly.
Right, Juan. Even transgenders are capable of being traitors like you. Equal rights for traitors.
And the standard is...drumroll, please,.....no trannies. Is it really that complex?
I know vets that have a hard time getting life-saving procedures taken care of the VA as it is right now and this jerk-wad wants the government to supply endless optional surgeries and aftercare to these people. His brain surgery should have been put on hold so a transgender could have been operated on first! What an utter scumbag!
The obvious answer is Trump is not a politician and has no time for endless mind numbing debate. Mattis was silly dallying and of course politicians generally won’t do the right thing when the media will hound them for it. Trump is the first leader to arise in decades and it looks weird to the new era of Americans. The fact that this needed analysis after analysis is, quite frankly, reason enough to kick this policy to the curb. Just time taken away from real problems like North Korea.
Proof that McCain serves Satan?
The fact that untp his dying breath, he advances the argument for pure evil.
I celebrate and rejoice in McCain’s brain cancer. May it be painful and degrading.
One thing you’re not hearing from any politician is, We’re going to take this to the American people and let them decide
He hasn’t been term limited unless God calls him hone.
Nor does John nor probably when he was actually vpin the navy.
McCain himself is not mentally well.
And maybe President Trump did Mattis a favor by taking the heat himself.
Let’s see, this coming from someone who should have been kicked out of the air corp for not making the grade but was allowed to stay because his daddy was a high ranking mucky muck, alrighty then.
Just one more reason McCain’s opinion means less than nothing. In fact whatever he says; chances are the opposite is the right thing to do.
meets requirements?? Requirements are physical, educational, psychological and more. Transgender is known as a mental disorder according to a psychiatric associations. How can any “disorder” qualify?
I guess McShame would approve a tranny sharing the ladies shower with his fat daughter. Oh, that’s right, his daughter is too good to serve her country.
That’s a really good point to make.
Yeah and if it hadn’t been for Daddy and Grandaddy McLame would have been another nameless POW.
And people who need daily dialysis should be accepted for desk jobs too - right John?
“Transsexuals need continuously and carefully monitored hormone treatments to survive. The military is no place for a medical problem like that”.
As POWs, the Geneva Convention would assure them of monitored treatments. s
There are medical and mental fitness standards for the military. Trannies don’t meet the standard.
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