Trump suckers us again with attack on our trans troops
If you are an open-minded person and have a good heart, and you believe that every human being is of equal value and deserves equal respect, you’re just the sucker President Donald Trump is looking for. Chances are you are outraged (or at least disturbed) that Trump announced plans to ban transgender troops from the military, saying he would not allow them to serve in any capacity.
Perhaps you’ll respond like the LGBT congressional caucus, which tweeted:
BREAKING: @realDonaldTrump spits in the face of brave, transgender soldiers ALREADY serving openly & defending their country #betrayal
Or like one of the dozens of Democratic members of Congress to condemn the decision. For example, Rep. Mark Pocan, who tweeted:
@realDonaldTrump just told 1+ million Americans they are not equal or valued. That is unacceptable from the President of the United States.
The critics of Trump’s action are good, patriotic people who believe in the values embedded in the U.S. Constitution. In other words ... suckers.
Trump is playing them. Playing you. The president is losing on health care. He is losing in foreign policy. He is losing — bigly — in the investigation of the Russian connections to his campaign, his supporters, his family.
He needs something — anything — to fire up his most loyal supporters, who themselves have shown some recent signs of wavering. So he used what has worked in the past for him and what he knows will work in the future: hate and prejudice. Trump tweeted: 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. Thank you
There are well over a million activeduty men and women in the U.S. military. A few thousand are transgender. The cost to accommodate them is small, and their willingness to serve — to risk their lives for their country — is huge. But it has no value to a president who desperately needs a diversion.
(And this was before we found out that the military spends five to 10 times more on erectile-dysfunction pills and treatment than on transgender troops.)
The president is willing to sacrifice the careers of active military personnel because it will please members of his political base and might improve his opinion-poll numbers. And, based on all the news reports, it seems to be working. But there is truth in comments from politicians like Rep. Mark Takano of California, who tweeted:
The president just went on Twitter to attack 15,000 trans service members who are risking their lives to protect our freedom. How brave.