The big news out of Washington last week was the health-care vote. But that bit of positive news shouldn’t erase another big development: Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from military service.
It’s not surprising that Trump has jettisoned yet another vulnerable group. He tosses aside anybody who gets in the way of something he wants – or can serve as a hate-magnet for his political base.
I’m reminded again of the conclusion by the New York Times’ David Brooks, that Trump and his family are amoral. When Trump sent out his early-morning tweets, he cited concerns over “disruption” in the service and the “tremendous” cost of gender-transition services. But I don’t think he based his decision on cost or a belief that transgender service members cause disruption. I think he simply traded them for something he wanted.
Some conservatives in Congress objected to having taxes pay for gender-transition medical services for people in the military. Those conservatives threatened to block funding for a wall on the Mexican border. Trump wants the wall. Transgender people in the military? Gone. And the next day, the House approved spending $1.6 billion to build Trump’s wall.
Trump hadn’t given any indication that he cares about the costs of health care in the military. (Not that he would have read about it, but the Washington Post reported that the military spends $84 million on erectile dysfunction medicines every year: “10 times the cost of annual transition-related medical care for active-duty transgender servicemembers,” the Post said.)
And it’s not that Trump is necessarily prejudiced against transgender people. If it were prejudice, there’d be some hope that he could change. But that involves principles, and Trump doesn’t seem to have any principles other than a belief in his right to get whatever he wants. I don’t think he cares about transgender people, one way or the other. He just wanted the wall.
As David Brooks wrote, in the Trump family, “there is no attachment to any external moral truth or ethical code. There is just naked capitalism.”
Trump’s action last week is incredibly harmful to the transgender community, of course. It’s harmful to everyone in the LGBTQ community, and to the fabric and collective conscience of the country. Trump may not bear any animosity toward transgender people, but plenty of Americans do. And Trump, as he has so many times, has fed their hate, encouraged it, and made it respectable.
So it was a relief, and provided a little encouragement, to see members of Congress lash out at Trump – not only Democrats, but a handful of Republicans. Iowa’s Joni Ernst. Utah’s Orrin Hatch. Alaska’s John Sullivan.
John McCain said there is “no reason” to force out people who are able to serve, “regardless of their gender identity.”
Alabama’s Richard Shelby: “You ought to treat everybody fairly and give everybody a chance to serve.”
North Carolina’s Thom Tillis said he would have “significant objections” to singling out “a specific group of American patriots.”
General Joe Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military “will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.”
And, Politico reported, when Republican Representative Vicky Hartzler had tried earlier to prohibit gender-transition services for active-duty service members, 24 Republicans voted against her.
Trump may still get his way. But meager though it is, the pushback from the few Republicans is encouraging. The country has moved – a long way – from where it was only a few years ago. We still have far to go, but in this terrible age of Trump, the Republicans’ reaction was both something to smile about, and something to strengthen our spine.
“Their fight is our fight,” New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand e-mailed to her constituents on Thursday night.
What’s tweeting out of the White House is evil, and all of us need to start calling it by name.
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2017.
David Brooks isn’t qualified to speak about other people’s moral failings.
Checking up on my news, am amazed to discover verbatim transcripts of the President of the US conversations with two other heads of state have been published by Washington Post.
He may be all manner of negatives, but he is not lying when he says he was(is) wiretapped.
Elements in the Intel community are engaged in a Federal power struggle, fronting for whom? If Trump is driven out in a political coup, as appears increasingly likely, what will be the consequences?
The Nation isn’t descending into Banana Republic status, we’re heading there in a free-fall.
Leaking doesn’t have to involve wire taps. The whistleblower could be someone on the inside terrified by what Trump is doing and feels compelled to warn us.
Do you who oppose Trump ever consider that there may be reasons other than hate to justify policy decisions? It is so tired and really quite lazy that no matter the issue in question your responses are always the same.
Take for instance that a person on hormone replacement therapy is not unlike a person who insulin dependent. Citizens who require insulin are considered unfit to serve because of their dependence on a medical supply that cannot be readily at hand in moments of combat.
If you bother looking, there are many more reasons to agree with this decision- but that requires effort and to be less judge mental of your ideological opponents.
http://thefederalist.com/2017/07/27/trump-keeping-trans-people-military-good-decision/
By Walt Heyer- a male who has had gender reassignment surgery
@ Tom Janowski
This leak did nothing to warn us or inform us of anything dire. It serves only to further undermine Trumps already tottering credibility with foreign leaders, and illustrate how little control he (and by extension ANY of our elected officials) have over our intelligence and MIC.
Yes, he is slowly being hamstrung by leaks and unsubstantiated accusations etc (recall, NO member of US intell or Justice dept actually did forensic work on the DNC servers – it was all done by a private firm and accepted at face value!!?? And on this we pin all our accusations while the Seth Rich angle/ murder is crammed down the memory hole).
What does this say about the rest of our Govt and the threats and possible revelations waiting to be unleashed on the non-compliant? Why is our economy still spinning down the toilet, capable seemingly of creating wealth only for a handful? Our foreign policy degenerated to one massively debt-financed disastrous military intervention after another, again, benefiting only a handful of individuals? Common sense domestic policy initiatives that have widespread support languish and morph into big business give-aways that produce no tangible benefit, except for a relative handful, or stall to complete inaction.
Congress, normally gridlocked and more than willing to abrogate most of their responsibilities to the pres, suddenly swings into action to tie the president’s hands, but not on any issue that directly effects most Americans.
I am no Trump supporter, but his struggles are dragging into light the fact that our entire federal Govt is facing a crisis of legitimacy, long in the making.
@Miller
Anything that undermines Trump’s credibility, to those who thinks he has some, is a good thing. Anything that stops Trump from carripying out his insane plans is a good thing.
Resist, provoke, persist.