Trump’s order: Bar all transgender troops from United States military

In December 2015, President Barack Obama’s Pentagon chief, Ash Carter, announced that all military positions would be open to women. Twenty-seven percent said they should not while the rest answered “don’t know”.

Although people can be barred from military service for being obese, having a record of drug use, a felony conviction or a condition as seemingly benign as psoriasis, liberals want transgenderism to be a medical exception and have made it their new battleground.

Several news outlets have reported that the ban came in response to a Capitol Hill dispute over whether taxpayer money should be used to pay for gender transition and hormone therapy for transgender service members. John McCain – who criticized Trump’s move Wednesday – could soon be presiding over his defense policy bill when health care is done. Sparks spent eight years in the Navy, including three years in Vietnam.

One step forward. One step back.

What is even worse is that Donald Trump announced this new ban via Twitter, without any context or a proper explanation why. “The armed forces are not a lab for sexual engineers”. He said he tries to be tough about the announcement, but it breaks his spirit. A Rand Corp. study has estimated the number at between 1,320 and 6,630 out of 1.3 million active-duty troops.

“I think it’s being twisted and spun to make it seem like it would be more than it is”. Mattis insisted he wasn’t presupposing the outcome of the study.

“They relied on assurances by our government that they could serve openly and they detrimentally relied upon that and to kick them out now, given their courage in serving openly and being a face of trans service members, I think that’s incredibly sad”, she said. Thorn pointed out that the current service chiefs signed off on the Obama policy previous year and that “those individuals haven’t changed”.

The Trump administration filed a 36-page brief in federal court opposing a legal effort by the civil rights groups that are attempting to ban workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians in the United States.

Next in line: Develop a policy on recruiting transgender people. Surprising the very people who are supposed to implement and enforce a policy is no way to win friends and influence people.

Trump’s stated goal is to prevent disorder among the ranks. This will drive moderates (like myself) from the Republican Party.

I hope those blue-collar voters take a look at how much time, money and other resources were spent studying the readiness and economic impact of allowing trans troops to serve and wonder why their president fired more than 15,000 fearless trans people in uniform to play electoral politics at the expense of one of the most underprivileged demographics in the country. Each pulls clear and growing majorities. Despite his threats to Republicans against repeal, Trump couldn’t topple Obamacare.

Yes, the the Party of Lincoln has gone exceptionally far on no positive accomplishments in the 21st century (other than ushering endless war, a surveillance state, Sarbanes-Oxley, light-bulb bans, massive deficits, and the like).