So, President Giant Middle Finger continued his trend of WTF-worthy tweeting today by declaring that transexuals would henceforth be banned from the US military. Apparently, the response from the people who actually run the Department of Defense was something along the lines of “who’s doing what now?” CNN’s talking heads are trying to figure out if the President has the power to unilaterally make that change, and, if so, whether he can do it via tweet.
Because I know y’all are just dying to find out, my opinion on transsexuals: meh. Whatever. You be you. My only problem is when “you being you” requires that “taxpayers be paying for you being you.” Now, consider this:
A) Jim Smith joins the Army and gets his arm blown off. He wants a replacement Luke Skywalker robohand; it is good and proper for the US Army to spend what it takes to get him one.
B) Jim Smith gets his arm blown off and then tries to join the Army to get them to give him a new Luke Skywalker robohand. Ummmm… no.
Lots of people are saying that there is a lot of vital talent in the pool of transsexuals that the military could use. Well, no doubt. There is also a lot of talent available in the pool of people with missing limbs, bad hearts, no eyesight, Type 1 diabetes, drug addiction, schizophrenia, flat feet and criminal records. The military has a *lot* of reasons for rejecting applicants that have little to do with talent (80% of Military Recruitments Turned Down).
So, the point: if someone is post-operative, needs no more medical care for their missing limb or gender dysmorphia, or if they are able to do the job *without* the elective and expensive medical treatments and won’t get it until they’re out, then I see little reason to say “trannies out” (other than to annoy SJWs). But if someone wants to sign up for the military with a “pre-existing condition” and expects and demands that the military – i.e. Joe Taxpayer – pay for it, I have a bit of a problem with that.
But springing this change on the military via tweet after there are apparently already transsexuals out in the open in the military, meaning that they would theoretically get kicked out? Yeah… that’s… wellllll…… that’s becoming pretty much par for the Trump course, I suppose.