It appears Donald Trump jumped the gun when he announced a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
On Wednesday morning, Trump declared that he spoke with the general and military experts and decided to discriminate against transgender people.
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
Well, Trump’s declaration appears to have confused the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because they are telling the military not to adopt Trump’s policy until he issues a direct order on the subject.
According to Reuters reporter Idrees Ali, “US Joint Chiefs of Staff tells military there will be no modification to transgender policy until direction received from Pres.”
EXCLUSIVE: US Joint Chiefs of Staff tells military there will be no modification to transgender policy until direction received from Pres
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) July 27, 2017
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford even sent a letter to the military ordering them to “continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.”
“In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.” Dunford says in letter seen by Reuters https://t.co/Y5Fckbpfdc
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) July 27, 2017
Apparently, Trump’s tweets do not determine official Pentagon policy.
The Joint Chiefs just humiliated Trump by contradicting his Twitter declaration. Now we must wait and see how Trump responds.
Dunford’s letter makes it clear that the military values respect and non-discrimination, even if Trump does not. So when Trump claimed he made his decision based on consultations with his “generals and military experts,” was he lying? Did he just make something up to justify his decision? Did the Joint Chiefs actually approve of Trump’s ban?
I guess we’ll learn more from Trump’s impending temper tantrum.
Featured Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images
