I have no problem with transgendered people and unless someone in a high-ranking military position can convince me otherwise, I don't have a huge problem with qualified transgendered folks serving in the military (go ahead, send me your angry emails - chuck@wgy.com). But a few things bother me about the latest Trump tweet saying trans people can't serve.
First of all, the level of absolute hysteria in the media has been stunning and the coverage has been far from fair. On the main networks last night you couldn't find a single person who said maybe there just might be some validity to at least considering the thought that transgedered folks serving could impact military cohesion on some level.
I think Trump's claim that trans soldiers would cost too much is generally bogus, although I think there is room for legitimate debate on whether Uncle Sam should pay for gender reassignment surgery (or to use the latest P.C. jargon, "gender confirmation" surgery). I also wonder why the president made the declaration now and why there is no firm guidance on what to do with trans people already honorably serving. President Trump has generally been pro-LGBT, including declaring just before a presidential debate last fall, that he didn't care what bathrooms people used in North Carolina. Why throw out this half-baked dictate now?
While I'm not in any way diminishing people's right to be who they are, I'm afraid this latest explosion will be just another overblown distraction that will allow "the resistance" to continue blocking any action on the big issues and give the Trump-haters another reason to hate Trump. Kelly and I talked about that this morning and about President Trump's call to abandon "Upper New York State". - Chuck
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