i am led to understand that the backstory behind trump’s trans military ban is this:
so congress is hashing out their military spending bill, and there was a divide between conservative/moderate republicans over whether the pentagon should fund trans surgeries. in an effort to render the issue moot and help the bill along, house republicans asked trump to simply issue an executive order on the topic. the idea being, if there’s an EO about funding trans surgeries, then congress doesn’t need to bother debating or writing it into the bill one way or the other and they can finally move on to other matters
but trump fucked up; instead of putting an order restricting the military funding of trans surgeries, he declared he was completely banning trans people from service. this is not what congress asked for and it has turned the whole situation into a boondoggle. one republican aide has likened it to trump being asked to light a candle and setting the table on fire instead. this move may in fact endanger the military budget bill, and mire it in further debate on whether to overturn trump’s overreaching EO. add in the fact that trump does not like being told he fucked up, and will certainly dig his heels in, raising tensions between him and congress
so while it’s absolutely a malicious move that will endanger trans service members and will certainly further poison public discourse about trans people in general, there’s at least the silver lining that the order has been administered so incompetently that it’s going to throw a wrench into the republican agenda
i don’t like transphobia but i DO like watching the republican party flail helplessly around as the hideous monster they unleashed on the rest of us also stomps their plans flat too
oh the exquisite irony
This is a man who couldn’t pour water out of a shoe if the instructions were written on the heel apparently.
