Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) on Wednesday said “everybody” should have “a chance to serve” in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. government will not let transgender individuals serve in the military.
“You’ve got to remember, our military forces is a volunteer force,” Shelby said on CNN. “So I’ll have to see what he’s actually said, read his tweet and go from there.”
Trump on Wednesday tweeted that the U.S. government will not “accept or allow” transgender individuals “to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
Asked about transgender individuals already serving in the military, Shelby repeated that he wanted to “see the wording” of Trump’s policy.
“I think you ought to treat everybody fairly, and you ought to give everybody a chance to serve,” he said.
After co-hosts Poppy Harlow and John Berman read Shelby the tweets, the senator said, “I’m sure we’ll have hearings on that in the Armed Services Committee and also in the defense appropriations committee.”
“We’ll go from there,” he said.
.@SenShelby on transgender military ban: "You ought to treat everybody fairly & give everybody a chance to serve" https://t.co/Xj3yDt3QUH
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) July 26, 2017
It’s something new.
Every. Fucking. Day.
Statement: “I’m sure we’ll have hearings on that in the Armed Services Committee and also in the defense appropriations committee.”
Translation: “As a Republican, I can’t say it, but holy fucking mother of god is the President a fucking idiot.”
I know of two facts that cannot be disputed:
1.) The transgendered people in the military are greater Americans and more patriotic than anyone in the Trump family has ever been, especially Donald himself and his heroic elephant-killing sons Eric and Donnie Jr., and
2.) There are a helluva lot more transgendered troops than there were people at Trump’s inauguration.
I don’t really think this came from Rump originally. I think it came from Bannon / Miller / Pence. They’re thinking this will shore up their base (which is shrinking) and split Dems. A bad choice that stinks of desperation.
The only explanation I can offer is that Richard Shelby knows someone in the military that’s transgender, or knows a transgender person in his personal life. These kind of statements coming from the a true rightwinger don’t happen by accident or on a whim. Sadly, unless it touches a Republican personally, they generally (almost exclusively) don’t have much compassion for anyone outside their little hermetically sealed world. I have a hard time believing Shelby is all about “everybody” serving. I like what he said, just consider me suspicious, or a bit of a cynic. After he reviews “the wording”, I’m sure he’ll come up with a plausible defense of tRump’s warped worldview on this matter.
Or…Maybe the shine is finally beginning to come off that golden turd in the White House…and this is really what this is about. Now that, I can buy.