White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday would not say whether transgender individuals currently serving in the U.S. military will be thrown out after President Donald Trump announced a ban on allowing transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity.”
“That’s something that the Department of Defense and the White House will have to work together as implementation takes place and is done so lawfully,” Sanders said during the daily White House briefing. “I would imagine the Department of Defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted as that takes place.”
She said Trump announced the ban “based on a military decision,” though the President previously claimed he would work on policy to help the LGBT community.
“It’s not meant to be anything more than that,” Sanders said. “And it’s simply about — obviously it’s a very difficult decision. It’s not a simple one.”
Asked whether those questions should have been answered before Trump announced the blanket ban in a series of tweets, Sanders said the President informed his national security team of the decision just one day before he announced it.
“When the President made the decision yesterday, the secretary of defense was immediately informed, as were the rest of the national security team,” she said. “I think sometimes you have to make decisions and once he made a decision, he didn’t feel it was necessary to hold that decision.”
You mean like: “I’ll have the ravioli…no, I’ll have the spaghetti with clam sauce”? Like that, but with people’s lives and careers and healthcare and national defense?
“It’s not meant to be anything more than that,” Sanders said. “And it’s simply about — obviously it’s a very difficult decision. It’s not a simple one.”
What an incompetent idiot.
Seems that this total ban came out of nowhere as an over-reacting Trump impulsively decided to make sure his wall got funded. Rather than quibble over the (inflated) projected medical/surgical costs of attending to TGs in the proposed budget, Trump just banned them completely, thus freeing up funds for the wall. Surprising to everyone, Sec. Mattis (who disagreed) included. Huck’s spin is just so much moving air.
Naughty TPM, using the pic of Sarah looking her most Trans-y.
It’s a stealth policy, no one can know any of the details!