Cruz On Transgender Troops: Military Not ‘Cauldron For Social Experiments’

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop, Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, in Rockwell City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lamented on Monday that the U.S. military’s effort to allow transgender individuals to serve will take away from its main focus.

“How about having the military focusing on hunting down and killing the bad guys…instead of treating it as this crucible for social justice innovations,” the presidential candidate said at a campaign event in Iowa, according to the Washington Post. “We’ve lost sight of what their job is and that’s what we need to get back to.”

Cruz made the comments when asked about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and what he would do about those policies as president. The senator said he would “listen to the expert judgment of the generals and admirals.” He added that the military should focus on “good order and discipline” instead of social issues, according to the Post.

“We shouldn’t view the military as a cauldron for social experiments,” he said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) has also criticized the military’s decision to lift its ban on transgender troops.

“The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things,” Huckabee said during first Republican presidential debate. “It is not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I’m not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines makes our country safer.”

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  1. Yet somehow he’s OK with using politics as an experiment for testing the limits of how insane a politician can be and still be considered fit to hold public office.

  2. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, when informed of flagging Allied efforts against the Nazis in the Mediterranean theater, nevertheless remained opposed to the introduction of the Tuskegee Airmen into the battle.
    “How about having the military focusing on hunting down and killing the bad guys…instead of treating it as this crucible for social justice innovations,” the presidential candidate said at a campaign event in Iowa, according to the Washington Post. “We’ve lost sight of what their job is and that’s what we need to get back to.”

  3. Were he alive and in the Senate back in 1948 he’d be saying, “We shouldn’t have black and white troops in the same outfits. The Military is not a cauldron for social experiments!”

  4. he would’ve opposed an integrated service and even tho he doesn’t come right out and say it he probably opposes women in combat roles…

    you know… war on LGBT OK but no war on women (out loud)

  5. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    I was thinking just about the same thing.

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