CORRECTION (08/30/17 @ 7:13 PM ET): Seems a lot of reports jumped the gun, including the USA TODAY article I based this on. As others have noted, Mattis isn’t postponing Trump’s ban at all; he’s obeying a memo Trump signed ordering a review on how best to implement the ban. As I did note, though, it’s basically a foregone conclusion that the ban is going through one way or another. The original post follows.
Defense Secretary Mattis just ordered a freeze on Trump’s newly signed trans military ban until a study on its consequences could be completed:
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis late Tuesday announced that transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving in the military pending the results of a study by experts.
[…]
"Once the panel reports its recommendations and following my consultation with the secretary of Homeland Security, I will provide my advice to the president concerning implementation of his policy direction," Mattis said in the statement. "In the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place."
Mattis' move buys time for the Pentagon to determine how and if it will allow thousands of transgender troops to continue to serve, whether they will receive medical treatment, or how they will be discharged.
As Defense Secretary, Mattis has emphasized that he has little tolerance for policies that detract from military readiness or the Pentagon's effectiveness on the battlefield.
One can thus imagine how he felt about his Commander-in-Chief’s decision to kick out thousands of active troops because of pure bigotry and politics. It’s not like trans troops negatively impact military readiness, nor do they cost much – trans healthcare expenses total at most just over $8 million annually (roughly the cost of one Trump golf trip) out of a defense budget of $600 billion.
Mattis’s move may also have something to do with this:
A new report estimates banning transgender service members would set the U.S. back $960 million, challenging President Donald Trump's pro-ban argument about "the tremendous medical costs" associated with permitting transgender people to serve in the military.
The report, co-authored by the Palm Center and current and retired professors at the Naval Postgraduate School, estimates the cost to replace transgender service members would be 100 times greater than current estimates for the annual cost of providing them transition-related care.
Why, it’s almost like arbitrarily slashing thousands of qualified and devoted troops out of the armed forces without checking what the consequences may be or even asking anyone involved beforehand was a stupid thing to do.
Of course, there’s zero indication that Trump will be at all receptive to being told, even backed with evidence and research, that his decision was knuckleheaded and that he should reverse course. After all, Trump is never wrong. Or rather, he can never admit when he’s wrong, which he probably thinks is the same thing.
What a great president that 25% of the country elected.
(via Joe.My.God.)
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