Trump bans transgenders from military service

[Mike Thick]

Conversations I've had with IRL relatives about this are leading me to believe that many think transgender people only enlist to get medical care, because it's so expensive. Anecdotal, but perhaps insightful into the political calculus here...

[Mike Thick]

Conversations I've had with IRL relatives about this are leading me to believe that many think transgender people only enlist to get medical care, because it's so expensive. Anecdotal, but perhaps insightful into the political calculus here...

I doubt that, as they could get insurance with any job.

Many plans don't cover reassignment. Also, what VirginiaModerate said.

To be clear, I totally disagree -- just thought that it shows how some of the voters this is going to rile up think.

[Mike Thick]

Headline from Reuters but no article  yet:

MORE: Pentagon has already decided to allow currently-serving transgender troops to stay in military - Senate Armed Forces Chairman McCain

Thank God. What they're doing is bad enough, but discharging thousands of personnel would be a catastrophe.

[Mike Thick]

Headline from Reuters but no article  yet:

MORE: Pentagon has already decided to allow currently-serving transgender troops to stay in military - Senate Armed Forces Chairman McCain

Thank God. What they're doing is bad enough, but discharging thousands of personnel would be a catastrophe.

It actually wouldn't be. That's the normal flow of regular seps and admin seps on a monthly basis. It would be picked up in terms of new poolees and DEPers, actually would open up rates and MOSs for more ppl but it would be terrible optically and politically, also bad if the transgender SM has a critical skill MOS.

I wasn't referring to disruption in military operations, which I don't know the first thing about. But, as you said, if soldiers who has served overseas were discharged from the force, it would have been extremely visible and extremely painful.

[Mike Thick]

This is just pandering to social conservatives.

[Weak Theory - probably not true but interesting to think about] Maybe the GOP were worried about the more populist tone of the Democrats taking back some of the working-class going into 2018, so they wanted to pass this bill to increase the loyalty of working-class social conservatives.

Oh, I think this is absolutely a credible theory. The more time Democrats spend talking about this, the less time they spend talking about populist policies (not that they should shy away from trans issues, but it's easier for Republicans to put them on defense here).