Up for Debate: Press Secretary Says Trump ‘Has a Lot of Support for All Americans and Certainly Wants to Protect All Americans at All Times’Â
In an attempt to justify President Donald Trump’s decision to ban all current and future transgender service members in the military White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered up a different story than Trump had earlier.Â
Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon that President Trump decided to ban trans service members to support “military readiness and cohesion.”
But President Trump did not say a word about “military readiness and cohesion” when he effectively fired all transgender service members.
Here’s what he did say:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Trump’s was supposedly “tremendous medical costs,” and “disruption,” and he suggested that he is unaware there are actively serving transgender members. Whatever “disruption” there is the military is more than prepared to handle.Â
So, to be clear, once again the White House is taking Trump’s words and twisting them into something that might sound better, but is not a true reflection of what he actually said or meant.
Sign our petition: Tell President Trump You Support Our Transgender Service Members and Oppose His New Ban
But “military readiness and cohesion” are the exact words anti-gay hate groups used when pushing fabricated studies and talking points in opposition to the move to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” DADT repeal passed in 2010, and was effective the following year. Studies show allowing gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people to serve openly caused literally a handful – single digits – of members of the armed forces to resign.
“The decision is based on a military decision,” Huckabee Sanders told reporters. “It is not meant to be anything more than that.”
She also told reporters there is not set time frame for “implementation” to take place, and the Dept. of Defense and the White House will be working together to determine next steps, but DoD will take the lead on the issue.
And she claimed that President Trump “has a lot of support for all Americans and certainly wants to protect all Americans at all times,” which is false, given this decision to ban 10,000 to 15,000 active duty military members.
Huckabee Sanders made the claim in response to a question about Trump having promised to protect LGBT people during the campaign.
She called having trans members serve “very expensive,” which is absolutely a lie. The Pentagon spends five to ten times more on erectile disfunction and Viagra than it would on transgender-related health care.Â
Huckabee Sanders claimed President Trump made this decision on Tuesday and “immediately” informed the Secretary of Defense. That’s doubtful, since the DoD clearly was unprepared to take questions on the issue from reporters. Â
CBS News’ Major Garrett blasted Huckabee Sanders for not being able to answer the “basic question” of what will happen to trans soldiers since it is a policy of great “magnitude.” She said Trump didn’t feel the need to hold the decision after it was made, say, to help the process go smoothly or soften the blow to thousands.
Either Huckabee Sanders is lying about Trump making the decision Tuesday or she is lying about Trump having “a lot of support for all Americans,” since no one would ever announce they are firing 15,000 soldiers without warning, in a tweet.
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