‘I Have Great Respect for the Community’ Trump Says
Two weeks after first announcing he will bar 15,000 active duty transgender soldiers from continuing their service in the armed forces, President Donald Trump says by announcing his ban he’s doing people a favor.
“I have great respect for the community,” Trump, speaking of transgender people, told reporters. “I think I’ve had great support, or I’ve had great support from that community. I got a lot of votes,” Trump falsely claimed. Only 14 percent of the LGBT community voted for him, far less than other GOP candidates.
“But the transgender, the military’s working on it now,” Trump continued, according to the pool report. “It’s been a very difficult situation and I think I’m doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it. As you know, it’s been a very complicated issue for the military, it’s been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I’m doing the military a great favor.”
In fact, it has not been a very difficult issue for the military. There have effectively been no problems in the year since transgender service members have been allowed to serve openly. Moreover, military leaders are opposed to Trump’s ban.
On Wednesday, two LGBT civil rights legal groups, representing five active duty transgender service members, filed a Fifth Amendment suit in federal court against Trump.
Before making his remarks on transgender service members, Trump once again threatened North Korea with nuclear war, and refused to support Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader.
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