Oh, you British press. You don’t sweat over whether you’ll be invited to the next US Presidential Press Conference, so you’re free, free, to ask irritating questions …
On his trip to the UK, Donald granted a single interview. It was to Piers Morgan (a one-time “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant), who actually raised some difficult issues for Donald to answer. While his farcical answers about climate change drew the most national press attention, I found his answers about transgender folk in the military to be even more indicative of … well, something unpleasant.
Morgan pressed Trump about his self-trumpeted support for LGBT* folk, in the face of multiple actions against that community, in particular transgender people, and specifically booting them out of the military.
'You have to have a standard and you have to stick by that standard.'
The POTUS defends his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military.@piersmorgan | #GMBTrump pic.twitter.com/heBUjhwiUH
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 5, 2019
Trump trotted out a singular reason — the incredibly high cost of dealing with transgender folk in transition. The problem is, not only is that not what his administration argued in court about the ban, it’s also simply not true.
Quoth Donald:
Because they take massive amounts of drugs — they have to — and also, and you’re not allowed to take drugs, you know, in the military, you’re not allowed to take any drugs, you take an aspirin. And they have to, after the operation, they have to, they have no choice, they have to. And you have to actually break rules and regulations in order to have that.
When Morgan noted that the costs of hormone therapy were relatively small, and less than the amount the Pentagon spends on Viagra prescriptions, Trump went on:
Well, it is what it is. Look, massive amounts, and, also, people were going in and then asking for the operation, and the operation is $200,000, $250,000, and getting the operation, the recovery period is long, and they have to take large amounts of drugs after that, for whatever reason, but large amounts, and that’s not — the way it is. I mean, you can’t do that. So, yeah, I said, when it came time to make a decision on that, and because of the drugs, and also because of the cost of the operation, people were going in —
Morgan noted the number of transgender folk who had served with distinction. Trump replied:
Well, I’m proud of them, I’m proud of them, I think it’s great, but you have to have a standard, and you have to stick by that standard. And we have a great military, and I want to keep it that way, and maybe they’d be phenomenal, I think they probably would be. But, again, you have very strict rules and regulations on drugs and prescription drugs and all of these different things and — they blow it out of the water.
How many ways is this inaccurate? Let me hit a couple, speaking in the context of having a transmale son who is going through treatment, etc., at the present time.
- Actively serving military personnel are, in fact, “allowed to take drugs” that are prescribed. To take a simple case, military personnel can be diabetic and still serve, even as they have to take insulin.Indeed, the Trump Administration’s own self-justifying re-study of transfolk in the military found that “roughly three times more cisgender men want testosterone supplements than transgender patients.” And, of course, most famously (and as Morgan points out), the Pentagon spends significantly more on Viagra for serving personnel than it has ever spent on hormone treatment for trans folk.
Speaking anecdotally, the required hormone treatment is not “massive,” and is, in fact, not even all that frequent. It’s certainly less obtrusive or regular than insulin shots.
- In no world except, perhaps, high fashion is gender reassignment surgery — “the operation” — a six-figure number, even a low six-figure number. That’s an order of magnitude higher (based on the Pentagon’s own numbers) than even full-blown surgery, something that not all transgender folk go in for.
- The idea that transgender folk are enlisting in the military in “massive amounts,” just to get gender reassignment surgery — which doesn’t remove from them the obligation to serve, potentially in combat zone — seems … a bit far-fetched. Okay, it seems like a paranoid delusion.On the other hand, is it any different from someone saying, “I’m going to join the Army so I can get trained for free in XYZ … and so that I get access to VA benefits for the rest of my life”?
The other point worth noting is that this is only a small fraction of the arguments previously raised by Trump’s Administration in court as to why they couldn’t possibly have trans folk serving (even though they’ve been serving with distinction). Those arguments included:
- Arguments about “unit cohesion” in the face of transwomen being grouped with ciswomen (or transmen being grouped with cismen) — an argument a federal judge noted echoed arguments as to why blacks couldn’t possibly serve alongside whites, or why women couldn’t possibly be admitted into the military.
- Arguments (based on debunked studies) about whether trans folk were mentally or emotionally stable.
Despite Donald’s expressed sentiment that trans folk would be “phenomenal” in the military, despite fact checking by the interviewer, despite the noted track record of openly trans folk serving in the military … Donald just won’t have it.
Which raises the question: is it simply because he personally thinks trans folk are icky and deluded and unfit (no matter what he says publicly)? Or is it because he feel he can score points among supporters who think trans folk are icky and deluded and unfit (no matter what he says publicly)?
Neither says much about the coherence of Donald’ statements or his moral leadership.
Do you want to know more?
- Trump says he banned trans military service because the costs were too high. He didn’t. – ThinkProgress
- Trump Gave Only One Interview During His UK State Visit. It Did Not Go Well. – Mother Jones
- Piers Morgan asks Trump how he can support LGBTQ rights and ban trans people from military | TheHill
- Fact check: Trump claims transgender military ban over drug use – CNNPolitics
- Another Trump falsehood: Trans troops take ‘massive amounts of drugs’