re: #36 goddamnedfrank

I disagree. Trump doesn’t really care what happens to currently serving trans soldiers and he purposely left this up to Mattis & the military commanders because he’s a coward who wanted some plausible distance from any final decision to kick actual flesh and blood volunteer soldiers out of the armed forces. Trump satisfied his social conservative base and his own need to undo Obama’s legacy by banning new trans recruits & trans specific medical care by the military and that’s all he really intended to accomplish.

Now he may well get pissed off down the line if the military comes back and says allowing trans soldiers not only isn’t disruptive to operations or morale but that it bolsters military readiness and offers a tangible competitive strategic advantage by creating more qualified applicants within the highly sought after cyber warfare vacancies the military can’t fill enough of.

Seems GDFrank may have a good take on Mattis and Trump.

There is speculation Trump made this transgender issue for his rabid base and really doesn’t want anything to do with it. So, they did what they did to shuffle it off to Mattis to determine and Trump can distance himself saying he tried.

That Trump sure makes strong and determined decisions.