A paragraph from journalist Michael Wolff’s new expose on the Trump administration, Fire and Fury, contains a shocking detail about the president’s decision to ban transgender people from the military.
Emphasis ours.
And that evening, the president travelled to West Virginia to deliver a speech before the Boy Scouts of America. Once more, his speech was tonally at odds with time, place, and good sense. It prompted an immediate apology from the Boy Scouts to its members, their parents, and the country at large. The quick trip did not seem to improve Trump’s mood: the next morning, seething, the president again publicly attacked his attorney general and – for good measure and no evident reason – tweeted his ban of transgender people in the military. (The president had been presented with four different options related to the military’s transgender policy. The presentation was meant to frame an ongoing discussion, but ten minutes after receiving the discussion points, and without further consultation, Trump tweeted his transgender ban.)
We already knew that the Pentagon had not actually consulted with Trump on the ban and actively encouraged him not to do it despite his attempt to claim they did, but now we know how little thought he gave the matter.
Despite Trump’s ban, the Pentagon started accepting transgender recruits this week after multiple federal courts ruled against the ban.
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