Dear Trump Voters: You Should Totally Make Transgenders in the Military Your Big Issue in 2018

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Dear Trump Voters: You Should Totally Make Transgenders in the Military Your Big Issue in 2018

Dear Trump voters,

You may have noticed that President Trump issued his latest edict-by-Twitter this morning, and that his next big move is to ban transgenders from the military.

Now, a cynical shithead liberal might say that this tweet is a blatant distraction from the healthcare train wreck currently chugging its grotesque way around the Senate. Faced with the near-certainty of a cataclysmic legislative defeat, their theory goes, Trump is snapping his fingers and making you look in a different direction while his healthcare ship plows into a series of massive icebergs.

But that’s not the whole story, Trump voters! Not by a long shot. Want to know the real reason he’s doing this, even beyond the benefits of a diversionary tactic? Because he knows that this shit gets you

PUMPED.

THE.

FUCK.

UP.

Yeah baby! Remember the bathroom bill in North Carolina (and the current one in Texas too) where Republican politicians scared the shit out of you with the specter of fake transgenders attacking your wives and daughters in bathrooms, even though that actually never happens in real life? And remember how that was a front to prevent anyone in the state from setting a higher private sector minimum wage, or enforcing child labor laws, or suing employers for discrimination on a state level? And remember how the only reason Democrats managed even a limp compromise “victory” is because state Republicans were threatened with something they actually cared about—not having basketball tournaments in the state?

Or, going further back, remember how the Republican party has been quick to wave the flag for any controversial social movement—whether it’s abortion, or gay marriage, or immigration, or stem cell research, or prayer in schools, or civil rights, if you go back far enough, or, I don’t know, the damn war on Christmas—in a blatant attempt to divide the country and ensure themselves enough votes to continue pushing forth tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations, ie their true base?

Well guess what? Times have changed, basic rights have been established for certain groups of people in ways that it’s not too dangerous to fight politically, and they need a new scapegoat to demonize. It can’t be gay people or black people or women anymore, so who’s left? Transgenders!

(Just kidding, it can still be women too. Hating women never goes out of style.)

After all, who better to pick on than a group facing incredible discrimination on a daily basis? Who better to devalue than people who face a suicide risk multiple times greater than the general population? Who better to use as a political cudgel than those whose daily existence, in the best of circumstances, requires a kind of bravery most of us will never be forced to practice?

That, Trump and his people believe, is what’s going to get your juices flowing, your eyes bulging, and keep you pissed off at those disgusting America-hating liberals. They think you’re a bunch of dim credulous hillbillies who will vote away your health care and your jobs and every last bit of your social safety net as long as they can keep you in a lather about something.

And that something, today, is transgenders in the military. Don’t believe me? Take it from the horse’s mouth:

That quote, from a Trump administration official:

This forces Democrats in Rust Belt states like Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, to take complete ownership of this issue. How will the blue collar voters in these states respond when senators up for re-election in 2018 like Debbie Stabenow are forced to make their opposition to this a key plank of of their campaigns?

These are the culture wars, and they’ve been working for the Republicans for a very long time. Hell, it’s worked so well that they don’t even need a dog whistle anymore. Who needs hidden frequencies when shame is dead? They can just say it out loud!

Now, is there any legitimate reason for this policy? Trump’s tweets lay out the justification: Too many medical costs, too much “disruption,” not enough “decisive and overwhelming victory.” Basically, it seems like transgenders will steal a bunch of medical supplies, stage distracting costume balls during major battles, and then defect to ISIS.

Is there any truth to that? Of course not. Per the L.A. Times, concerns over medical costs are so much nonsense…and that comes from the Pentagon!

A study commissioned by the Pentagon last year found the expected medical costs to be negligible.

Nor does he have any evidence that there are negative effects of having transgender men and women serving in the military. The ban on transgender people was only lifted by the Pentagon last year, under Obama, and the date of full compliance was established as July 1, 2017. The Trump administration initially pushed that date back, and are now rescinding the policy totally. In other words, he never even gave it a shot before conjuring up some disqualifying bullshit.

With that in mind, Trump voters, you’ll see a lot of LIBS saying shit like this:

Ignore it! Let that sweet, sweet rage build up inside your heads, and forget every last piece of policy that might actually improve your life. Instead, focus on what matters—keeping those transgenders the hell out of our military. In 2018, when a Democratic politician advocates for better healthcare, or a living wage, or a more robust social safety net, tune out the noise and put them on the spot:

“Yeah, good one, cuck, but what about transgenders in the military?”

If they answer wrong, then fuck ‘em! And if they answer right, they’re probably full of shit, so vote for the Republican anyway.

Chase that fury, hunt it down, drink its blood. It’s better than any opiate you can buy or steal, and even if you’re nothing more than a gullible foot soldier swatting at invented phantoms in the endless destructive culture war, at least you’re feeling something. It doesn’t even matter what it is—what matters is that you’ve got that righteous fury hitting all the pleasure centers of the brain, and you don’t even have to think about it too much. Thinking would just dilute the high. So get mad, godammit!

We live in hell, so let the fires rage. Together, we can channel our lunatic purity, and we can burn it all to the ground.

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