This week Defense Secretary James Mattis ordered a comprehensive study of transgender troops after President Donald Trump decided to ban them from serving in the military. In the meantime, transgender troops will still be allowed to serve in their current roles, a move that LGBT groups praised. While to the casual observer this just seems like someone in the Trump administration actually doing their job, in reality it is a sneaky, sly, and smart move to allow Congress to jump in and save these American heroes from their boss.
Congress has the constitutional authority to make rules for the armed forces, which President Snowflake himself may not be aware of. That means that if Congress finally gets its act together, they can draft and pass legislation that allows transgender troops to serve as before and totally undermine Trump’s ban.
And by ordering a full study of transgender troops in the armed forces, Mattis is operating completely within the bounds of the White House memorandum allowing him to act specifically on this issue. It’s all rather genius.
In fact, the memorandum says that Mattis can definitely take his sweet time. Which is exactly what Mattis plans to do.
What Donald Trump has against transgender troops is a mystery to most, although it is most likely that he’s just trying to cater to that ever-shrinking conservative base of his to keep them happy. After all, that seems to be all that he’s interested in doing in the White House, besides Tweeting random things in the middle of the night and ruining our relationships with the rest of the world.
By dragging his feet on this issue, James Mattis may end up helping transgender troops become a legal part of the military code, instead of the ban Trump wants.
Sneaky, sneaky, Mr. Mattis. I like it.
Watch Mattis use common sense and go against Trump again here:
Feature image via YouTube screengrab.
