Trump swears there's no place for bigotry in the military. Internet reminds him he banned trans troops.
Just one week out from a widely condemned press conference during which he compared white nationalists and neo-Nazis to counter-protesters, President Trump seems keen on telling Americans he really doesn't endorse bigotry.
That's the best explanation for why, on Monday evening, he opened his speech on the war in Afghanistan by extolling the tolerance of the American military.
"When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry and no tolerance for hate," he said.
But some people watching the speech couldn't square those remarks with Trump's recent move, announced suddenly on Twitter, to ban transgender service members from the military.
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"15k trans troops 'take the same oath, fight for the same flag and live according to the same law.' Yet you purge good troops for bigotry," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, wrote on Twitter, quoting from Trump's remarks.
Even as he waxed poetic about the virtues of acceptance and unity, Trump seemed to anticipate charges of hypocrisy from his critics by focusing on how service members "sacrifice together in absolutely perfect cohesion."
In his original Twitter announcement, Trump argued that transgender troops create "disruption" in the military, a sentiment that some top military officials and Republican politicians don't share.
Trump may have rationalized his ban on transgender service members by insisting any perceived or real "disruption" outweighs the moral duty to let those soldiers serve openly, but the internet wasn't having it. Advocates, activists, political operatives, and even some journalists noted the contrast between Trump's words and his actions.
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While Trump is no stranger to cognitive dissonance, this particular moment offered a perfect illustration of how his professed beliefs often don't match his actions — and how his critics are more than ready to call him out for it online.
Topics LGBTQ Social Good Donald Trump Politics
Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
