American Politics – Living on the edge after a Trump Twitter bombshell ban

I will come out with it…straight and to the point. I voted for President Donald Trump, an emotional rather than rational decision. I am coming out of that particularly closet because I think it is important for us in the LGBTIQ community to come to terms with why we supported a person who gave every indication that he was against us. Don’t tell me about the Log Cabin Republicans. To me that is the biggest joke out there. It is akin to creating the black branch of the Ku Klux Klan. I know, I know…people are going to jump on me for comparing the Donald to the Klan. Of course he is not part of the Klan…although he was pretty slow in condemning them for their terrorism recently.

To say that the King of Twitter has let me down massively is a big understatement. There is virtually nothing that Trump has done since his inauguration that I agree with. That makes it even more perplexing why I voted for him. Maybe it was that Hillary coronation that put me off. The woman seemed to be measuring the drapes before we had even voted. I protested by voting for the last person that I should have voted for as a trans woman serving in the US army. That is what sometimes happens to us minorities. We vote against our own interests because there is one aspect in which the abuser is less horrible. In this case, we know that Trump does put military issues on the forefront because are a natural fit for the national security-obsessed GOP.

The Tweet that Tried to Change My Life

My friends thought it was a bloody joke but I knew better. Trump has changed virtually everything we knew about American politics. It is the new reality with all the attendant dramas. Had someone told me six months ago that my president (first because I am an American and second because I voted for him) would announce on twitter that I was going to be kicked out of my job for being an LGBT: I would have laughed at them.

Of course, US presidents do not use twitter to make major policy announcements!

Of course, I would never vote for someone like that…Euw!

Of course, I had a secure job with one of the most responsible institutions on earth!

Trump has shocked me into realizing that things are never quite what they seem at first. I now know that everything is possible and that the American dream is a very fragile form of self-deception. Trump has made me realize that I could lose my job on twitter for something that I have absolutely no control over. Apparently we trans people are costing the army too much and creating unnecessary discipline problems. Give me a break! Remind me…how much money was spent on the Iraq war? I suppose it is the trannies that did it.

Even before the networks could run with the latest Trump outrage, I was getting texts from petrified colleagues. We were going to be run out into the streets. Good lord no…we had been through this and thankfully that nonsense had been thrown out in 2016. We are proud of being part of the most powerful nation and military on earth. We love to serve and get on well with our colleagues. Who was this person telling us that we were suddenly a problem? Who had told him that?

Don’t get me wrong, I can suck up policy decisions that seem to make sense even if they hurt me. For goodness sake, I put up with atrocity that was Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I put up with bullies and even accepted that there were roles that I could not do because of my gender. What I could not stomach was the idea that Trump was just making it up as he goes along. If he had made a considered decision, with evidence and justification; I would have complained but I would not be bitter. To me this sounds like a good old slap in the face of those of us who have dedicated our lives to the military. It is as if someone is telling us that we are not good enough. We are trouble and must be kept away from the good old boys that keep our country safe. I am even perplexed as to how I am able to cause disorder in the army?

When we realized that the generals were never on board with this, we got some relief. I know that many people in this government just ignore what Trump says if it does not make sense. Maybe, this would turn out the same. We would continue with our merry way and it would all be forgotten in due course…just like that evidence about Obama’s fake birth certificate. However, underneath it all is a niggling worry. What if Trump is really serious? What if the generals agree with him and are just making the right noises so as not to get on the wrong side of the “mainstream media”? It is definitely something that is worrying to us.

American Politics, Hiring and firing in the new century

For those of you who have not been following American politics, it is definitely true that you can now be fired from your government job via twitter. You see, if the attorney general of this country can be humiliated on a carpark then a lowly sergeant in the forces had better watch out. James Comey must have thought that it could not happen…until it happened. We are reassuring ourselves that it cannot happen but Trump may yet prove us wrong. They say that no news is good news but I am not entirely sure that it works with this one. Trump is silent so far but I am not too sure what his next move is. He could be bulldozing the brass out there to get them to sign up to the policy.

Look… I do not live in cuckoo land. I am absolutely certain that there are many, many Americans who would like to see the back of us (figuratively and literarily of course). What I cannot reconcile to myself is the possibility that the most powerful man on earth is being frightened and intimidated by the possibility of trans people serving. We do not bite…unless you ask us to. We have been serving with honour. It is a damn outrage that we are being picked over like we were some sort of plague on the army. I am proud of my work and profession. I make no apologies to the likes of Trump or the fact that I am a proud trans person. It took me many years and quite some personal sacrifices to get to this point. Trump does not understand and does not seem to want to understand. We are people underneath it all and want to be treated like people.

I sincerely hope we are not about to enter a new age of gay purging in the military. Those dark days seemed to have been put in the bin where they belong. For a few headlines and to get the base riled up, it seems that Trump wants to bring something even worse to American military affairs. A country that prides itself on freedom of expression and tolerance is just about to engage in what can only be described as collective punishment for an entire group of Americans for no other reasons than the fact that they are trans. There is no justification for it. There can be no justification for it. I do not know what Trump is playing at but by God, I am not going to sit here and become a victim of one of his crazier ideas.

Taking Legal Advice

I know that some people are hoping against hope that Trump finds something else to gripe about so that he can leave us alone. I am not that optimistic. That is why I have started to sound out some military and constitutional legal minds to see how best we can challenge such an executive order. The frustrating thing is that the order is not yet actually signed so it is difficult to challenge American politics. Instead the president has given the go-ahead for bigots to start dropping heavy hints that our sorts are on our way out.

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I am so frustrated by this but there is very little that I can practically do at the moment. Instead I am doing my legal consultation and will lawyer up if needs be. It seems incredible that our civil rights can be trampled on like this but apparently the president can get away with a lot of stuff through executive orders. Our best bet is that the supreme court hears the case and rescues us from this abuse of power. Even then the Supremes can be quite contradictory and unpredictable, particularly when dealing with issues concerning vulnerable minorities. Thanks Trump…I voted for you and you are making me pay for it.