On July 26, 2017, President Donald J. Trump woke up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and tweeted,
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you”
It caught everyone by surprise – the generals in question, congress, his own White House staff, and everyone else, especially currently-serving transgender military personnel.
At the time, I wrote that we were now entering uncharted waters, that our current form of governance was something new and in need of a new descriptor, as “democracy” didn’t quite describe it anymore.
I said,
“Please be advised…? Thank you.” That’s it? That’s all it takes now to disrupt the lives of thousands? That’s all it takes to change policy? No bills passed in congress after a spirited debate? Not even an Executive Order? Just 140 characters randomly blasted out to the world?
But even I didn’t think anyone would confuse this egregious example of Trumpian chaos-creation with anything that actually had legal standing. Like everyone else, I figured the other two branches of government would play their assigned roles and remind everyone what was actually necessary to make law. And Trump wouldn’t really mind, since he has no real convictions on the subject and only wants to “win”. It would be just another chance to show his base that he believes as they do and that it’s the congress, media, liberals, political judges, etc. who are standing in their way.
How wrong I was.
Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, joined the other “conservatives” today to rule 5-4 that the tweet is law until some other court says it isn’t. And, of course, if some other court does reject the tweet-law, it will ultimately find its way back to the same crew that ruled on it today.
So now the precedent is set. Trump tweets and we must obey. Can’t wait to find out what’s next.
Get Off My Lawn 