Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement on Wednesday that President Trump has “no loyalty to the courageous men and women in uniform” after he announced a ban transgender individuals from the military on Twitter.
“Once again, President Trump has shown his conduct is driven not by honor, decency, or national security, but by raw prejudice. This is a dark day for thousands of heroes in our military and for our entire country,” Pelosi said.
Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that “the United State Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” The decision has faced criticism by Democrats and some Republicans.
“This morning’s tweets reveal a President with no loyalty to the courageous men and women in uniform who risk their lives to defend our freedoms. This disgusting ban will weaken our military and the nation it defends,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi’s statement notably criticizes Trump’s lack of loyalty, a value often discussed by the president. On Monday Trump said, “we could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that,” during a speech to Boy Scouts in West Virginia.
Trump said in his tweet that the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” He claimed he made the decision after consultation with his generals.
“It is a cruel and arbitrary decision designed to humiliate transgender Americans who stepped forward to serve our country,” Pelosi said. “A study commissioned by the Department of Defense found that the cost of providing medically necessary transition-related care would be a paltry 2 to 8 million per year – one one-hundredth of one percent of the military’s nearly $50 billion health care budget.”
