Why did Trump unilaterally announce a ban on transgender military service this morning?
There may be more than one reason why and there have been scattered reports that the decision was made because Trump wanted to expand his culture war for purely political reasons, but Trump's fantasy border wall is also a factor according to Politico.
Trump reportedly announced the ban this morning because he's under the impression that House Republicans would not vote for their own goddamn border wall funding measure if it wasn't accompanied by a ban on using Pentagon funds for transgender medical care.
House Republican leadership wasn't interested in adding a transgender health care ban to this year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) so members of the Batshit Caucus went directly to Trump with their concerns.
But Trump, being the idiotic nutcase that he is, went much further than the Batshit Caucus was asking for.
The president’s directive, of course, took the House issue a step beyond paying for gender reassignment surgery and other medical treatment. House Republicans were never debating expelling all transgender troops from the military.
"This is like someone told the White House to light a candle on the table and the WH set the whole table on fire,” said one senior House Republican aide. The source said that while GOP leaders asked the White House for help, they weren't expecting — and got no heads up on — Trump's far-reaching directive.
There's no way you could convince me House Republicans would vote against border wall funding just because it didn't include a ban on transgender health care services.
There are so many other significant reasons why a border wall hasn't been funded yet this issue barely even registers on the list.
Members of the Flying Monkey Caucus may even regret taking this issue directly to Trump because the White House will (and already has) handled it in the worst possible way and shined a light directly on funding bills working their way through Congress.
Forcing the issue could lead to a government shutdown. In fact, that's why it hasn't been funded yet.