On MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle, she said the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told military leaders today there will won't be any modifications to the current policy until Trump's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance.
"Translation: tweets don't count," she said. "Trump announced the plan via Twitter, forcing thousands of American troops to question their status in the military."
Eric Fanning, the first openly gay Army secretary, said he had mixed emotions when he saw it. "I was disappointed, I was angry and frankly, I was shocked that the commander in chief would turn his back on thousands of patriotic Americans serving today," he said.
Ruhle got real by pointing out Trump's priorities.
"The president claims the tremendous medical cost will be a burden on the military, but that argument doesn't hold up," she said.
She said a study conducted by the Rand Corporation estimated medical costs for transgender troops as ranging between "2.4 and 8.4 million bucks per year, that would account for .01, that's .01% of the Defense Department's $696 billion proposed budget for 2018."
"Let's compare that to some of the department's other expenses. One single Apache helicopter, 31 million bucks. 11,000 m-27 rifles --
"The military spends $42 million on Viagra alone, according to the Military Times and according to the Government Accountability Office, each time the president travels to Mar-a-Lago, the government shells out $3.6 million.
"If you just look at at the high end of what a year of transgender medical services would cost that, $8.4 million number, that's at least two trips, just two trips to Mar-a-Lago."
Point made.
