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“Donald Trump is planning an executive order that would lead to the removal of all transgender members of the U.S. military. … The order could come on his first day back in the White House, January 20. There are believed to be about 15,000 active service personnel who are transgender. They would be medically discharged, which would determine that they were unfit to serve.”
20%
An NPR analysis has found that nearly 1 in 5 people charged over their alleged involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol appear to have a military history.
61%
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 61% of respondents said Biden had more respect for the U.S. military, compared to 37% who said Trump had more respect.
“I was an artillery officer, and we fired hundreds of rounds into Fallujah, killed probably hundreds of civilians. Probably killed women and children if there were any left in the city when we invaded. So, do I get judged too?”
— Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he probably killed “hundreds of civilians” while serving as an artillery officer in Fallujah, KPBS reports.
500
USA Today: “Since 2013, military investigators have documented at least 500 cases of serious misconduct among its generals, admirals and senior civilians, almost half of those instances involving personal or ethical lapses.”
“We have made an investment in you and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.”
— U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft, pledging he “will not break faith” with transgender personnel, “marking the strongest rebuttal yet by a leader of the armed forces to President Trump’s declaration that he wants to ban all transgender troops,” Politico reports.
68% to 27%
A new Quinnipiac poll finds American voters say by a 68% to 27% margin, including 55% to 39% among voters in military households, that transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military. Republicans oppose transgender service, 60% to 32%, but every other party, gender, education, age or racial group supports transgender service by margins of 22 percentage points or higher.
0.14%
In announcing his ban on transgender people in the military, President Trump said that taxpayers “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Except that USA Today points out that trans troops don’t really cost that much: “A report for the Pentagon last year found that transition-related care would cost between about $2.4 and $8.4 million per year — less than 0.14% of the military’s medical budget. That’s roughly the cost of four of Trump’s trips to Mar-A-Lago.”
14%
Percentage by which the Army fell short of the recruits it needs to fill its ranks, “marking the first time in six years — and only the third in the last 20 — that it may fall short of its recruiting goal for the year,” USA Today reports.
11.8%
The shameful unemployment figure for veterans. For the population at large, unemployment is less than 9%. Even worse, for veterans ages 20 to 24, the figure is closer to 30%.
