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• Joseph R. Murray II in USA Today:

“President Trump made the unfair but correct decision to refuse applications of transgender individuals from the military.”

Singling out transgender service members is “unfair,” writes Mr. Murray, but he also argues the military is “never fair.” Mr. Murray who has written a book about his experiences as a married gay man in the Christian right, served as a former campaign aide to Pat Buchanan. In this op-ed, he warns against turning the military into an experimental “grand egalitarian utopia,” when its primary purpose is “national security and uniformity.” Read more »

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• Max Boot in Commentary:

“This may be good politics, but it’s bad policy.”

Mr. Boot argues that Mr. Trump’s tweets on the transgender issue are a way of deflecting “attention from the multiple crises besetting his presidency” and an attempt “to try to stay in the good graces of the religious right.” Moreover, he notes, the president’s announcement is conspicuously absent of details, “leaving it to someone else to work out the actual policy he just announced.” Read more »

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From the Left

• Gersh Kuntzman in The New York Daily News:

“If you’re not outraged by the ban on transgender people serving in the military, your prejudices are laid bare. But if you’re not outraged by the manner in which our President announced the ban, you are as big a jerk as Donald Trump.”

There may be little on which Mr. Kuntzman agrees with Mr. French and Mr. Boot, but all three writers condemn the method by which the president made his announcement. He notes that the three tweets came out minutes apart, leaving uncertain interpretations dangling in the air. Mr. Kuntzman concludes “as the kids say, #SMDH.” Read more »