Everyone needs to be on social media in 2017, but the way in which the Trump administration makes use of Twitter—Trump himself shooting his keyboard off recklessly—is horrible, and it hit a new low today. Just minutes ago, Trump took to Twitter to announce a new policy (which is already awful, but doesn’t hold a candle to what follows) to ban transgender individuals from military service.

That’s just awful, especially for a man who claimed to be a friend to the LGBT community—and who paraded a pride flag with the words “LGBTs for Trump” around on stage during the campaign—even if no one who was paying attention took his words, or the words of the rest of his team, seriously.

What a transparent, mean, hateful con-man pic.twitter.com/UGtcJ1DCe5 — Max Eddy, Max Sweaty (@wmaxeddy) July 26, 2017

who’s gonna tell him what the T stands for https://t.co/01wWBJCHQL — heath (@heathdwilliams) July 26, 2017

*offer void in cases of supporting family brandhttps://t.co/MJ83B4eVXM — Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) July 26, 2017

It’s not only a regressive policy in an era when the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has become a memory, but his reasons for it are (as all reasons for actively harmful decisions are) even more ludicrous. Trump cited the “tremendous medical costs,” as well as some nebulous “disruption” and distraction that transgender people supposedly cause just by existing.

He seems completely ignorant of the fact that not all transgender people have medical expenses related to being transgender, and those who do vary greatly in their needs—but that’s not even the point. With any reference to medical costs, Trump has made this about the government deciding whose medical needs are important on a blatantly discriminatory basis.

This ultimately isn’t about the military. It’s about the govt controlling when and how trans people receive medical services. Fuck that. — Breanne Thomas (@BreanneThomas) July 26, 2017

But wait! You thought we had sunk to the depths, but I assure you, it can get so much worse. Here’s what the real reasoning for this discriminatory policy is, as told by someone within the Trump administration:

Just spoke to a Trump administration official about the transgender military decision. Here’s what they said… pic.twitter.com/eOWdvlxTfd — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) July 26, 2017

They’re using the decision politically, to make Democrats take an explicit stance on transgender rights in upcoming campaigns, banking on the bigotry of those “rural, white, working class voters” we keep reading about. See, it’s not just about hating transgender people enough to use their lives as political pawns. It’s about banking on the hate of other people to keep you in power—which, to be fair, we’ve all known about the Trump team from the start. That’s how he ran his entire campaign, no matter how many lectures we’ve heard to the contrary, and here it is, plainly spelled out.

It’s unclear how he plans to implement or enforce this policy,

Trans people already (and will continue) serving in the military. Trump’s announcement just puts them at greater risk. https://t.co/fMUMd42slB — Kelly Weill (@KELLYWEILL) July 26, 2017

but in case you want to get out ahead of things:

If you are a trans service member or reservist please contact me. If you know a trans service member or reservist tell them to contact me. https://t.co/3kdzotIUiT — Joshua Block (@JoshACLU) July 26, 2017

If you’re as mad as you should be about a president attacking trans people, consider donating to @TransEquality https://t.co/18yYUEbW04 — Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) July 26, 2017

(image: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com)

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