Tucker vs. Maloney on transgender-military debate

in a surprise announcement this morning president Trump reversed the previous administration's order to admit transgendered individuals into the military the president made the announcement on Twitter in the am he tweeted this after consultation with my generals and Military experts be advised the US government will not accept nor allow transgendered individuals to serve in the US military our military must be focused on decisive overwhelming Victory and cannot be burdened with tremendous costs and medical disruption that transgender and the military would entail thank you Democrats were not grateful for that they quickly became very angry here's part of what they said this disgusting ban will weaken our military and land that it defends our nation is not safer when we sanction discrimination because of President Trump's announcement America will be less safe the president pres of the United States this morning announced he is blowing 15,000 holes in our military Readiness it's undermining I think our National Defense this disgusting action endangers the lives of American Service members and makes our country less safe Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney represents New York in the House of Representatives and he joins us tonight Congressman thanks lot for coming on BET so I understand why people don't like this but to not like it and to claim that it makes our country less safe are are two different things how does this make our country less safe well how about SEAL Team Six okay um I think you'd agree they make our country more safe so Kristen Beck member of SEAL Team Six uh she's a transgender woman uh seven combat tours uh earn the bronze star with Valor and purple heart um she's done a hell of a lot more for our country than you and I ever will and uh she made our country saf her that's the person we're going to remove from military service I I don't think she served as a transgender seal though uh no but there are thousands of transgender uh service members serving honorably and meeting the test uh that the high test that the military expects of uh its service members we should absolutely use the standard the president started with which is keeping our country safe and part of keeping our country safe is keeping good people in the military these are good people right well transgenders have never been allowed to serve openly and to have their transitions paid for by the US government this is something that began it in a in a gradual way with the Obama Administration this country's been around for almost 250 years winning a bunch of Wars that's not a slight on any specific person it's I'm merely skeptical at why this makes our country less safe I don't actually think that you can show that I think you're just mad about it and you're using our national security to make your point well look there are thousands of people serving honorably um we won a bunch of Wars before we integrated the armed services with African-Americans and we won a bunch of Wars without women serving but we have an enormous number of talented diverse people serving we wouldn't we wouldn't believe we were more safe because we excluded whole groups of Americans and look the point is is that right now thousands of uh transgender uh service members are serving with distinction and there's not a reason on Earth that you would kick them out of the military except for prejudice and that's wrong well that's just you know that's just that's just a silly thing to say I mean this is a legitimate debate and for you to say anyone who do doesn't agree with you is a bigot I mean there's a mass wait hold on slow down well I didn't say that but re yes you did you said the only reason is Prejudice in other words if you disagree with me being a holy man you're a bad person my only point is there are two sides to this there's a cost to this there are difficulties integrating people there are questions about what it means to be transgender these are real adult questions and you're blowing them off by describing anyone who doesn't agree with you as motivated by Prejudice and that's childish what is the reason for taking members of the military who are serving now thousands of them with distinction without a problem and kicking them out over on this basis what would that reason be well I mean the reason as articulated by the people who oppose this is that it's expensive to pay for the physical transition the medical transition um from one sex to the other and that that and that paying that at a time when the military is scrambling for funds is a distraction from the core Mission which is winning wars right so like the onus is on you since the US military has never had this policy in its history to show that paying for sex change operations is going to somehow make us more likely to beat I don't know alaa no excuse me we have that policy now and we've had it it more than a year to see how it works and there hasn't been any diminishment of Readiness or any disruption of any kind and what we know is men like Shane Ortega uh another transgender service member who who who conducted hundreds of missions in Afghanistan and Iraq multiple combat t as a transgender person no that's not true yes as a matter of fact and and and there are right now people like Riley Dosh a Cadet who just graduated from the military acad what you're engaging in is demagoguery I'm asking you bigger broader questions which is is it an actual concern that the Pentagon would have to pay for sex change operations do you think that's a valid military expense do you think these are real questions about how to integrate people in close quarters living who haven't fully transitioned to blow those off as like bigotry is just wrong well I think if to be fair we've spent years studying this ran commission did a big report on this well actually the Obama Administration did exactly that and the ran Corporation the Rand Corporation study looked at this in detail before they changed the policy we now have a year of experience and by the way under your argument you could also say you know women may get pregnant and they may incur additional medical costs so we shouldn't allow women to serve in a military but I would say hold on first of all I'm not arguing that I'm arguing something very specific so don't liken it to another ARG second the any question that bears on Military Readiness is a direct question I'm a patriotic person I would love to serve the country I'm too old it takes me 27 minutes to run 5k I'm not qualified so the question is not what's empowering for me it's what's good for the National Defense and that's not the lens through which you're looking at this but Kristen Beck is qualified and performed heroically on SEAL Team Six look I'm not attacking I'm saying excuse me you are you know what I I think speak like you disagree with is Attack on and not attacking ay that would remove a a decorated member of Seal Team 6 from the United States military if that's not an attack sir I don't know what is you are exing as a rational person I'm trying to have a rational debate and you're telling me I'm attacking a Navy SEAL which I'm emphatically not doing and you should be ashamed for using jow tactic in what I'm trying to make a rational conversation it is a fact that I'm CH would not be allowed to service aend also means the taxpayers incur no healthare costs associated with that which is also a fact that is at play here the fact matter this is why we can't solve problems because people who yes it is because what you're doing is spewing propaganda say because I'm asking honest questions and you're throwing back dumb propaganda in my face and calling me a bigot I think you have to own the implications of the position you support mean that people who are serving with distinction are being separated from the military for an arbitrary this is why okay I'll tell you why this is why the Pentagon didn't announce it themselves today because this policy has very limited support in the Pentagon but they're afraid because of demagogues like you that they're going to be attacked for saying what is obvious which is the point of the military is to win Wars and saying that will get people like you to call them bigots so they don't want to say it that's my standard right we want military that's going to win Wars and and the people who are serving with distinction are part of that and by the way they're earning those benefits that that we're that we're providing to them they're earning it by putting their lives and they're doing more than you and I ever will to protect our country and before we go after them I've had enough I think you should thanks congressman

Channel: Fox News

Views: 573,544

Keywords: Tucker Carlson, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Executive Branch, Military, On Air, Opinion, Personality, Politics, Primary US, US, Fox News, News

Id: 2dg6_bGsO5U

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2017