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Today, on foreign soil, Donald Trump continued to peddle outright lies about transgender service members in attempt to rationalize his cruel, discriminatory, and unnecessary ban on trans people in the military. So, let's get a few things abundantly clear... (thread) 
The RAND Institute was asked by the Defense Department to study this and found that medical care for trans service members would make up a fraction of a percent of the overall health care budget for the military, between $2.4 and $8.4 million annually. rand.org/pubs/research_…
A report by USA Today released in February found the total cost over the last three years--before the ban went into effect--was $8 million. From June 30, 2016 to Feb 1, 2019, that would put the cost at $3.1 million annually. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
So, we know that the cost is exactly in line with what the Department of Defense cited in 2016 in their decision to allow trans people to serve. This has been confirmed. Trump blatantly lies about this, which is curious given his wasteful spending on other things.
For example, remember Trump's military parade? Before cooler heads stepped in, he was demanding a parade in D.C. that would have cost $92 million, enough to fund health care for trans service members for the next 30 years. cnbc.com/2018/08/16/tru…
In March, it was revealed Trump was developing plans to spend $2 billion on the so-called "Space Force", a bizarre project that would otherwise fund health care for trans service members for the next 64,500 years. Lovely. defensenews.com/space/2019/03/…
There are countless examples of this, but I want to leave you with two final points. First: it was found that replacing all current trans service members would cost $960 million, more than 100x more expensive than medical costs. nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-ou…
And second (and most curiously): an audit of the Defense Department's expenditures found $27.7 billion in expired funds in FY2018, which now cannot be used for new costs. Think about that. media.defense.gov/2019/Jan/08/20…
This was never about cost for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Against the expert advice of our top uniformed military leaders, medical authorities, budget analysts, and the vast majority of the American people, they proceeded with this cruel, erroneous ban. /thread
