One for the good-move side of the ledger

It's going to be tricky engaging in polemical exchanges with defenders of the former status quo on this, given that it comes after a number of days characterized by cringe-inducing utterances by Trump, but this was entirely the right thing to do:

President Trump on Wednesday said he would ban transgender people from any military service.

Trump made the announcement, which would represent a major shift in military policy, on Twitter. He said he had made the decision after consulting with "my generals and military experts."

"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military," Trump tweeted.

"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you"

Transgendered people suffer from a mental disorder. To have the federal department charged with the mission of carrying out the defense of the nation acting as if it's not has been deeply troubling. If any governmental function needs to prioritize basic reality, it's the military.

As I say, the key to defending this move in the face of the howls and shrieks from the Left is to stick to the principle involved. This is not about Trump. (The Hill article to which I link tries to make it so, calling it a "gesture to the conservative base";  that may well be how he is looking at it. This is so overwhelmingly sensible, though, that no serious person can find a substantive reason to oppose it.)

We move forward today a little less burdened by infantile delusions. Not that we are completely free of them, but when acquiescence is removed on a given front in our culture war, it merits noting, in a celebratory tone.