Donald Trump had recently finished a familiar riff about banning gender transition surgery for children when the former president, speaking to an audience of Evangelical voters, moved on to something new: a policy that would affect transgender adults.

“I will ban all taxpayer funding for sex or gender transitions at any age,” said Trump, receiving thunderous applause at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington last month. The Republican leader, who moments earlier had also pledged to reinstate a ban on transgender men and women serving in the military, paused for several seconds to soak in the crowd’s adulation.

It’s the kind of moment — and the type of policy — increasingly common on the GOP presidential campaign trail this year.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      let’s start with the military budget then. There will be no appreciable drops in spending without starting with the Military budget, which accounted for $767,000,000,000 (12.2%) out of the budget last year. For context, NATO recommends member states spend roughly 2-3% on military budget, or $188 Billion from the US budget.

      We can also substantially drop costs for the government by nationalizing healthcare, nationalizing railroads, and nationalizing other infrastructure like communications and electricity. Then we can further reduce long-term costs by prioritizing denser housing, eliminating minimum parking requirements, building non-market housing, and substantially increasing the investment into public transit.

      • MomoTimeToDie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        113·
        1 year ago

        I’m not sure what you expect me to do with that because I don’t have any ability to enact national policy changes.

        We can also substantially drop costs for the government by nationalizing healthcare, nationalizing railroads, and nationalizing other infrastructure like communications and electricity. Then we can further reduce long-term costs by prioritizing denser housing, eliminating minimum parking requirements, building non-market housing, and substantially increasing the investment into public transit.

        Sorry pal, the real world isn’t a general retail advertising campaign. “the more you spend, the more you save” is a lie. You’re just spending more than if you didn’t spend it at all

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          101·
          1 year ago

          clearly you haven’t actually looked at the numbers then. It’s cheaper for the country, and all Americans, to have nationalized healthcare. It’s cheaper to handle infrastructure as a nation rather than leaving it to private companies. It’s cheaper to have public transit. It’s cheaper to make housing that doesn’t seek profits. Public transit will actually bring in revenue vs roads, which make $0 in revenue and cost cities/states/the country money to maintain. It costs money to fix the natural disasters caused by companies like PG&E from failing to maintain their electrical infrastructure. It increases GDP and makes people happier when they aren’t dependent on cars. Facts disagree with your feelings.