Seven Ways Trump Is Taking Back America’s Culture

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: (AFP OUT) US President Donald Trump participates in the Celebrat
Olivier Douliery-Pool via Getty

Andrew Breitbart famously said, “Politics is downstream of culture,” and while establishment Republicans seem unwilling to defend America’s culture and values on many fronts, President Donald Trump is already changing the country’s politics by taking back its culture from progressives.

Here’s how he is doing it:

1. Trump announces ban on transgenders in military:

Trump’s decision to ban transgender individuals from the military sends a clear message that the U.S. military should be focused on defending the nation and winning decisive battles, not participating in social justice engineering or experimentation.

Accepting gender dysphoric individuals in the military – as former President Barack Obama did – and allowing them to undergo gender reassignment surgery and formally change their gender while serving in the military, weakens the ability of the military to focus on defense.

A 2016 RAND study estimated that about 3,960 transgender troops currently serve in the active and reserve components, although some say there could be as many as 15,000.

James Delingpole noted at Breitbart News:

[Transgendered individuals] were also about to cost the U.S. taxpayer heinous amounts of money – perhaps $8.4 million a year – because, thanks to legislation introduced last year by President Obama, the Defense Department was liable for the cost of the gender reassignment surgery on any soldier whose ability to serve was “adversely affected by a medical condition or medical treatment related to their gender identity.”

Not only were these transgender sensitivity policies burdening the military with unnecessary costs but they were also making it less effective…

Sensitivity training? In the military? This is not how wars are won.

Delingpole adds as well that perhaps the most important effect of the ban on transgender individuals in the military is that Trump is taking “a step towards saving Western Civilization.”

“He did the right thing,” he writes. “He did the only possible thing for anyone who still believes in truth, justice, social order, common sense, decency, logic – and all the other values which have traditionally underpinned our culture and made us great.”

https://twitter.com/DrMikeSimpson/status/890225535963598850

Trump’s decision is a clear rejection of politically correct, forced gender ideology, which attempts to eliminate the natural social and civic order that recognizes only two sexes – male and female.

The Pentagon now awaits the White House’s guidance on the implementation of Trump’s ban on transgender individuals in the military.

2. Trump reinstates and expands the “Mexico City Policy”:

The president is implementing his executive order that reinstated what is known as the “Mexico City Policy,” one that prohibits any non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. aid from performing and promoting abortion overseas. However, Trump also has expanded that policy – called “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” – by directing the Secretary of State to ensure the ban on taxpayer funds for overseas abortions is in place across most U.S. global health programs that provide assistance.

The fact that Trump issued the executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy within days after his inauguration sent a clear message that he intended to keep his promises to the pro-life base of the Republican Party that helped to elect him. Unlike many Republican politicians who, even recently, have failed to pass pro-life legislation – such as the provision to defund Planned Parenthood included in all of the bills to repeal Obamacare – Trump has shown he intends to keep his promises.

CBN News reports that $8.8 billion will be appropriated to the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Defense Department – all of which must adhere to Trump’s expanded policy now.

NGOs that refuse to accept the pro-life policy of the United States will not receive funds, but those funds will be given to other organizations that comply.

“Foreign NGOs that agree not to perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning, or provide financial support to any other foreign non-governmental organization that conducts such activities, will remain eligible for global health assistance funding,” a White House official reportedly said, according to CBN.

“The Executive Memorandum implemented today is one of the reasons pro-life voters worked to elect Donald Trump to the White House,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser on the day of the signing. “With the implementation of Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, we have officially ceased exporting abortion to foreign nations.”

3. Trump signs executive order that he intends to “vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom”:

Signed in May, the president’s order also directs the Attorney General of the United States “to guide all agencies in complying with relevant Federal law…interpreting religious liberty protections in Federal law.”

Though perhaps just one small step forward in the battle to protect religious liberty, the language still sets the stage for a culture shift.

Alveda King, director of Civil Rights for the Unborn for Priests for Life – and the niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. – said Trump’s order confirms “the foundational principle of religious freedom, which means that citizens are free to act in accordance with their religious beliefs, not just in church, but in every arena of life.”

“President Trump has kept another promise to pro-lifers and people of faith with this executive order,” King said.

Many conservatives, however, would like to see a stronger statement on religious liberty coming from the White House, particularly with regard to the imposition of same-sex marriage even on states whose voters rejected it at the polls. A prior draft of the executive order that was leaked to left-wing media was more definitive, but, apparently, was scuttled.

Consequently, the Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson wrote that Trump’s religious liberty executive order was “woefully inadequate.”

“Trump’s election was about correcting problems of the last administration, including religious liberty violations and the hostility to people of faith in the United States,” Anderson said. “This order does not do that. It is a mere shadow of the original draft leaked in February.”

4. Trump signs resolution overturning Obama’s Planned Parenthood state funding mandate:

The president signed a resolution in April that overturned Obama’s rule – enacted during his last days as president – that forced states to provide family planning grants under Title X to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

The House approved H.J. Res. 43, introduced by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), in February. The resolution used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to rescind the Obama administration rule, enacted during the last days of the former president’s term.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) sponsored the measure in the Senate. Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote at the end of March to enable approval in that chamber after Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against it.

The Heritage Foundation’s Melanie Israel wrote at the Daily Signal the resolution was necessary “to both protect life and reassert that the states have Tenth Amendment rights to allocate Title X family planning grants in such a manner that prioritizes community health clinics and true family planning over the industrial abortion industry as represented by Planned Parenthood.”

5. Trump’s nomination of now-Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court:

Constitutionalists and pro-life leaders celebrated the confirmation of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and the affirmation of their relationship with Trump.

“The swift fulfillment of President Trump’s commitment to appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices is a tremendous win for the pro-life movement,” said Susan B. Anthony List’s Dannenfelser.

“President Trump made history by telling voters who he would appoint to the Court by providing a list — the American people chose him and he in turn chose from the list, keeping his promise,” Family Resource Council President Tony Perkins added.

Similarly, Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America, said Gorsuch’s confirmation is “a huge win for the Trump administration and for the pro-life movement.”

6. Trump makes key appointments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):

In addition to the appointment of former Rep. Tom Price, a pro-life physician, as HHS secretary, Trump tapped several religious liberty and pro-life leaders to top-level positions within that department. HHS was once led by Obama-era secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who administratively implemented much of Obamacare, including the HHS contraceptive mandate, which forced many employers to provide free contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization procedures to their employees through health insurance plans.

In April, Trump appointed religious liberty defender Roger Severino to head HHS’s Office for Civil Rights.

A former director of the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, Severino is known for his criticism of Obamacare’s “nondiscrimination” regulations on the basis of “gender identity.” The guidelines propose to penalize healthcare professionals who are morally and professionally opposed to sex change surgeries and treatments.

Severino wrote at the Daily Signal last year on the issue of North Carolina’s bathroom privacy policy, “The radical left is using government power to coerce everyone, including children, into pledging allegiance to a radical new gender ideology over and above their right to privacy, safety, and religious freedom.”

LGBT rights advocates criticized Severino’s appointment.

“I could not think of a more dangerous person to head up the Office of Civil Rights at HHS,” JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and public affairs at the Human Rights Campaign said, according to Yahoo. “Once again, Donald Trump is declaring war against our community by appointing anti-LGBTQ people at all levels of his administration.”

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, added Severino’s appointment is “part of a disturbing trend by the Trump administration of naming people who disagree or outright oppose the mission or role of an agency or office to leadership positions within those entities.”

In late April, Trump also appointed well-known pro-life advocate Dr. Charmaine Yoest as assistant secretary of public affairs for HHS. As the former president of Americans United for Life (AUL), Yoest implemented a campaign to emphasize the negative consequences of abortion for both women and their unborn babies and emphasized the need for young girls to obtain their parents’ consent prior to abortion.

Planned Parenthood tweeted its rejection of Trump’s nomination of Yoest:

The abortion industry giant – which receives grants from the federal government for teaching “comprehensive sex education” (CSE) in schools – also expressed its condemnation of Trump’s appointment in June of Valerie Huber, a longstanding advocate of “abstinence” sex education, as chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health at HHS.

Huber’s appointment matched Trump’s budget proposal to maintain funding for Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) education – a public health term Huber prefers over “abstinence” – and eliminate the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP), a CSE approach that was initiated early on in the Obama administration and which Planned Parenthood embraced.

In contrast to Trump, Obama’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2017 eliminated all funding for “abstinence” education.

Planned Parenthood tweeted its disapproval of Huber’s appointment:

7. Trump vows to defend law enforcement:

Last week, the president delivered tough words to gang members and the promise of support to law enforcement, a sign that Trump intends to uphold both the nation’s physical boundaries and its laws – neither of which he wishes to see diminished or undermined through political correctness or social justice activism.

“Together, we’re going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities, and we’re going to destroy the vile criminal cartel MS-13 and many other gangs,” Trump promised.

“From now on, we’re going to enforce our laws, protect our borders, and support our police like our police have never been supported before,” he added, criticizing mayors who have dubbed their communities “sanctuary cities.”

“Failure to enforce our immigration laws had predictable results: drugs, gangs, and violence — but that’s all changing now under the Trump administration,” the president said.

In just six months, Trump has set the tone for a culture shift in America – back to the values of life, religious liberty, common sense civic order, and respect for the law of the land.

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