Current Affairs

Comedian Russell Howard slammed Donald Trump’s ban on trans troops and it’s utterly hilarious

Sep 23 2017
Written by Meka Beresford

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

British comedian Russell Howard slammed President Donald Trump over his ban on trans military personnel on his show, and it was utterly hilarious.

Talking on his new Sky 1 slot, The Russell Howard hour, the comedian started the hilarious tirade by calling America “a terrifying place”.

(Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

“Flooding, racial tensions, threats of nuclear war but Trump is obsessed with what’s in soldier’s pants”.

Howard explained the “financial burden” which Trump pinned as the reasoning behind banning trans troops.

“The medical cost of having transgender troops in the US forces is estimated to be 5 million dollars a year.

“To put that into context, Trump has spent over 24 million flying to Florida to play golf. Trump wants eighteen holes, some of these guys are only asking for one.

“He’s allowed to grab a woman’s pussy, but they’re not allowed to get rid of theirs? It doesn’t seem right,” he added.

The star, who faced backlash in 2011 for a sketch which “ridiculed” trans people, then compared the small cost of trans troops to the larger costs of other Pentagon ventured.

“5 million is not a lot. Especially when you read what they’ve wasted money on in the past. They spent 43 million pounds on a gas station in Afghanistan that was never used.

“They spent 28 million on forest camouflage for Afghani soldiers which is a great idea until you buy a f*cking map and realise there’s no forest in Afghanistan.

“They even spent 50 thousand dollars on a study to find out if elephants can sniff out bombs. They can’t, even if they can there aren’t elephants in Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. Even if you had this gift how are you going to communicate with them?”

Howard nears the end of his tirade by insisting that trans military personnel are not a burden and that the president should be doing more to protect trans citizens rather than attack them.

“Trump’s not just attacking soldiers, he’s also attacking trans kids,” Howard said. “It’s unbelievable, they need the president to educate people so they don’t get bullied every day but instead he makes it harder for them to take a shit.

“He thinks the only reason people are changing their sex is so they can serve in the toilets. Which is madness, if it was really about the bogs you would never get a woman becoming a man who would go from the majesty of the ladies to the horror of the gents.

“The president should be sticking up for people not making their life harder because they deal with a lot of ignorance. I was at a gig in the summer and the guy was like what are we supposed to call transgender people? And you’re like, their name?”

Howard added that Trump was “creating a society where it’s ok to hate trans people”.

“In 48 states out of 50 in America, there’s a thing called the trans panic clause. It’s a legal defence for murder to say you panicked because you thought someone was trans. How does that even work? who panics around trans people? They’re a person, not a spider.

“Also if you think transgender people are so threatening that you need to murder them to stay safe, you know where they’d be useful? The army.

He added: “Trump is the president. He would support every person who volunteers their life to the country. Who’s more of a burden to the US army? Someone who’s gone through gender reassignment and still turns up for their job? Or a man who’s in charge of the nuclear codes despite having all the negotiating skills of an elephant on viagra in a minefield?”