‘Here We Go Again With This Sh*t’: CNN Contributor Scoffs At Panelist’s Critique of Transgender Military Ban

CNN contributor Shermichael Singleton made it clear he was not happy with a panelist drawing parallels between a transgender military ban and race.

Singleton joined CNN’s Abby Phillip’s panel on NewsNight following the Supreme Court ruling that President Donald Trump’s administration could move forward with a ban on transgender people in the military. Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky compared the ban to Black people being excluded from the military, a point that Singleton flatly rejected.

“That’s exactly the same kind of argument that they made against integrating the military when Harry Truman did it,” Roginsky said, arguing “unit cohesion” is a clouded excuse for bigotry.

“Here we go again with this shit,” Singleton said under his breath.

“Is she wrong that unit cohesion was used as an excuse to keep the military segregated for a long time?” Phillip asked after noting Singleton was “frustrated” with the direction of the debate.

“We should focus on this year at hand. I don’t know why we keep going to bringing up race. Let’s just focus on the issue at hand,” Singleton argued.

Phillip again pressed on whether exclusion from the military over gender identity, sexual orientation, and race are all part of the same argument.

“I reject those parallels. That’s my answer. I reject the parallels. I think they’re ludicrous parallels. I think they’re ludicrous parallels,” Singleton said.

Roginsky then brought in Alaina Kupec, a transgender former Naval intelligence officer, into the debate, asking if she had a “choice” in her sexual identity. Singleton quickly said he never singled out his fellow panelist as someone who should be excluded.

“My opinion here is let it work itself through the court system,” Singleton said.

Kupec argued there are much more laid-back rules for things like racism in the military.

“Right now in the military, you can be a white supremacist, a known white supremacist and serve in this military, but you cannot be transgender and serve in this military,” Kupec said. “That’s a fact.”

Watch above via CNN.