Ted Cruz Is Open to Reinstating DADT

Texas senator and Republican presidential Ted Cruz proposed reviving the country's dead ban on openly LGB service members at a Monday campaign event in Iowa.

When asked about the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell," he said he was open to reinstating it and would "listen to the expert judgment of the generals and admirals" and that decisions should be based on what is needed for "good order and discipline," The Washington Post reports.

Cruz employed an oft-used defense of DADT by saying, "We shouldn't view the military as a cauldron for social experiments." 

The dismantling of the ban on out soldiers has not created the problems that many conservatives predicted — in fact, the Pentagon said the 2011 repeal went "smoothly," according to the Post, "with no adverse effect on morale, recruitment or readiness."

Even with that knowledge, Cruz still believes open service by transgender troops, expected to become policy some time next year, is a bad idea.

"How about having the military focusing on hunting down and killing the bad guys … instead of treating it as this crucible for social justice innovations," Cruz said at the event. "We've lost sight of what their job is and that's what we need to get back to."