Democrats and the media reacted with fury to President Donald Trump's executive order that effectively barred transgender troops from service in the U.S. military, and argued that Trump's action would result in worsened military readiness as potentially tens of thousands of patriotic troops are denied the opportunity to serve their country in the uniform of their choosing.

Yet, according to the Pentagon, the media and Democrats have grossly overinflated the estimated number of transgender troops that would be impacted by the president's policy decision, by as much as three to five times, according to Breitbart.

For at least the past decade, the pro-trans legacy media has asserted that at least 15,000 or more transgender troops serve in uniform, but the Defense Department has just put that actual number at just slightly more than 4,200.

Trump, Pentagon, bar transgender troops from service

Just one week after being sworn in, President Trump issued an executive order titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness" that, among other things, effectively barred individuals with "radical gender ideology" and the mental illness of "gender dysphoria" from service in any branch of the U.S. military.

Approximately one month later and in alignment with that order, the Pentagon's Office of Personnel and Readiness released a memo outlining a determination that "the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service."

"It is the policy of the United States government to establish high standards for service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity," the memo stated. "This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria or who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria."

Just a couple of days later, a news release announced that, barring waivers in extreme cases and on a case-by-case basis, all transgender troops would be processed for separation, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Pentagon identifies roughly 4,200 transgender troops

Breitbart reported that in conjunction with the policy member and subsequent news release, the Pentagon revealed that out of approximately 2.1 million active duty and reserve troops in the U.S. military, just 4,240 service members were identified as transgender and disqualified from service.

That said, the announced number only includes those service members who've been open about their gender dysphoria and doesn't account for those who may have kept their gender ideology and preferences secret from others.

Still, even allowing for the likely possibility that some transgender service members have kept their transition or desire to transition private, the revealed number remains far lower than what Democrats and the media have been trumpeting for years.

That number was estimated to be anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000, per multiple media reports over the years, which is roughly three to five times as many as were actually identified by the Pentagon following President Trump's order.

Where did the 15,000 transgender troops claim originate?

Breitbart further reported that the estimated number of transgender troops in the media that has been unquestioningly shared by the media for years is based on a pair of surveys and guesswork put together by a couple of activist groups known as the Williams Institute in 2014 and the Palm Center in 2018.

Those surveys, which asserted around 15,000 transgender troops -- including nearly 9,000 in active duty and another nearly 6,000 in reserve units -- were based on a dubious 2016 Pentagon survey of a small sample of active duty troops that was then extrapolated out and applied broadly as though the questionable findings were the gospel truth.

To be sure, based in large part on encouragement from Democratic administrations and the media, there are undoubtedly some transgender troops in uniform, but their actual numbers pale in comparison to past estimates and their separation from the military will not endanger unit cohesion and readiness, and likely in fact will make those things even stronger than before.