Just in case you haven't heard yet, Donald Trump has announced his running mate, and surprise, surprise, he picked the only American politician who is more blatantly sexist than Donald himself: Mike Pence. Recently Buzzfeed found and republished an op-ed Pence wrote about the Disney animated film Mulan, in which he calls the film "liberal propaganda" and tries to use the story to prove that women shouldn't be allowed in the military. Um, Mike? Have you even seen the movie? I'm pretty sure Mulan proved she was pretty well qualified when she, y'know, saved her emperor, her fellow soldiers, not to mention her entire country from an invading army.

Mr. Pence seems to be missing some of the facts, so I'll include a brief history lesson for his benefit. First of all, Mulanwas released in 1998. It was at a time when women were allowed to serve in the U.S. military in some capacities but were banned from combat roles—a rule that didn't change until 2013, when the Secretary of Defense lifted the ban on women in combat roles that was put in place in 1994. The process of integrating women into military combat roles is still ongoing.) The movie was based on a Chinese legend originally known as the Ballad of Mulan, the legend of Hua Mulan, which is about a skilled female warrior who takes her elderly father's place in the military. In the legend, she serves in the Chinese military for 12 years, is held in high esteem by her colleagues and earns high merit in the military, but in the end refuses the military awards offered to her and retires to be with her family. That legend originated in sixth century imperial China, by the way.

In a display of missing the point so spectacularly, it gives #AllLivesMatter a run for its money. Mike Pence apparently believes this story proves that "women in the military = bad idea," citing the fact that "delicate" Mulan falls for her superior officer as major evidence that allowing all sexes into combat roles is bound to cause trouble. He especially criticizes cases in which male and female soldiers were being housed together during basic training. I'll agree that that's probably not a good idea. But then Pence takes a giant flying swan dive from it's potentially problematic to house young adult men and women in the same quarters for months on end during training to so obviously women can't be allowed into the military at all because it creates problems for everyone. How that makes logical sense to anyone I can only guess. Well Mike Pence, all I have to say to you is this: if you want to be our Vice President, you'd better study up. For someone who wants to represent the interests of the American people, you don't seem to be that concerned about 50.8% of us.