The Dumbest Campaign Promise in History

Ted Cruz vows to nix gluten-free meals for military as stand against Pentagon ‘political correctness’

Was there anyone out there, trying to decide on a candidate, thinking "I just wish someone would do something about the lack of gluten in our soldiers' diets?"

"Oh, if only one of our politicians would have the guts to stand up and say 'if you've got celiac disease, stay the hell out of our military, you commie!'"

Whose support could he possibly hope to gain by making such a stupid promise?

I've known a couple of people with gluten allergies, and it's serious fucking business. Our friend's little girl nearly died because someone inadvertently gave her a cracker to eat. I know that gluten-free diets are kind of fashionable right now, and if soldiers were demanding gluten-free meals becasue it's the latest health craze and last year they wanted paleo MREs and before that it was Atkins or whatever then I could see where you might feel like you need to put your foot down and say "enough! Just eat the damn food already!" But gluten sensitivity is no fucking joke. People really do get sick, some, like my friends' daughter, dangerously so. I knew a guy with celiac and he not only had to remove the dinner roll from his plate, but had to cut away and discard the part of the meat that the roll had touched, lest he have digestive tract issues for the next several days.
I don't know about Ted, but I feel that anyone who voluntarily signs up to risk his life for his country should at least get food that won't sicken him.

So why would a presumably troop-supporting Republican candidate want to deny healthy food to the troops? The only thing I can think of is that it's just an instinct that these people have to attack and ridicule anything that they see as weakness, and an inability to digest certain proteins looks like a weakness to a loathsome narcissist like Ted Cruz.