His trans ban

It began in July 2017 with three tweets; of course it did. Stunning his staff and his military, President Trump announced that he would not allow transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity” in the U.S. armed forces. Which presumably meant not only in submarines, not only on the front lines of combat, but as clerks, medics, drone pilots, engineers or cooks.

What followed was an administration-wide attempt to catch up to the president’s primal scream, a classic Trump farce that has eaten up political capital, distracted officials, shredded credibility and set back the cause of equal rights.

Trump’s defense secretary at the time, Jim Mattis, tried to walk back the edict. The White House followed up with formal guidance. Mattis ordered a six-month policy review, to at least make it appear as though the administration was following some rhyme or reason.

Then came the actual policy, subject to repeated, warranted court challenges. Eventually, in April 2019, came the culmination: cruel and unnecessary, but not what Trump had ordered.

Transgender individuals who had already received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria could continue to serve as they were, get hormone treatments and undergo transition surgery. But going forward, anyone who’d been taking hormones or who’d already undergone a transition would not be allowed to enlist.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of Americans — two-thirds in the most recent polling — oppose the new policy, in no small part because of the nasty and impetuous way Trump tried to make it happen.

This commander in chief cannot serve after January 2021. In any capacity.