President Donald Trump went into bigoted overdrive this week, banning transgender troops on the anniversary of the military’s desegregation, and all to appease enough congressional hardliners to approve his down-payment on a border wall with Mexico.

Trump reached his impulsive decision without consulting his national security adviser, Jim Mattis. He didn’t even give the man a chance to return from vacation to deal with the announcement. No one in the White House seemed to know how to explain the decision or how the ban was to work. No Pentagon effort was in the works toward ending the year-old policy that allows transgender people to serve.

The bombshell – dropped, as usual, on Twitter – contained not a trace of humanity or respect. Worse, the entire spectacle seemed like a stupid attempt to launch a big, shining distraction on the day he knew Republican senators would blow another shot at reforming Obamacare, despite Trump’s strong-arm attempts to bully and shame them into betraying their constituents.

Read more at The Denver Post.