It’s clear now that Trump’s goal is nothing less than the destruction of the Federal government, both regarding most of its functions and the balance of power set by the Constitution.
Functions: Trump’s actions show that he thinks the Federal government has only two functions: protect the country and support business … oh, and requiring adherence to culture war issues at the state and local level, including education.. All other agencies—not just those areas that advance liberal causes— have been gutted, both regarding staff levels and programs. It’s not just the EPA and DEI functions or even USAID. It’s almost everything with the exception of Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, and related agencies. Even Social Security.
This is more drastic than anything he proposed during the election campaign. The agencies won’t have the staff or funding needed for the agencies to fulfill their mission, effectively eliminating them. This is also true for what he terms “anti-business” functions of otherwise protected agencies, such as combating fraud and corruption, auditing business tax returns, and regulating business for the public good, which Trump views as “liberal” agendas.
The result of these cuts to staff and programming is that the welfare of the people will be significantly impacted—negatively. They will either not get the services they need and previously got or corporations will be able to do what they want even if it is harmful to the interests of the public.
This is far different from the usual and accepted practice of a change in administration altering the nuance of government. That is, a Republican administration was always more pro-business than a Democratic one. But the Republican administrations, while replacing political appointees with people supporting Republican policy positions, rarely dismantled programs and never an agency. So one could switch administrations without major disruption or harm to the government and the people.
If Trump is allowed to carry out his plans—and we can look only to the courts to stop him—even if the next administration is Democratic, it will be extremely difficult to restore the government to anything close to its former state. It will take many years and a huge expenditure of funds to hire necessary staff and restore the services that people have come to expect and depend on from the government.
There is little argument that the Federal government could use some cutting back, both in staff and programs. But instead of doing this carefully based on what works and what doesn’t, Trump and Musk are doing this on an ideological basis and using a chainsaw approach. At this point, it is hard to say whether the country will be able to recover from Trump’s actions and, if so, how long that might take.
Balance of Power: While it was always clear that Trump wanted to increase the power of the presidency, the extent of his power quest is now clear. He sees himself as a King, with both Congress and the courts being subservient to him. And he will brook no disagreement.
While he has said that he will abide by the decision of the courts, he means only the Supreme Court—and that, not because of the Constitutional position of the Supreme Court but because he thinks that with a conservative super-majority, several appointed by him, they will rule in his favor. But that is open to question. We shall soon see. The Supreme Court refused Trump’s request to freeze USAID funds and sent the case back to the District Court for further findings. That court has now ordered Trump to present a schedule for payment.
In the meantime, he has not followed a number of lower court orders, which will in all likelihood also end up at the Supreme Court, the most flagrant of which involves the deportations of Venezuelans in flagrant violation of the District court’s order not to deport them. After Trump called the District Court judge a “radical left lunatic,” and he and his allies called for his impeachment, Chief Justice Roberts issued a rare public statement that impeachment is not appropriate when one disagrees with a decision. (See my post, “The Constitutional Crisis to Come.”)
If the courts are not successful in stopping Trump, even if the’26 midterms result in a Democratic controlled House and Senate, they will not be able to undo the damage that Trump has done and will continue to do because Trump will veto their efforts, and they are unlikely to have the votes necessary (⅔ of the House) to override a Presidential veto. That work will only start with a new Democratic administration, hopefully, in 2028.
All the Democratic Party can do now is call Trump out on anything he does that either hurts the average person, goes against his campaign promises, or upsets the Constitution’s balance of power system. And this the Party has not systematically done. But they must speak out,,and if necessary on a daily basis, in order to keep the impact of Trump’s actions in front of the public, in front of the voters, laying the groundwork for regaining control of Congress in 2026.
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