Trump’s power grabs will go on until someone stops him – and that’s not happening soon

A month into Donald Trump’s first term, the president’s then-political sage Steve Bannon coined a doctrine to explain the conservative wrecking ball now demolishing the US government: “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”It took eight years, but the theory is becoming reality, and could portend a fateful reshaping of American governance under a mighty presidency that was never envisaged by the founders.Trump and his merchant of chaos Elon Musk are pummeling federal agencies, targeting bureaucrats, clawing back spending approved by Congress, buckling the world order and busting trade pacts.They are following a playbook developed by movement hardliners, dismayed at the missteps and lost focus of Trump’s first term, who are determined to use a potentially short window on power to forge irrevocable change.Once again, Trump is raising questions at a velocity that leaves other branches of government, his opponents and voters struggling to grasp what’s happening and unable to resist.Five key questions or trends are emerging that will help to define his second term.Is growing outrage and fear justified? To what extent are the shocks rattling Washington simply the signs of a hyper-committed new administration implementing a mandate to transform how the country is run and who runs it?Or, are Trump’s tactics becoming an all-out assault on the Constitution from a president who believes he has unlimited authority and who mocks checks and balances meant to ensure commanders in chief are not kings?Musk, wielding vast, mostly invisible power, working deep beneath the hood of the federal government, is especially problematic. He’s not elected or confirmed by Congress and seems accountable to nobody — perhaps not even Trump.And there are multiple and growing signs that institutions like the FBI, CIA, DOJ and federal agencies that Americans have relied upon to deliver justice and keep them safe, prosperous and healthy are now mere tools of Trump’s whims.Who is going to stop any of this? After last fall’s widespread defeat, Democrats are toothless. Republicans who run Congress have neutered their own branch of government to appease an all-powerful president. Court cases are coming but can’t keep up with Trump.Supporters of USAID rally on the grounds of the US Capitol on Wednesday.Supporters of USAID rally on the grounds of the US Capitol on Wednesday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesA trail of shocks and uproarThe scope of the Trump power play is staggering. And it’s possible much more is happening behind the scenes that the public can’t see.Musk, the world’s richest man, is boasting that he put USAID — an agency that feeds some of the world’s poorest, most desperate people and has saved millions of lives — “in the wood chipper.” USAID employees have been ordered home from overseas. The Tesla chief and his whizz kid crash teams are roaming inside the federal nervous system with the capacity to access sensitive Treasury payment systems and are seemingly able to force out top managers and shut out employees.The White House halted the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is tasked with shielding consumers from financial abuses. Trump has made clear he wants his incoming Education Secretary Linda McMahon to orchestrate her own department’s demise. The administration has offered many federal workers a ‘buyout,’ and CNN reported the government plans to dismiss large numbers who don’t take the offer by a Thursday deadline.As part of a supposed quest to de-weaponize the Justice Department and FBI, the bureau has handed over to Trump aides information on 5,000 employees who worked on January 6, 2021, cases. Trump told his new Attorney General Pamela Bondi he wants “impartiality” on Wednesday — in a scene in the Oval Office that left no doubt that his definition of the word required complete adherence to his point of view. Trump’s chosen FBI enforcer Kash Patel hasn’t even arrived yet, but he appears likely to be confirmed by the Senate as the retribution agenda gathers pace.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a briefing on Wednesday.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a briefing on Wednesday. Leah Millis/ReutersWhite House insists Trump is simply enacting a mandateMillions of Americans voted for a candidate who argued that the federal government was not responding to their needs – after a grueling chapter of history marked by financial crises, the hollowing out of the manufacturing base, foreign wars and punishingly high inflation.Trump’s aides dismiss a tide of panic and condemnation about his lightning-fast start to his second term. They argue he’s doing exactly what Americans wanted.“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk, vowing that the tech billionaire was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency, and that the two of them, with a great team around them, were going to look at the receipts of this federal government and ensure it’s accountable to taxpayers.“That’s all that is happening here,” Leavitt said.Trump’s brazen approach, however, seems to go much further than Leavitt’s characterization. And he doesn’t get much benefit of the doubt as a twice-impeached president who tried to wreck democracy to stay in power in 2021