Editorial: The New York Times

• President Trump dismissed up to 17 of the most important guardians of integrity in the federal government: the inspectors general.
• The dismissal was in overt defiance of a law requiring Congress to receive 30 days' notice when an inspector general is fired.
• President Trump and his party have the right to push forward the agenda he campaigned on.
• Many of Mr. Trump's first assertions of executive authority blatantly exceed what is legally granted.
• Mr. Trump is seeking to evade, eliminate or bend to his will parts of the government that are legally or constitutionally protected to preserve their independence.
• Trump sees the U.S. government workforce as his personal employees who should be loyal servants.
• Mr. Trump has shown a disregard for separation of powers and a rejection to the checks and balances system.
• The administration also fired more than a dozen prosecutors in the Justice Department simply because they had worked on the criminal investigations of Mr. Trump.
• Mr. Trump has demonstrated that he is prepared to trample over Civil Service rules for career employees.
• Mr. Trump has been accumulating authority while marginalizing anyone in a position to question his actions.

Conclusion: Mr. Trump is testing the boundaries of amassing authority and marginalizing those with the power to question his actions, in clear defiance of the separation of powers and checks and balances in the United States.

---