Column: Trump is creating an imperial presidency -- and he's doing it by decree

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

54% : " But taken together, the actions add up to a concerted campaign to give Trump more direct power over federal programs and spending than any president in recent history.
54% : Less visibly, but just as important, Trump has abruptly transformed thousands of federal jobs from nonpartisan civil service positions into political appointments.
50% : "And if the agencies replace anyone who leaves, it will presumably be with political appointees who feel loyal to Trump.
45% : "This is fundamentally an attempt to redefine the president's powers under the Constitution," said Donald F. Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland's school of public policy.
44% : Trump has made clear that he believes a president can unilaterally block funds that Congress has approved.
44% : In 1974, Congress passed a law explicitly prohibiting the practice; Trump says he intends to challenge that 50-year-old law in the courts.
43% : But polls also show that most voters also want the government to do more to improve healthcare and education -- areas Trump has promised to defund.
39% : In a blizzard of executive orders, Trump has halted federal spending on clean energy, infrastructure, foreign aid and anything connected with "diversity, equity and inclusion"; frozen most federal hiring; stripped thousands of civil servants of job protections and proposed subjecting them to political loyalty tests; summarily fired prosecutors and targeted FBI agents involved in prosecuting him; and attempted to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented migrants.
36% : Donald Trump has been back in the White House for only two weeks, but he's already remaking the federal government.
29% : Unions representing federal workers have sued to prevent Trump from taking away their members' job protections.
28% : " Polls suggest that Trump is on solid political ground when it comes to spending cuts in general.
25% : Trump and his chief budget advisor, Russell Vought, have frequently denounced career bureaucrats as members of a hostile "deep state.
23% : Trump is trying to change that.

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