Trump: "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States,"

 Axios - President Trump is gradually testing, stretching and gutting the independence of America's major institutions, leaving few stones unturned in his pursuit of unchecked power, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• In Trump's vision of America, authority flows only from his consent....

• "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States," Trump told reporters yesterday when discussing his threat to send the National Guard into Chicago.

In just seven months, Trump has consolidated vast power by following a clear playbook: Capture what he can, contest what he can't and punish those who resist.

1. Captured institutions: Trump has exerted decisive control over every inch of the executive branch, leaving little pretense of independence anywhere in the federal bureaucracy.

• Justice Department: Trump has declared himself — not the attorney general — as America's "chief law enforcement officer." He's stacked the DOJ with loyalists who are now leading criminal investigations into Democrats, Obama-era intelligence officials and other Trump critics.
• Intelligence community: Security clearances have been stripped from alleged leakers, and intelligence staff have been cut dramatically. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth even fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency after a preliminary assessment by the DIA suggested Trump's Iran strikes were less successful than he claimed.
• Independent agencies: An executive order moved all regulatory bodies under White House control, erasing decades of autonomy and enabling the gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and U.S. Agency for International Development.
• Washington, D.C.: Trump has seized control — literally and figuratively — over much of the nation's capital, deploying the National Guard, taking over the Kennedy Center and threatening the Smithsonian over what he deemed "anti-American" content.

2. Contested battlegrounds: These arenas face constant interference, but Trump hasn't yet achieved full capture.

• Military: Trump has fired top generals and required new four-star nominees to meet with him.
• Congress: The White House has eroded the legislature's core powers on tariffs, spending and war — sidelining lawmakers with emergency declarations or outright defiance.
• Academia and law: The Trump administration has extracted over $1 billion in settlements from elite universities and law firms, weaponizing the federal government's enormous funding leverage to browbeat liberal power centers.

3. Remaining resistance: These are the institutions that still act as counterweights, even if Trump is trying to kneecap them.

• Courts: Federal judges have frozen dozens of Trump's most aggressive policies and spoken out against intimidation. Still, the White House has escalated attacks on "rogue" judges, testing whether the judiciary can withstand sustained pressure.
• Media: Major outlets continue to investigate and expose contradictions in Trump's presidency, even as he curtails access, threatens regulatory action against broadcasters, and promotes loyalist voices in the press corps.
• Democratic Party: Despite their unpopularity, Democrats remain a legitimate opposition force — using congressional hearings, lawsuits and state governments to challenge Trump. Share this story.