Since he reclaimed the White House, Donald Trump loves being compared with a monarch with unprecedented powers. “LONG LIVE THE KING!” Trump said on social media last year, after his administration tried to kill congestion pricing in New York. In October, the US president posted an AI-generated video of himself dumping brown sludge on protesters who participated in a daylong mass protest, known as “No Kings”, against his administration. In the video, Trump wore a crown and was flying a fighter jet labeled “KING TRUMP”.

He has also launched a relentless campaign of self-aggrandizement, plastering his name and face on government buildings, including the Kennedy Center and the US Institute of Peace. Trump demolished the White House’s East Wing and is overseeing plans to replace it with an enormous ballroom; the National Park Service designated the president’s birthday as a free-admission day at national parks; and the US treasury is poised to issue $1 coins featuring Trump’s image to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence later this year.

In his drive to consolidate power and create a public spectacle, Trump has established a more dangerous version of the imperial presidency, which goes beyond the actions of any of his modern predecessors who sought to expand presidential authority. By plunging the US into an open-ended war against Iran, Trump has reached the zenith of his imperial ambitions. This war is the culmination of Trump’s lawlessness since he returned to office: he deployed troops into American cities, gutted federal agencies, ordered the US military to attack civilian boats in the Caribbean sea, and used law enforcement to punish his political enemies – all with little resistance from Congress or the supreme court.

The path to Trump’s reckless war in Iran was paved by the collapse of accountability in Washington. Weeks into his second term, the president issued dozens of executive orders expanding his power and undermining the authority of Congress to determine government spending and shape federal agencies. Trump also systematically weakened........

© The Guardian