Trump has taken the ‘public’ out of public servant 

This month, President Trump threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if he does not resign when his term as chair ends. He has blasted Powell as “incompetent,” “crooked,” a “jerk,” “a TOTAL LOSER,” and “TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL.”  

Likely acting at the president’s behest, federal prosecutors investigated whether Powell had misled Congress about the cost of renovations to the Fed’s headquarters. Finding “essentially zero evidence” that Powell committed a crime, the federal judge overseeing the case indicated that efforts to subpoena Fed records were intended “to pressure [Powell] into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.” 

Trump’s campaign to replace Powell with a more pliable Fed chair is part of his systematic effort to turn “public servants” in the federal government into presidential puppets.  

The Federal Reserve is one of many independent agencies established by Congress to serve the public. Its leaders are protected from arbitrary dismissal so that decisions affecting banking, markets, workplace safety and health would rest on expert judgment rather than the partisan political interests of the president. Since returning to office, however, Trump has summarily fired dozens of independent agency heads, replacing many with individuals whose principal qualification appears to be a willingness to bend to White House demands.  

The administration has argued before the Supreme Court that laws insulating independent agencies from political pressure are unconstitutional, prompting Justice Elena Kagan to warn against a ruling that would “put massive, uncontrolled, unchecked power in the hands of the president.”  

Trump proved Kagan’s point with a sweeping executive order requiring independent........

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