President Trump is pressing full steam ahead with an agenda that Democrats worry has an increasingly autocratic bent.

But right now, there’s not much they can do about it.

News emerged late on Monday afternoon that the Justice Department was firing more than a dozen officials who had been part of the attempt to prosecute Trump, led by former special counsel Jack Smith.

That move, apparently spearheaded by Trump’s acting attorney general, James McHenry, looked to critics like the latest attempt by the president to take vengeance on his enemies, reward his friends and kick away the guardrails of civil society.

In his first week back in office, Trump has pardoned almost all the people convicted of Jan. 6-related offenses, while commuting the sentences of a handful of others. The total of more than 1,500 people includes several convicted of seditious conspiracy and a larger number found guilty of violent attacks upon police officers.

Trump’s administration has also removed roughly 17 inspectors general from their roles overseeing government departments; removed security details from former government officials who have crossed him; and instructed the attorney general to root out anything he deems to be political bias in work conducted during former President Biden’s administration.

It’s enough to magnify the chill many Democrats felt at the possibility of Trump resuming power.

© The Hill