The last “Tsar of All the Russias” was deposed in 1917 and executed in 1918. Though Russians no longer had a use for the title, Americans did.

When the Romanovs ruled Russia, Americans tended to use it pejoratively. In the early 1900s, the Illinois Republican Joseph G. Cannon was nicknamed “Czar Cannon” for his high-handed treatment of House Democrats. After the Romanovs fell, however, Americans saw an upside in granting unelected officials wide, often undefined powers. In 1918, Bernard Baruch, chairman of the War Industries Board, was praised as the “industry czar” for improving bureaucratic efficiency and military production in World War I.

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In Google’s Ngram Viewer, the printed use of “tsar” tracks the growth of the federal government. It rises steadily from a low point in 1915, surges in the technocratic 1960s, accelerates through the recession-battling 1980s into the profitable 1990s and 2000s, and peaks in 2016. The bigger the government, the more bureaucrats and regulations, and the slower the wheels turn.

The biggest czarist of all was Barack Obama, who appointed 38 official czars, beating George W. Bush (33 czars) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (a mere 11). After a combined five years as president, two-term Donald Trump has a piffling five czars to........

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