Whether you like it or not, President Donald Trump is a political wrecking ball. Depending on your perspective, that’s either a refreshing change from the polished cowardice of most politicians or a growing concern as the wrecking ball swings dangerously close to the foundational principles of our republic.
Trump isn’t just smashing the usual corrupt bureaucracy by using long-standing executive powers to cut off funding for insane left-wing projects uncovered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. He’s also testing the structural limits of executive power to their breaking point. But the Republicans who cheer him on, alongside his reliable MAGA base, are making a colossal mistake by not thinking far enough ahead.
One day, Trump will no longer be president of the United States. One day, someone else will hold the sledgehammer. One day, someone else will test the limits of whatever is left of precedent. And on that day, will it be someone who cares about the freedoms you care about?
In the first few months of Trump’s second administration, we’ve already seen warning signs: on tariffs, immigration, and, yes, executive overreach so vast and casual it would make even former President Woodrow Wilson blush.
And Republicans, once the vanguards of constitutional restraint, are now cheering as Trump brushes off congressional authority, treats the judiciary like a nuisance, and expands presidential powers to dizzying new heights. All because, for now, it’s being done in service of our goals.
But what happens when those powers are handed to someone who doesn’t share our worldview?
Tariff strategy
Starting with trade, it’s clear Trump loves tariffs the way CNN loves Jan. 6. In both of his administrations, Trump has leveraged Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — a Cold War-era relic that allows the president to restrict imports for national security reasons — to impose sweeping and chaotic tariffs without even a nod from Congress.
Trump can impose or remove tariffs on anyone, including our free trade allies, at a moment’s notice, not through a careful, deliberative process alongside the support of Congress with an eye for the future beyond the next election, but under the ridiculous guise of national security and some back-of-the-napkin math on trade deficits. This was just one man deciding unilaterally to reshape American trade policy with nothing but a pen, a phone, and a Truth Social account.
But while his loyal supporters and his inner circle of drooling sycophants will excuse any decision as another example of 4D chess, a negotiating strategy, or simply a way to stop every nation on the planet from “screwing” us over, let’s play this out.
Let’s assume the president can simply declare an emergency and do whatever they please. Does that mean we should celebrate when hypothetical-President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — God forbid — decides that climate change, racism, or wealth inequality is a national security threat? We’ll be left with nothing but the complaint that our emergency is real and theirs isn’t.
Immigration enforcement
Then there’s immigration, which is far less controversial but still includes instances of Trump ignoring fundamental American principles to achieve his goal and has brought accusations of shredding the due process rights of illegal immigrants who face deportation.
Of course, the argument against deporting illegal immigrants to their home countries is ridiculously weak, even if the argument against deporting illegal immigrants to Salvadoran prisons without a judicial process is more reasonable. But, again, take a step back. Even if you think this is all part of Trump’s genius-level strategy on immigration, a policy that has been an almost universal success since his return to the White House, what precedent does it set?
What happens when the next Democratic president decides you are a national threat? What about when they decide your gun ownership, social media posts, or political rallies are “extremist behavior” worthy of surveillance, detention, or worse?
This is far from impossible. Former President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security floated language about right-wing domestic extremism that was so vague it could include anyone who owns a copy of the Constitution.
Executive overreach
And what about the so-called TikTok ban that just never happened?
In 2020, Trump issued an executive order that called for the app to be banned unless it was sold to a U.S. company. It was all over the news: threats of bans, deals with Oracle, desperate dances from influencers. And in 2024, members of Congress (remember them?) passed a bill that was signed into law by Biden that forced TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the platform or see it banned in the United States.
And then nothing because Trump, without legal authority, has continued to postpone the enforcement of this sale-or-ban law regarding TikTok. In the latest delay, Trump said his administration “has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK.” But that’s not his job! As Republicans have said for decades, his job is to enforce the law.
And while arguing over TikTok might seem silly, despite it being more of a national security threat than, say, Canada, it’s indicative of a lawlessness that Republicans despised under a Democratic president but are now willing to excuse or ignore.
If this continues, Trump’s legacy will not be one of governance, but monarchy, in which the legislative and judicial branches are simply there to fill seats at the State of the Union.
Of course, Trump supporters are right to be furious about the double standard of executive overreach. Former President Barack Obama wielded the pen and phone like a medieval scepter, bypassing Congress whenever he pleased. Biden’s team did the same, from student loan bailouts to vaccine mandates.
But the answer to that abuse is not more abuse. The answer is not “our king is better than your king.”
The conservative movement is supposedly defined by a deep respect for limited government, a core principle at the heart of the American founding, acknowledging that power must be restrained, not just redirected. And yet today, far too many Republicans are cheering the growth of executive power — so long as it’s their guy doing the growing. This is short-term thinking at its most dangerous.
We might get our wins on immigration now, but what happens when hypothetical-President Gavin Newsom declares climate lockdowns by executive order or a “public health emergency” around hate speech, using the same Trump-forged tools to censor every voice that doesn’t toe the diversity, equity, and inclusion line, or ships off political dissidents to prisons in Ukraine?
WHY DOES HARVARD HAVE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS, AND CAN TRUMP’S IRS REVOKE IT?
We must remember that every inch of executive power we cheer today becomes the baseline for what comes tomorrow — every unchecked move, ignored court ruling, and circumvention of Congress. Those don’t go away. They accumulate.
Presidents don’t give up power. They inherit it. And if the next one uses this power to target you? Well, congratulations: You helped build the throne they’re sitting on.
Ian is a syndicated columnist. Follow him on X (@ighaworth) or Substack.