Trump is using the power of government to punish opponents. They’re struggling to respond

President Donald Trump is using the power of the federal government to intimidate or neuter potential sources of opposition to him.

President Donald Trump is using the power of the federal government to intimidate or neuter potential sources of opposition to him: The legal establishment, academia and prominent cultural institutions, the media, the judiciary, the Democratic Party, Congress and independent government oversight. The unprecedented breadth of the actions Trump and his allies inside the government have taken against his perceived political and ideological opponents in his first two months back in office is stunning – both in the president’s willingness to test the limits of his powers and the extent to which his foes have struggled to respond or even bent to his will. Through executive orders, his bully pulpit and lieutenants in charge of the Justice Department and other Cabinet agencies, Trump’s actions are paralyzing institutions that stand as pillars of America’s independent civic society. Within the legal establishment, at least two law firms Trump has a political vendetta against have chosen to cut a deal with him to avert his threats. In academia, universities like Columbia have agreed to sweeping demands that encroach on principles of academic freedom that date back centuries. “This White House’s public, multi-pronged frontal assault on national institutions is unprecedented,” said Timothy Naftali, the CNN presidential historian and senior research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “Institutions can be rebuilt, but political culture can be poisoned for a generation.” The sources of typical opposition for a president have been quieted – if not quashed altogether. Independent media organizations like the Associated Press are being shut out of access to the president in favor of pro-Trump outlets, while state-supported media is gutted and threatened with defunding.