Don Moynihan writes:

President Trump’s personalist presidency is driven by a simple logic: protect friends and punish enemies. The shutdown encapsulates this worldview. Trump is cancelling spending in blue states and cities and firing employees in “Democrat programs.”

Even more worrying: he is using the shutdown to woo our military and other armed agents, with the goal of turning them into loyal friends as he pursues “the enemy from within.”

Trump says that he can determine if the armed forces get paid or not during a shutdown. This is an unprecedented threat to American democracy in two ways.

First, Trump is dramatically escalating his Congressional power grab. He claims the right not just to impound funds Congress has appropriated, but also to spend funds for purposes Congress has not appropriated. Second, Trump is upending civil-military relations to encourage troops and other armed agents of the state view him as their personal patron. [Continue reading…]