Trumpism’s Attack on the Regulatory State Is a Power Grab, Not Governance

The Trump administration’s assault on the United States regulatory state was never about improving government efficiency or protecting taxpayers. According to a recent scholarly essay, Trumpism represents a fundamental transformation of the presidency itself — from a traditional administrative role into a personalist power center designed to consolidate control and undermine checks and balances.

This shift is not just a matter of policy disagreements or partisan priorities. The essay, published in a leading governance journal, documents how Trump’s approach to executive power subverted longstanding norms that kept the federal bureaucracy impartial and effective. Instead of relying on expertise and institutional procedures, the administration centralized decision-making around Trump’s personal interests and political loyalty.

The consequences are profound. The regulatory state, which is supposed to enforce laws and protect public welfare, became a tool for political vendettas, cronyism, and rolling back protections that millions rely on. Agencies were hollowed out, career civil servants sidelined or purged, and rules rewritten or abandoned to serve the administration’s ideological and personal goals.

This personalist consolidation of power echoes authoritarian playbooks, where the executive branches itself into a vehicle for unchecked authority. It erodes the democratic safeguards that prevent abuses and ensure government accountability. The essay warns that this model, if normalized, threatens to permanently weaken American democracy.

For those tracking the Trump era’s damage to governance, this analysis provides a crucial framework for understanding how the administration’s corruption and authoritarianism operated not just in isolated scandals, but as a systemic overhaul of executive power. It underscores why restoring institutional integrity and rebuilding the regulatory state are urgent priorities for anyone committed to democratic accountability.

Read the full essay here [link to source].