So much is happening of consequence under the Trump administration that it’s worth reviewing the president’s major actions now that we’re halfway through the week. Kim Lane Scheppele, who studies the rise and fall of democracies at Princeton University, says Trump’s flurry of recent activity — which includes trying to get control of the Federal Reserve and issuing executive orders on crime — reminds her of the “everything, everywhere all at once” playbook that autocrats use to distract people from the broader attack on democratic institutions. Scheppele isn’t alone. A number of analysts said that Trump spending more than three hours being praised live on TV by his Cabinet members reminded them of authoritarian leaders abroad. Here’s what’s happened so far this week under his administration. Trump is trying to get control of the Federal Reserve and interest ratesTrump says he’s firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, alleging she committed mortgage fraud. Those allegations are unproven. Members of the Federal Reserve generally can’t be fired without cause; Cook plans to sue and said she’s not going anywhere. The attempted firing is unprecedented and legally questionable. If successful, however, it could give Trump great influence over the nation’s central bank, which helps shape U.S. monetary policy. The Fed has broad sway over interest rates, which make everything from car to student loans to mortgages more or less affordable. Presidents nominate its governors, though the Fed is generally independent from the rest of the government to ensure monetary policy is not susceptible to political winds, but focuses on what the economy might need at a given moment. Trump has long tried to pressure the Fed to lower interest rates, including during his first term, and has been unsuccessful. But if Cook — a Biden appointee — is forced out, Trump would nominate her successor, ensuring the majority of the central bank’s board is made up of his ideological allies. Any presidential attempt to exert control over the Fed “threatens prosperity by weakening the rule of law, which is itself one of the great pillars of prosperity,” Michael Strain of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told The Washington Post. Trump has been open about how he wants the Fed to lower interest rates in the near term, notably ahead of next year’s elections when Trump’s party could lose power in Congress. Lowering rates could stimulate the financial, business and housing sectors in the short term, though economists fear it ultimately could raise prices and create stubborn inflation. Cook is also the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, and Trump has been pointed about attacking Black women in public life lately, particularly prominent Democrats like New York Attorney General Letitia James and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser. A Trump-appointed judge accuses the administration of trying to “smear” judgesThe nation’s lower courts have almost uniformly pushed back against the Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants without due process. Most of these deportation battles have taken place in Maryland, and in response, the Trump administration sued every federal judge the state this summer. This week, a federal judge dismissed that lawsuit entirely, calling it dangerous for democracy. “The Executive ensnared an entire judicial body — a vital part of this coordinate branch of government — and its principal officers in novel and potentially calamitous litigation,” U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen wrote. Cullen is a Trump appointee and was highly critical of the Trump administration. “...[T]his concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate,” he wrote. Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked lower court judges who rule against him, and a number of judges have accused the Trump administration of defying or outright ignoring their orders. Legal experts I talked to say that if Trump keeps pushing back on or ignoring lower courts, it will be up to the Supreme Court to rein him in. It’s not clear how likely that is. The Supreme Court has so far ruled in favor of expansive presidential power in Trump’s second term, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has also spoken out against Trump’s attack on judges. That could set up the ultimate constitutional clash between the presidency and the courts — a clash some legal experts told me Trump seems willing to have. Trump is trying to shape his tough-on-crime image ahead of the midtermsTrump issued executive orders this week trying to end cashless bail and to roll back First Amendment rights that allow the burning of the American flag, a right upheld by conservative Supreme Court justices decades ago. He remains in control of the Washington, D.C., police department, is threatening to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, and also said he wants the death penalty in D.C. for everyone convicted of murder, though that’s unlikely to come to fruition anytime soon. An executive order by the president isn’t law, and it can’t change how states and localities handle criminal justice. “The United States does not have a single bail system,” The Post points out. But Trump’s words can shape the decisions of communities that want to comply or are worried about federal funding consequences if they don’t. Trump has been open about how much of this push on crime is political. And Democrats have struggled in recent elections to shake Republicans’ weak-on-crime attacks. “I think it’s going to be a big, big subject for the midterms, and I think the Republicans are going to do really well,” Trump said this week. | 
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