When President Donald Trump signed his executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, it should have caused costernation from the United States Congress. Presidents cannot unilaterally abolish cabinet departments; they require an act of Congress.
But rather, Trump received praise from almost all Republican lawmakers, despite the fact that he subverted their power and took away their authority.
Only a few, like Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, who helped put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary over the finish line, alluded to proposing legislation.
But it’s just the latest example of Congress utterly abdicating its duties in the name of Trump. In fact, during this week as Congress was out of session, Republicans on the Hill mostly could not be bothered to speak out against Trump during a litany of actions that actively subvert the separation of powers.
On Friday, Trump decried attacks on Teslas a day after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced “severe” charges for anyone who attacked Tesla, ranging up to 20 years in prison. The president took it an additional step.
“Perhaps they could serve them in prisons in El Salvador, which have become so famous for such lovely conditions,” he said.
This came despite the fact that the Department that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said in a sworn statement that many of the Venezuelan men whom the Trump administration has sent to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison had no criminal record.
A president threatening people with rendition and imprisonment would normally require oversight from Congress to ensure that civil liberties were not violated. But no such words came from Republicans in Congress.
This came after Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick went on Fox News to encourage viewers to buy Tesla stock, as its price continues to tumble as a way to protest Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Lutnick’s interview would normally raise questions about whether he violated the Hatch Act, which conducts the conduct of federal employees. But again, almost nothing came of it.
Earlier this week, when Trump called for U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to be impeached, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts denounced Trump’s words.
But no denunciation came from Congress. Rather, a group of hard-right members of Congress led by freshman Brandon Gill of Texas, who previously called for Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to be deported, complied and filed an impeachment resolution.
In the same token, Trump fired Democratic commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission earlier this week. This comes despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled 90 years ago ruled that the president did not have “illimitable power of removal.”
Unsurprisingly, no Republicans spoke out about this overstepping of presidential power. The subsequent day, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell held a press conference to talk about the decision by the central bank, which is meant to be apolitical, to keep interest rates the same. Inevitably a reporter asked him about the FTC firings, which led to a dodge.
“I think I did answer that question in this very room some time ago, and I have no desire to change that answer, and have nothing new for you on that today,” he said. Powell also laid out how tariffs proposed by the Trump administration would lead to increased inflation.
That, of course, did not stop Trump from raging against Powell in the wee hours of Thursday, saying that “The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S. Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy.”
The US created the Federal Reserve specifically to make sure politicians do not interfere with monetary policy. But Trump’s pushing of the Federal Reserve received zero pushback, likely because doing so would mean having to oppose Trump’s stance on tariffs.
Perhaps nobody embodied this unwillingness to confront Trump than Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the idiosyncratic moderate Republican from Alaska. Murkowski held a press conference this week back in Alaska where she said she did not fear Musk going after her, but understood why others did.
“I get criticized for what I say, and then everybody else is like, ‘Well, how come nobody else is saying anything?’” she said. “Well, figure it out, because they’re looking at … how many things are being thrown at me, and it’s like, ‘Maybe I just better duck and cover.’”
At the same time Murkowski made it a point to say her pushing back should not be construed as an attack on Trump.
“I am standing up for my role as a duly elected senator and a member of the congressional branch, standing up for my responsibilities under the Constitution, and I think I can do that without it being interpreted that I am against Trump,” she said.
