Every new presidential administration must choose between cautious measures to consolidate political power and politically risky steps to accomplish policy goals immediately. On a scale of one to ten, from the former to the latter, Trump 2.0 is looking like an 11. If his initial explosion of nominees for the Cabinet and key White House jobs is any indication, the 47th president is determined to blow up the federal government as we have known it, regardless of the political ramifications for his party. You could argue that’s a predictable course of action for a 78-year-old “populist” demagogue who has run his last political campaign and has often expressed hostility to the Republican “Establishment” he now controls. But the big question as the shock wears off from Trump’s initial maneuvers is whether Republicans will roll over and watch their president destroy their own future prospects, along with the government he clearly wishes to disable.
This isn’t a theoretical........