Trump Tests the Limits of His Power

Gerald Seib: “Amid the clamor, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that what the country is witnessing is a classic Trumpian process: The president is testing the system to find the outer limits of his powers. It’s unlikely he thinks he can get away with everything he is trying, but he also knows that one way to find out is to try. It is a strategy that he has deployed repeatedly in his business career, in both of his presidential campaigns, and in his first term as president.”

“Now this approach is unfolding again, but on a grander scale than ever before. As it does, only two factors really matter in determining its outcome: At what point will Congress stand up for itself? And when and where will the nation’s courts draw the line on the aggressive use of presidential power? For Trump, discovering the answers to these questions may be less a feature of the exercise than its whole point.”