OUR PICKS: DEMOCRACY WATCHBlame Gerald Ford for Trump’s Unaccountability | Vance Says “Judges Aren’t Allowed to Control” Trump’s “Legitimate Power” | Feeding Time at the Trough, and more

U.S. Intelligence, Law Enforcement Candidates Face Trump Loyalty Test  (Ellen Nakashima and Warren P. Strobel, Washington Post)
Candidates for top intelligence and law enforcement jobs were asked to give “yes” or “no” responses to questions such as: Was Jan. 6 “an inside job?”

Feeding Time at the Trough  (David Runciman, London Review of Books)
The question Trump’s opponents want answered is whether he can get away with it. Will his coalition hold, will his policies backfire, will his party balk, will his rivals circle, will his cheerleaders lose heart, will he ever meet an effective resistance? But there is another question. What happens when he does get away with it? Traditional American political language has a word for what comes next. It’s called spoils.

Elon Musk’s Revolutionary Terror  (Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker)
The evisceration of U.S.A.I.D. isn’t a policy fight—it’s an execution designed to strike fear in our own government.

Why Federal Courts May Be the Last Bulwark Against Trump  (Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times)
With a compliant Congress and mostly quiet streets, the president’s opponents are turning to the judicial branch with a flurry of legal actions. But can the courts keep up?

Vance Says “Judges Aren’t Allowed to Control” Trump’s “Legitimate Power”  (Charlie Savage and Minho Kim, New York Times)
The declaration by the vice president came as court orders have temporarily blocked parts of the Trump administration’s agenda.

Trump’s Blueprint for Bending the Media Has Nixon Written All Over It  (Jim Rutenberg, New York Times)
The president’s heavy-handed approach to traditional journalists has the hallmarks of an attempted crackdown 50 years ago.

As the Trump Upheaval Continues, Are There Restraints That Could Slow Him Down? (Dan Balz, Washington Post)
Questions remain on what constitutional or other checks can be put on the president and his wide-ranging actions.

Trump Administration Cuts Teams That Fight Foreign Election Interference  (Colby Itkowitz, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Sarah Ellison and Patrick Marley, Washington Post)
“This is an invitation for more foreign interference,” one expert says.

Why Musk and Vance Went to Bat for a Self-Described Racist  (Michelle Goldberg, New York Times)
The Wall Street Journal uncovered racist social media posts which Marko Elez, a member of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency,made just months ago, which included, “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” and “Normalize Indian hate.” He was let go – but reinstating him, however, quickly became a cause embraced by the world’s most powerful men.
It is clearly absurd for Vance to insist that Elez is at once a “kid” who should be forgiven for things he wrote last year and a man who deserves a major role restructuring the federal government. But his argument isn’t supposed to make sense; Vance is asserting his freedom from the need to justify the administration’s actions according to pre-existing standards. Under the new standards, diversity is taboo, and racism is not. This stark reversal of values is a signature of the Trump restoration.

Defying court orders? Trump, Musk, Vance Appear to Lay the Groundwork.  (Aaron Blake, Washington Post)
Vice President JD Vance has been floating such a possibility for years.

Blame Gerald Ford for Trump’s Unaccountability  (Franklin Foer, The Atlantic)
In a new book, Jeffrey Toobin makes a convincing case that Ford’s pardon of President Nixon set the stage for unchecked presidential power.