[lex24]

The structure is broken and it's because we had assumed "norms" would be sufficient safeguards and if norms were broken, checks and balances like congressional impeachment powers would be sufficient.  This has proven not to be sufficient.  If the president and the Senate are together on doing whatever they want, POTUS can fire Inspector Generals, which really should be similar to independent counsels.  The IGs have been decimated under Trump and most were monitoring clear violations (e.g., asking UK to move British Open to Trump's golf course, firing employees despite whistleblower protections, etc).  I've edited out examples in a number of departments for the sake of Terry's Rule.  In the case of both the FDA and the CDC, norms are also being violated.  CDC has been effectively muzzled.  Compare H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2 in terms of CDC press conferences and autonomy.  Unlike some other institutions, I'm not sure anyone anticipates an attack on medical or science policy.  It's interesting that there are IGs for both the CDC and FDA as well.  I didn't know that before I googled it.

I agree that we have relied on "norms" to ensure rational actions by the POTUS. We also relied on the voters not to elect a POTUS that would violate norms and reasonable management principles at will. Indeed, we all also assumed that if the POTUS was a habitual liar and engaged in behavior that was manifestly harmful to the country, he would be impeached. Unfortunately, none of that has happened. Even more unfortunately it is also not a for sure thing that the POTUS will be defeated in the upcoming election.
However, I don't think the structure can be changed to avoid this type of situation.

Sure the structure can be changed to help mitigate this type of situation.  The CEO analogy is very flawed because no CEO controls the police, the prosecutor's office, the SEC, etc.  Companies are constrained because the checks on it are external and cannot be corrupted by a corrupt CEO -- well, unless he's a super-villain.  POTUS has too much power.  He shouldn't be able to fire IGs or other instruments of oversight.  He shouldn't be above the law or as argued by his lawyers -- immune even from investigation.   There is a real worry that if hospital data flows not to CDC but to some orchestrated system, the data won't be used legitimately but for political spin much as one of the quants working on Florida's COVID-19 website had accused that state's executives.

Actually, he was impeached.  And he certainly has not been immune from investigations.  I don’t believe any President has been as investigated as Trump. 

IMO the problem isn’t so much the power of the Executive, it is the fecklessness of Congress. Driven by uber partisanship. 2016 should have been a wake up call. It wasn’t.  Congress, in its inability to compromise, has as a result ceded much of its power to the Executive.  Leading, among other things, to the rise of Executive Orders.  Consider this Reagan’s ‘ 86 tax reform bill was sponsored in the House by Dan Rostenkowsi.  It passed with bipartisan support. Both Obama (ACA) and Trumps (tax reform) biggest legislative victories passed purely on party lines. Which of course means when you have a change of party in the White House they simply try to undo the legislation. Trump and the Republicans have tried it with the ACA and if Biden wins he and the Democrats will try the same thing with tax reform.

[lex24]

The structure is broken and it's because we had assumed "norms" would be sufficient safeguards and if norms were broken, checks and balances like congressional impeachment powers would be sufficient.  This has proven not to be sufficient.  If the president and the Senate are together on doing whatever they want, POTUS can fire Inspector Generals, which really should be similar to independent counsels.  The IGs have been decimated under Trump and most were monitoring clear violations (e.g., asking UK to move British Open to Trump's golf course, firing employees despite whistleblower protections, etc).  I've edited out examples in a number of departments for the sake of Terry's Rule.  In the case of both the FDA and the CDC, norms are also being violated.  CDC has been effectively muzzled.  Compare H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2 in terms of CDC press conferences and autonomy.  Unlike some other institutions, I'm not sure anyone anticipates an attack on medical or science policy.  It's interesting that there are IGs for both the CDC and FDA as well.  I didn't know that before I googled it.

I agree that we have relied on "norms" to ensure rational actions by the POTUS. We also relied on the voters not to elect a POTUS that would violate norms and reasonable management principles at will. Indeed, we all also assumed that if the POTUS was a habitual liar and engaged in behavior that was manifestly harmful to the country, he would be impeached. Unfortunately, none of that has happened. Even more unfortunately it is also not a for sure thing that the POTUS will be defeated in the upcoming election.
However, I don't think the structure can be changed to avoid this type of situation.

Sure the structure can be changed to help mitigate this type of situation.  The CEO analogy is very flawed because no CEO controls the police, the prosecutor's office, the SEC, etc.  Companies are constrained because the checks on it are external and cannot be corrupted by a corrupt CEO -- well, unless he's a super-villain.  POTUS has too much power.  He shouldn't be able to fire IGs or other instruments of oversight.  He shouldn't be above the law or as argued by his lawyers -- immune even from investigation.   There is a real worry that if hospital data flows not to CDC but to some orchestrated system, the data won't be used legitimately but for political spin much as one of the quants working on Florida's COVID-19 website had accused that state's executives.

Actually, he was impeached.  And he certainly has not been immune from investigations.  I don’t believe any President has been as investigated as Trump. 

IMO the problem isn’t so much the power of the Executive, it is the fecklessness of Congress. Driven by uber partisanship. 2016 should have been a wake up call. It wasn’t.  Congress, in its inability to compromise, has as a result ceded much of its power to the Executive.  Leading, among other things, to the rise of Executive Orders.  Consider this Reagan’s ‘ 86 tax reform bill was sponsored in the House by Dan Rostenkowsi.  It passed with bipartisan support. Both Obama (ACA) and Trumps (tax reform) biggest legislative victories passed purely on party lines. Which of course means when you have a change of party in the White House they simply try to undo the legislation. Trump and the Republicans have tried it with the ACA and if Biden wins he and the Democrats will try the same thing with tax reform.