The guardrails are gone

Though President Donald Trump’s decimation of major government agencies get all the headlines, his attacks on obscure but vital parts of the federal government are at least as consequential. The Office of Special Counsel, agency inspectors general, judge advocates general and the Merit Systems Protection Board might not be household names, but the backbone of our democratic system runs through them.

These federal entities were created to prevent governmental abuses such as the politicization of the civil service, waste, corruption and the misuse of presidential power. They are the internal watchdogs for government.