Tom Sullivan, “Governance by tantrum”:

Even as Sen. Mitch McConnell and his aiding-and-abetting Senate majority attempt with all haste to remake the judiciary in Trump's image, America's judicial keel has yet to fall off. The courts continue to be "a quiet, meticulous check" on a presidency with no regard for laws that do not line up with Trump's illiberal impulses.

Trump's legal strategy throughout his career has been to intimidate opponents into submission or to outlast them in drawn-out legal proceedings. Lest “the losing-est loser” be allowed to recover, those who worked so diligently in October to defend democracy in November, Lithwick cautions, need to defend the judicial branch “every time the president threatens, dismisses, or insults a judge or ruling.” Especially, because federal agencies themselves have marginal ability to punch back when their boss punches them.

The liberal penchant for novelty seeking means lefties often tire from continuing a fight that drags out. Conservatives know this. Trump uses this to his advantage, as Bush did before him. So do children who learn their tantrums can wear down weak-willed parents. There are fewer and fewer adults in the room with Trump. The “Resistance” has to be the adults on the outside, and in the face of tantrums nevertheless persist.