Axios has published a report this morning titled, “Behind the Curtain: The imperial presidency in waiting,” in which it proposes that, if he is reelected, Donald Trump “promises an unabashedly imperial presidency.” And I’m sorry to record that it’s . . . well, it’s almost entirely garbage. ...

Instead, most of what Axios complains about are either core presidential powers that might be used in ways of which it disapproves, or powers that have been granted to the president by Congress that it would prefer he didn’t use. And when it does hit upon an actual problem, it mixes it in with the inoffensive and thereby muddies its case. I suspect that this is because Axios does not want to acknowledge that the real issue we face — the usurpation of Congress’s lawmaking power by successive presidents — puts both Barack Obama and Joe Biden in an extremely unflattering light, too, but, whatever the cause, it’s a missed opportunity.