Here is one view of what's been happening in the U.S. government over the past two weeks.

We are in the midst of a sweeping authoritarian power grab that has never been witnessed in the lifetime of anyone standing here right now.

That is Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon speaking on Tuesday.

He ticked off the actions.

President Trump has taken so far during the start of his term.

The inspector generals being fired.

Trump fired the watchdogs who monitor federal agencies en masse on a Friday night,

ignoring a law that requires him to give Congress 30 days notice and a reason.

Memo's going out, telling government workers to spy on government workers to see if

anyone is overly sympathetic to the idea of diversity. That directive asked employees to report

any colleagues trying to get around President Trump's order aimed at ending federal diversity,

equity, and inclusion programs. And then, Markley brought up the memo that ordered a broad pause on federal loans and grants.

We have Trump saying, I'm going to steal the power of the purse, allocated into the Constitution,

to Congress, and I'm going to take it for myself. The memo was rescinded on Wednesday, though the White

House says it still intends to cut federal funding.

It's now tied up in court.

Mercury described all of this in stark terms.

That is a constitutional crisis.

The Constitution, of course, has checks and balances built in.

But the legislative branch is controlled by Republicans, both the House and the Senate are under GOP control.

And Republican lawmakers look at Trump's moves differently. North Dakota, Senator Kevin Kramer,

told local radio station KFGO that he's a stickler for the separation of powers. But he told

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