共和党人说，如果总统不必“太担心国会或法院”妨碍他的政策，这个国家会更好。

　　政治分析家和历史学家正在研究这一变化背后的因素皮尤周三投票。这是自皮尤在2016年8月开始问这个问题以来，两党内部最激烈的一次，大约在唐纳德·特朗普当选总统的三个月前。

　　皮尤政治研究主任卡罗尔·多尔蒂说:“这是一个非常重大的变化。”。但是，他补充道，“很难说我对此感到惊讶。保守派共和党人正在推动这一转变，民主党人去年赢得了众议院的控制权。”

　　这一转变与民主党在国会支持率上的变化不谋而合。“自2010年以来，左翼对国会的看法最为乐观，但共和党的看法正在下降，这只是华盛顿政治动态变化的又一个迹象。”

　　将近一半的民主党人看好国会，而只有27%的共和党人看好国会。

　　特朗普总统在发布一系列行政命令的同时，依靠共和党国会来实现他执政头两年最大的面向公众的政策目标:他废除和取代奥巴马医改的失败尝试，以及他成功的1.2万亿美元减税。但是由于立法机构存在分歧，他必须缩小议程野心，并应对新一级的监督(众议院大多数民主党人现在支持弹劾调查)。

　　因此，总统不得不想出新的方法来行使权力，包括宣布美国南部边境进入紧急状态。理论上，该声明允许总统绕过国会分配资金保护边境，并有可能在那里修建一堵墙。

　　普林斯顿大学的总统历史学家朱利安·泽利泽说，尽管前总统巴拉克·奥巴马和乔治·布什并不害怕使用行政命令，“国家紧急状态的使用是前所未有的”，他也是《现在的迫切:林顿·约翰逊、国会和为伟大社会而战》一书的作者。“特朗普拿走了国会说不能花的钱，并说‘无论如何我都要花，我想怎么花。’"

　　泽利泽说，这种权力争夺受到共和党人的鼓励，共和党人反过来又激励总统承担更多责任。“他越是使用总统权力，他的支持就越坚定，[和]他越愿意做更多同样的事情，”他解释道。“他是一个寻求自己政党反弹的人，像这样的民意测验意味着他看不到，并将继续下去。”

　　事实上，新皮尤民调发现，共和党人下降了20个百分点，他们认为“给美国总统更多权力直接处理国家的许多问题太冒险了。”

　　特朗普只是在利用他继承的优势:在共和党和民主党的总统任期内，行政权都在增长。“每个人都是同谋，”泽利泽说。

　　普林斯顿大学专注于现代保守主义形成的历史学家凯文克鲁斯(Kevin Kruse)表示，问题在于，放弃政府三大部门的典型动态，将权力移交给行政办公室以应对“紧急情况”，往往会成为一个先例。

　　“帝国总统的想法是随着时间的推移逐渐形成的，它会产生滚雪球效应，一直伴随着办公室。有人曾试图把它回滚，但它被巧妙地一次又一次地构建起来。”

　　尽管如此，克鲁斯认为我们可能处于国会权力争夺的边缘。“在特朗普于2020年再次当选、民主党占据参议院的情况下，我们将看到一场大规模的重申，”他说。
 

TRUMP SHOULDN'T HAVE TO 'WORRY SO MUCH' ABOUT THE OTHER BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, REPUBLICANS SAY

The country would be a better place if the president didn't have to "worry so much about Congress or the courts" getting in the way of his policy, Republicans say.

Political analysts and historians are examining the factors behind this change, reported in a Pew poll out Wednesday. It's the most drastic within either party since Pew began asking the question in August of 2016, about three months before President Donald Trump was elected.

"It's a pretty significant change," said Carroll Doherty, director of political research for Pew. But, he added, "it's hard to say I'm surprised by this. Conservatives Republicans are driving the shift and Democrats won control of the House last year."

The shift coincides with a change in Congressional favorability by Democrats. "The left has the most favorable views of Congress since 2010, but Republican views are declining, which is just another indication of the changing political dynamics in Washington."

Nearly half of Democrats view Congress favorably while just 27 percent of Republicans do.

President Trump, while issuing a number of executive orders, relied on a Republican Congress to accomplish his largest public-facing policy goals during his first two years in office: his failed attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, and his successful $1.2 trillion tax cut. But with a divided legislative body, he must shrink his agenda ambitions and deal with a new level of oversight (the majority of Democrats in the House now support an impeachment inquiry).

As a consequence, the president has had to come up with new ways to exert power, including declaring a state of emergency at the U.S. southern border. The declaration, in theory, allows the president to bypass Congress to allocate funds to protect the border and potentially build a wall there.

While former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush weren't afraid to use executive orders, "the use of the national emergency is unprecedented," said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University and the author of The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society. "Trump took money that Congress said can't be spent and said 'I'm going to spend it anyway, and how I want to spend it.'"

This power grab, said Zelizer, was encouraged by Republicans who in turn inspired the president to take on even more. "The more he uses presidential power, the more his support solidifies, [and] the more he's willing to do more of the same," he explained. "He is someone who looks for backlash from his own party and a poll like this means he doesn't see it and will keep on going."

Indeed, the new Pew poll found a 20-point decline in Republicans who believe that "it would be too risky to give U.S. presidents more power to deal directly with many of the country's problems."

Trump is merely taking advantage of what he inherited: executive power has grown over both Republican and Democratic presidencies. "Everyone is complicit," said Zelizer.

The problem is that making exceptions to forego the typical dynamics of the three branches of government and cede power to the executive office for "emergencies" tends to become a precedent, said Kevin Kruse, also a historian at Princeton University with a focus on the making of modern conservatism。

"The idea of the imperial presidency is something that has built up over time, and it has a snowball effect that stays with the office. There have been some efforts to roll it back, but it's subtly built up again and again."

Still, Kruse believes we're on the possible brink of a Congressional power grab. "In a situation where Trump is reelected in 2020 and Democrats take the Senate, we'll see a huge reassertion," he said.