Donald Trump's imperial presidency is a throwback to a greedier, pernicious age

Donald Trump's imperial presidency is a tawdry, threadbare affair. The emperor has no clothes to cloak his counterfeit rule. Lacking crown and robes, he resorts to vulgar ties and baseball caps. His throne is but a bully pulpit, his palace a pokey, whitewashed house, his courtiers mere common hacks. His royal edicts - executive orders - are judicially contested. And while he rages like Lear, his critics are publicly crucified or thrown to the lions at Fox News. Yet for all his crudely plebeian ordinariness, a parvenu imperialism is Trump's global offer, his trademark deal and most heinous crime. He…