The Regulatory State and the President

Tyler Cowen correctly notes:

[T]he regulatory branch [of the US government] reports to the Executive.  And if you own a large company, it is virtually impossible to be in accordance with all of the regulations all of the time.  If there were a President who wished to pursue vendettas, the regulatory state would be the most direct and simplest way for him or her to do so.  The usual presumption of “innocent until proven guilty” does not hold in many regulatory matters, nor are there always the usual protections of due process...

And adds:

 I wonder if this is one reason why some of the leaders in the Republican Party have been somewhat reluctant to challenge Donald Trump. Perhaps they fear regulatory reprisal. I also believe that many of Trump’s strongest critics — often Democrats — are ill-suited to understand or admit this side of the problem.