Trumpland has been promoting the theory of the Strong Unitary Executive as of late. It is a theory that basically says that the president rules the executive branch like a king and no agency can B exist independently of it. It was formulated as a result of the “Saturday Night Massacre” when Richard Nixon ordered the Attorney General to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Noted proponents include Robert Bork (who did the firing) and William Rehnquist, both of whom built their legal careers on the idea that average Americans (especially those with dark skin, who have uteruses, or too little money) had too many rights and corporations to few. The theory has expanded to argue that the President has direct control over agencies like the FTC or Federa Reserve. Their policy papers are even arguing that the President can simply not spend funds appropriated by Congress in law. I guess in theory this legal theory would have given the POTUS power to have declared Hydroxychloroquine a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19
We know why Trump loves the idea. At the very least he would have had the authority to fire Robert Mueller and Anthony Fauci. More so, the people pulling Trump’s strings could have then used him to move money away from part of the government, they don’t like and move it towards building a wall directly undermining our rights to clean air and water, accurate scientific data, and finally destroying social security and Medicare. Under this theory, you could even have power to set interest rates in order to gas the economy at times when is convenient to him, hyperinflation, be damned.