As the pandemic has shown, Trump hasn't gotten better at governing. He prefers loyalty over merit. But 3 years' worth of experience has made him better at corruption. He's weakening anticorruption mechanisms by retaliating against Inspector Generals and picking his investigators. https://twitter.com/daniellebrian/status/1247540178018656259

It was always going to be this way. Governing's a complicated affair. Trump's inexperienced team was chosen for loyalty not for talent, so they had a steep learning curve. But by concentrating on corruption, they've grown better at it and the clock's running out on this republic.

What made Trump's attack on the Inspectors General possible was his solidifying his hold on the Senate. Republican Senators who spent much of their careers professing to be defenders of Inspectors General are revealing that it was never about accountability, only partisanship.

I truly wish they'd prove me wrong by convening a hearing and taking to the airwaves en masse with righteous outrage, but their conduct for 3 years gives me no hope that they will. Instead, they'll almost surely seal their legacy as unprincipled enablers of Trump's corruption.