As he promised, President Donald Trump has wasted no time in trying to implement his ambitious agenda of essentially remaking the entire federal government in his own image.

He’s moved rapidly to shutter agencies he doesn’t like, remove policy roadblocks he wants gone and fire swaths of civil servants who might interfere with his plans.

And one thing he hasn’t worried about in any of this is whether much of what he’s doing is, well, strictly legal.

Government is, by design, meant to move rather slowly in most cases. A series of checks and balances, some constitutionally mandated, others just institutional rules implemented along the way, are supposed to ensure no one person can take unilateral action on almost any front.

Trump found himself frustrated by these rules and guidelines in his first term, as courts blocked some of his actions, Congress refused to pass other items on his agenda and the countless federal agencies that litter Washington, D.C., slow-walked his designs to the point where many of his plans died on the vine before they could bear fruit.

Not this time, he’s clearly vowed, so he’s cutting a swath through the federal bureaucracy he long ago dubbed the “deep state,” shuttering entire Congressionally-approved agencies, denying funding to others and firing anyone who threatens to get in his way.

How much of this is he allowed to do? For instance, the mob of inspectors general he fired are supposed to require a 30-day notice to Congress of cause of termination, but that hasn’t happened. His executive order to end birthright citizenship has already been blocked by several courts on grounds it’s almost certainly an unconstitutional order.

Congressional Republicans don’t care, because they largely agree with the results, if not the means. Trump supporters are thrilled.

But imagine if Biden had done these things? The screams and howls of illegality would have been deafening.

The hypocrisy is palpable. Either the rules count all the time, or they don’t count. Trump is proving that for many people perhaps they never counted, as long as the deck is stacked in your favor.

Stephen Milligan is the news editor of The Walton Tribune. Email comments to stephen.milligan@waltontribune.com.