As long as you end the EO by saying that everyone will do things according to the law. That way when they follow the instructions and break the law it’s an honest mistake and not the result of the EO.

An executive order can say anything. They may not be legal, but that small detail hasn’t stopped Trump as of yet.

Anyone with enough power has always been able to do whatever they want. Laws aren’t magic.

Do what, murder child sex traffickers in prison to cover their complicity in child sex trafficking?

Who’s going to stop them? The government?

They can do whatever they want. On the other hand, the people of the country can throw things other than sandwiches.

People tend to get confused, even when they are familiar with all these founding documents and principles (which the current government is not). They start to think there are “rules” and they get to say what’s allowed, and they can punish people who do what’s not allowed, but it doesn’t go the other way, because that’s not allowed and they’re in charge. That’s not reality. Reality is, we’re all just on this planet bebopping around, and if someone is in a “government” role, it behooves them to make sure the people “under” them agree with the idea of them being in charge. Because no one has a monopoly on violence or vigor.

Even the top leaders of the USSR (starting with Kruschev) had to figure this out: He made a mostly unspoken deal with the other leaders that he wouldn’t try to kill them for being potential threats, and in return they wouldn’t kill him to take him out of power and replace him. And what do you know, it worked! It’s better that way. The US up until now has had a little more sophisticated version, extending beyond the inner circle of leadership, but it sounds like Trump is hankering for an earlier era without really being aware of its perils.