What did Donald Trump do today?

He said we should get rid of due process of law.

In a tweet sent this morning while he was en route to the golf course, Trump demanded that people apprehended on suspicion of crossing the US border illegally be sent back "immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases."

It's not unusual for Trump to use dehumanizing or even eliminationist language when talking about immigration. But openly defying the constitutional requirement for due process of law, which applies to all people subject to U.S. law regardless of citizenship, is a new twist for Trump--although he did hint at this turn last week, when he said, "I don’t want [immigration] judges. I want border security."

Why should I care about this?

• Presidents don't get to ignore the parts of the law and Constitution they don't like.

• Attacking the judiciary to put more power in the hands of the executive is what authoritarians do.