The words “The president of the United States has essentially declared war on the rule of law in America,” is from J. Michael Luttig, a widely respected former conservative federal judge. His alarm, on MSNBC, is no exaggeration.

Tom Homan, the White House “border czar,” told Fox News that the Trump administration would defy any federal judge who tries to block the deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members. “We’re not stopping,” Homan said. “I don’t care what the judges think.”

There are a lot of questions these days about poll numbers, both President Donald Trump’s and those of his Democratic opponents. First, job approval. The president’s rating has tipped slightly underwater, by 0.4%, in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. But what is striking about Trump polls is the wide variation in approval between the different polls. The current Real-ClearPolitics average contains a Quinnipiac poll, from March 10, that showed Trump 11 points underwater. It also contains an RMG Research poll, from March 13, that showed Trump 10 points above the water. A 21-point spread is a pretty broad range. Better to look at the average.

Donald Trump is a singular figure in United States political history – an elitist at war with the country’s elite, a beneficiary of the American commercial system who is resentful of the institutions that created the nation’s economic power, a president who is reshaping American history despite his vast ignorance of it.