"Susan, as you sift through the intel, get me something
damaging on Penguin books so I can shake them down for
a lucrative book deal."
"And get Harvey Weinstein's tax returns. Malia needs a job."
"Oh, and Lois over at IRS needs intel to target conservatives' tax-exempt status.
And don't forget the FBI files on Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer."
Ping!
Put simply, rather than respect the constitution with regard to both intent and spirit of the document, it was viewed not as a hurdle, but as a tool to facilitate their wider objective of 'fundamentally transforming the USA'.
In other words, they acted completely without restraint and violated every civilized precept of lawful government. They could and did do anything they wanted, with the full force of law enforcement, justice system and military functions supporting their efforts. We can tell from their actions and attitudes that they viewed normal, law abiding citizens with disdain; actually, with contempt as worse than useless fools, dullards and retards.
Within this context, the constitutional republic was defeated back in 2008/2009 with the successful MSM campaign of promoting the fist anti-American president. Trump isn't necessarily a change agent to the status quo, but rather a counter-revolutionary. And, as any student of history well knows, in order for a revolution to succeed, the remnants of the past operating structure must be either destroyed or re-purposed to support the revolution.
Failing this, the established institutional forces will simply out wait the 'usurper' before once again regaining full control. If we are to successfully re-introduce the idea of self government in this country, we're only at the very beginning of the process to weed out the established infrastructure. Trump must fully prosecute these efforts with all available means if we/he are to succeed.