When Supreme Court nominees are asked about their ideology, they often revert to the words of Chief Justice Roberts who said his job was to be like an umpire calling balls and strikes. The clear message is that, as an impartial arbiter, an essential purpose was served in carrying out the role of the Court as an essential institution in America.

There have always been those roles within the government where, regardless of party, the job requires objective analysis. One may disagree with the conclusion or even the methodology, but for the most part, these roles have been devoid of partisan politics.

Sadly, these roles are under attack. The latest is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases monthly job figures and revisions to the previous month’s figures based on more complete information. Since the figures do not fit the narrative on the economy presented by the President, he had the head of the Bureau fired in a noxious example of shooting the messenger. If this were a one-off, it would be bad. Unfortunately, it is part of a pattern.

Inspector Generals in executive agencies have a responsibility to keep their departments honest. Trump had them all fired. The Congressional Budget office, a nonpartisan entity charged with making economic forecasts on the impact of legislation, has been attacked and ignored by the majority party in Congress. And, of course, judges who rule against the Administration are routinely vilified and attacked on social media by the President. And, then there’s the head of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell, who was appointed by Trump, who has become an enemy and target for unseemly attacks because he is playing it straight.

Now, in truth, these objective roles have also upset previous Presidents. Presidents before have argued with the conclusions of the Court, IG’s and the CBO. What has never happened, however, is the active removal of these people to be replaced by those who will do the President’s bidding. And, what makes this really scary (aside from the authoritarian tendencies) is that if the world thinks our economic numbers are not accurate, but rather a product of wishful thinking by the Administration, the cost of borrowing will go up because a substantial risk premium will be needed to cover the fudged numbers.

It would be nice if Republicans in Congress would remember their role is not to follow Trump blindly.  If this basic principle is not followed, we will all find a world where the credit of the United States is undermined. That won’t be fun for anyone except China.