Words matter. When describing a government, they inevitably carry moral weight.

Over the past 16 months, Trump and his appointees have so profoundly undermined the United States government that different words should be used to describe them than have been used to describe all previous administrations.

To begin with, they shouldn’t be called an “administration” at all. They should be referred to as a regime.

A regime flagrantly defies court orders, as have Trump and his appointees.

In February 2026, a federal judge, appointed by George W Bush, identified some 200 orders from the district of Minnesota that ICE had defied, concluding that it had “likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence”.

A regime also vilifies judges who rule against it and demand their impeachment, exactly as the Trump regime has done.

A regime usurps a legislature’s powers to declare war, issue tariffs and appropriate public funds – which is what the Trump regime has done to Congress.

A regime seeks to stifle speech and silence criticism in universities, law firms and the media – again, precisely what the Trump regime has done.

Secondly, this regime is not headed by a “president,” as the constitution of the United States and America’s laws and history have designated the head of the executive branch of the US government.

To put the term “president” before Trump’s name defiles the constitution.

More than 300,000 federal workers have left their jobs under Trump, including tens of thousands who were fired. He has fired inspectors general who are charged with holding political appointees accountable.

He punishes whistleblowers who protest against abuses. He attacks marginalized groups and foments bigotry. He is openly persecuting political opponents.

He has doled out pardons to convicted felons who are political supporters or financial contributors – including a Honduran president who smuggled 400 tons of cocaine into the US, and January 6 seditionists. He has sent federal troops into states and cities headed by Democratic officials.

These are not the actions of someone whom the constitution defines as president of the United States.

Thirdly, Trump and his regime’s disregard for law is so monumental that it negates what we have come to understand as a “government of laws”. A better word for it is lawless.

Consider that by the end of January, eight people had died in their dealings with ICE this year. Thirty-two people died last year in the custody of ICE. That’s more than in the preceding 20 years.

People only suspected of being in the US illegally have been detained or deported by masked and armed immigration agents, without a hearing. People suspected of smuggling drugs have been murdered by the US military in international waters, in violation of international law.

Meanwhile, Trump is accepting gifts from foreign powers, in open violation of the constitution. He has blatantly promoted his family’s crypto business and implemented policies favorable to it.

He has sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10bn for allegedly leaking information about his past tax returns to the media. In response, his justice department is offering to set up a $1.8bn slush fund to compensate people deemed to have been unfairly convicted – including, perhaps, the 1,500 people who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The justice department is also dropping IRS audits of Trump and his family.

All of this goes way beyond specific illegal acts. A different term should be used to describe what Trump and his regime are doing to the law. They are lawless.

Finally, the true test of a successful president of the US and his (eventually her) administration is not how much power he accumulates or how much he gets done. The real test is how much better off are the American people and how much stronger is our democracy.

By these measures, Trump and his regime are not just lawless. They are a catastrophe.

• Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK