“For decades, certain U.S. regulators have operated largely free of political influence as they’ve worked to keep inflation down and employment up, ensure markets are competitive and transparent, safeguard elections, and protect workers, consumers and investors,” Bloomberg reports.“Their independence was meant to guarantee that their decisions served only one master: the public.”“In his second term, President Donald Trump has taken steps to upend that dynamic. The president and his allies have worked to exert control over these independent federal agencies, which they view as an extraconstitutional “fourth branch” of government. Trump has, among other actions, fired commissioners of independent agencies, testing a 1935 Supreme Court ruling known as Humphrey’s Executor.”