So the White House Covid Czar is stepping down. Unfortunately, it would seem that even the “cancel everything Russian” mania of the moment is not enough to do away with the decidedly un-American habit of appointing “czars” in the executive branch (and yes, I know the term comes from the Reagan years).
Then again, at least our czars can be fired. The real permanent ruling class in the executive branch lies elsewhere. But that, too, is not so different from the original Russian czars — at least five of them after Peter the Great were killed in office (Nicholas II, Alexander II, Paul, Peter III, Ivan VI), and in at least the cases of Paul and Peter III, they were done away with by their own palace guards.