Is US becoming one party state allowing one autocrat to rule by executive order?

This president is basically doing everything with executive orders. Congress is supposed to have a say, but the Republican majority, in Congress, tends to back the president so Congress has basically become irrelevant.

Only some US court judges stand in the way of these executive orders. About the only big decision, in Congress was to raise the debt ceiling. If the Democrats would have blocked that, it might have just put them in the path of blame for government shutdown.

Who knows, maybe this president would have just raised the debt ceiling by executive order? I wouldn't put it past him and who would have stopped it, except for some judges?

Our system of checks and balances looks like it's only being held together by a thin line of judges and who knows how long that can last given appeals to the mostly Republican Supreme Court. Also who enforces the rules that any of the Federal judges make?

Fortunately Supreme Court justices don't always vote "party line," but the federal government does seem to be evolving into a one party / one person (Donald Trump) system. Without the judges, are we sliding into an autocracy?

There are other checks, however. There are the opinions of American people, who only put Trump back in the White House with a very thin margin. That margin can easily erode given economic problems, such as the cost of living which no president seems to be able to bring down.

There's also still the media and it's influence on public opinion.

There are state and local governments which still have quite a bit of power.

There is also the private sector; businesses, corporations, unions, non profits and so forth that still have power and influence.

There's the influence of world opinion, including the allies that once trusted us in Europe, Canada and so forth. That respect is quickly vanishing as former allies are working on plans to deal with the US as an unreliable partner these days.

The economy could be the ultimate check; the stock market and so forth. Do most of the American people feel happy and secure, or is the cost of living and economic uncertainty continuing to ravage public opinion? This can turn against the Republicans in power.