I understand that Trump had the ability to cancel it and that maybe Congress wouldn't have the balls to counteract, but the media was already painting him as a dictator and a good portion of the country believed in those lies before he even stepped foot in office, just for simply stating the reality of illegal immigration.

It was apparent within the first year that Trump was more concerned about image (which is something many populists suffer from), and as much as we like to joke about "4D chess" after the fact, there was no foresight on where he could go (which is a consequence of being an outsider who is more of diplomat instead of a warrior). Practically every Republican was walking away and clearly wanted him to disappear, or they buckled. Sessions immediately bowed out when the heat was on.

With all that happened, he SHOULD have gone forward with firing everybody, even though I have no idea how badly the Deep State would rail against those who aren't Beltway pigs. Who knows what lengths leftist mobs, the media and intelligence agencies would have gone to smear him, but it could have been a spectacle.