Ignoring Article 1 of the Constitution

After the House refused to pass the Senate bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, Donald Trump has issued an executive order to pay them anyway.

The exclusive role of the Congress in funding the government is Constitution 101, but Trump ignored this, and the New York Times buried the lede on this, it's mentioned in passing in the 9th paragraph out of 13.

President Trump on Friday signed a directive calling on his administration to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees, an effort to circumvent congressional gridlock and end the record-long shutdown of an agency tasked with protecting the country.

………

The Friday order came after House Republicans refused to clear a Senate plan that would have restored funding to the agency, prolonging the shutdown. Mr. Trump earlier this week had hinted that he would sign a directive calling for all Department of Homeland Security employees to be paid, as he criticized Democrats for their role in the impasse. The president signed a similar memo last week ordering the department to pay Transportation Security Administration officials after about 60,000 employees from the agency had to report for work without pay for weeks. 

………

The workaround could face legal scrutiny, since it is the role of Congress to be the arbiter of federal spending. Mr. Trump’s directive could be seen as an attempt to unilaterally circumvent that responsibility, weakening the legislative branch’s ability to hold the executive branch accountable.

………

The impasse began in February when Senate Democrats refused to support funding for immigration agencies without new constraints on immigration officers.

Weeks later, the Senate sent a plan to the House that funded the Department of Homeland Security, except the immigration agencies. It omitted the restrictions Democrats had sought on federal agents.

Hard-right Republicans declined to support a Senate agreement to fund the department because it excluded money for immigration enforcement agencies.

(emphasis mine) 

Trump's actions are clearly unlawful, and all we get in this story is equivocation ¾ of the way down.

Bad news, and bad journalism.