In a week when Donald Trump trampled over America’s history, the president has set a series of frightening and disturbing precedents for the future.

A forever president, rigged ballots, intimidated lawmakers, a bowed populace, and carte blanche to destroy and to kill; this used to be the stuff of autocratic regimes and tinpot dictators.

The symbolism of Trump’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House was so stark and so obvious that it shocked a country that had seemingly grown immune to his excesses.

The first images of the carnage resembled war photos from Gaza. The rubble and ruins of a building that was razed to the ground.

And the message Donald J. Trump was sending was unmistakable: He was going to do whatever the hell he wanted—and nobody could stop him.

While Trump’s MAGA faithful have cheered him on over the past nine months—most effectively from his own stacked Cabinet table—the rest of us have been quietly dreading this moment.

For this was the week that we all feared would one day come: This was the week that the president shrugged off any pretense of propriety.

The White House teardown was just the public face of an administration that considers itself untouchable. Trump is Caesar, and the Republic is his to do with as he sees fit.

Despite the shock and awe of Trump’s first few months back in the Oval Office, it was, in many ways, just a test of his opposition’s resolve.

For all its bluster, Elon Musk’s DOGE was more of a diversion than the D.C. wrecking ball it was cracked up to be. Trump focused on easy targets like the porous border and DEI.