The opportunity to administer the inoculation was the omnibus spending bill, covering all discretionary appropriations for the final half of this fiscal year. The medication would have been language effectively preventing Trump from launching a history-altering move that even his staunchest allies agree would be more self-destructive than any of the myriad outré things Trump has done so far: Attempting to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III…

The president would have said he abhorred such new restrictions on his executive authority, of course, even while insisting he had no intention of using it.

But, with apologies to the teetotaling president, Hill Republicans could have framed it instead as a sort of “friends don’t let friends drive drunk, or even start drinking when driving late at night is assured” moment. His extraordinarily committed core of GOP accommodators at the Capitol could have insisted they were doing him a favor, shielding him from even the possibility he might someday fall prey to the very least angels of his nature and decide he is compelled to lash out.