Still, we can count our blessings. There was a sixth Trump amendment that he did not get around to adopting in his first term but that he would have put through in a second.

Amendment 6 (not adopted): The president may ignore or violate court orders.

As we’ve seen, Trump was sued many times for his power grabs—by Congress, by private plaintiffs, by practically everyone. When he did lose in court, which was often, he typically acceded to the judgment. Open warfare with the judicial branch was a bridge he was not ready to cross—before the 2020 election. But after? If he’d won? Why not defy the Supreme Court if it got in his way? With the first five amendments already in place, there would have been little for Congress or anyone else to do except stand back aghast as one man became the law.

Still, the successful Trump amendments are destabilizing enough. They give the presidency a degree of unilateral discretion and impunity that the Founders took great pains to preclude. Together, they make it obvious and undeniable that Congress is no longer the first among equals in the constitutional hierarchy, or even a coequal branch. The presidency is supreme.