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.

This week, it was America.

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

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