evidence: At every turn, Johnson assured me that he would "follow the Constitution," no matter what Trump or anyone else demanded. Yet in Johnson’s hands the Constitution’s dictates always appear to coincide with his politics. Reparations violated the Constitution. The Freedom Caucus’s obstructionism violated the intentions of the Founders. The Democrat-led impeachments of Trump were an attack on "the Constitutional order." The Supreme Court, in Moore v. Harper, misread the Constitution. But the Republican inquiry into impeaching Biden was a solemn constitutional "duty," as was the impeachment of Mayorkas. Johnson even invoked his authority as a constitutional expert during the competition to succeed McCarthy. Some Republicans proposed fully empowering Patrick McHenry, a popular lawmaker who, after McCarthy’s ouster, had become the interim Speaker. Such a move could have blocked Johnson’s path. Several people present at internal meetings told me that Johnson had brought up convoluted arguments about the constitutional role of the Senate president pro tempore to object—regretfully—that empowering an interim Speaker would be unconstitutional.