If that is all that Mr. Trump demanded, and if he actually delivered results, the answer might be yes. But the events of this week have made clear that the price of an accommodation with Mr. Trump is higher. Much, much higher.

Like other conservatives, I care about tax cuts and military spending increases. But I care even more about the rule of law — the only thing that prevents our country from going the way of Venezuela, Russia or Zimbabwe.

In office less than four months, Mr. Trump has already undermined the rule of law in myriad small ways. He allowed his daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House in arguable violation of an anti-nepotism statute. He did not divest himself of his business holdings and did not release his tax returns. His sons have continued pursuing deals with jillionaires closely linked to unsavory foreign regimes. He and his daughter have accepted valuable trademark protections from China. His son-in-law’s family sought to trade on their connections to sell American citizenship to rich Chinese.

But all of that is inconsequential compared with the flagrant assault on the rule of law represented by the firing of the F.B.I. director. The initial cover story for this act was Mr. Comey’s improper conduct last year in publicly discussing the F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails. But that masquerade crumbled when the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who wrote a memo laying out legitimate concerns regarding Mr. Comey’s actions last year, contradicted the White House’s suggestion that he had initiated the firing. Mr. Trump now says he was determined to dismiss Mr. Comey before he received Mr. Rosenstein’s recommendation, rendering the initial White House explanation “inoperative.”

Why did President Trump want to get rid of Mr. Comey? Numerous news outlets have described how furious he was about the F.B.I. investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia. The president made clear his intent to shut down the investigation on Monday when he tweeted, “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”