President Donald Trump has renamed the lake formerly known as Ontario as Lake America. He’s also renamed the Gulf of Mexico and has posted about renaming the Strait of Hormuz as Trump Strait. He’s even mused aloud about renaming one or two oceans.

So what? What’s in a name?

This is just the sort of thing that comedian Bill Maher and others have warned against: Focusing on seemingly trivial matters—the renaming, the ballroom, the triumphal arch—while neglecting more consequential issues, such as Trump’s commandeering the Department of Justice for his personal use, his cruel immigration policy and his illegal war against Iran. The better idea, critics say, is to distinguish between what’s really important and what isn’t.

The point is well taken. But there’s a problem: Often it’s difficult to distinguish between what’s trivial and what’s consequential.

Imagine a spectrum of Trump’s actions over the last decade or so that runs from “trivial” at one end to “consequential” at the other. Everyone will have her own version of this spectrum, and eventually history will weigh in.

My version would put January 6, 2021, very close to the “consequential” end. Inexplicably, we keep forgetting—or ignoring—the fact that Trump actually tried to overturn an election defeat. (Yes, he did.)

The unprovoked war against Iran? Definitely on the “consequential” end of the spectrum as well, and more so as it drags on, showing little prospect of a satisfactory conclusion.

What’s on the “trivial” end of the spectrum? Trump’s bungled, no-bid-contract attempt to renovate the reflecting pool? Probably, but that can be fixed. The Oval Office tricked out in gold gilt that would embarrass just about every other American president? Yes, but redecorating will be easy for a new president with less gaudy tastes.

The 250-foot triumphal arch? It’s probably toward the “trivial” end of the spectrum, too, but it will be a lot harder to dismantle. It’s likely to stand for decades, obstructing views and threatening flight paths, a constant reminder of Trump’s Ozymandian aspirations long after he’s gone.

It gets complicated quickly. Is a semi-permanent triumphal arch more or less consequential than Trump’s misappropriation of the DOJ in service of his political ends? Which will be easier to reverse?

The fine line between the “trivial” and the “consequential” is elusive. Many of Trump’s actions are taken without regard for the traditions, norms and even the laws that we’ve come to expect our presidents to observe. In short, they reflect his long-held predisposition to do what he wants with little concern about the expectations that most of our presidents have honored.

Cynics might call this a tendency toward authoritarianism. Maybe they’re exaggerating. But if they’re half-right, we ignore Trump’s imperious actions, trivial or consequential, at our republic’s peril.

Consider this shopworn, near-cliche analogy: A frog dropped into a pot of boiling water will attempt to jump out. But he, supposedly, will sit contentedly in a pot of cool water on a stove as the temperature gradually rises until he is boiled to death.

Think of our republic as a frog in a big pot of cool authoritarian stew. Trump’s every act, trivial or consequential, that ignores the laws, standards, traditions and norms that have made the U.S. work so well over 250 years raises the temperature a little.

Will it boil over someday? It would be dangerously complacent of us to ignore the possibility.

It’s always risky to make a prediction in print, but I’m going to say that we should keep an eye on the thermometer on November 3, 2026, the date of the midterms. History, the polls and Trump’s approval rating suggest that the Democrats could win big.

If they do, it’s hard to imagine that Trump will graciously accept the result. He’s unlikely to say, as former President Barack Obama did after the 2010 midterms, that his party “took a shellacking.”

There are signs that preparations are being made to reject the result of the election. Things could get hot quickly in our beloved republic. We had better be prepared for a crisis.

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