Permanent Distrust in the Builders. Even if the house gets finished, the occupants (the public) will never fully trust the architects and construction crew again. They've seen the crew abandon the project over a petty dispute, letting the family live with exposed wiring. Every future argument between the builders will be met with anxiety, a fear that they'll down tools and walk away again. This shatters the illusion of a competent, reliable governing class.

The "Makeshift Fix" Becomes Standard. The temporary, legally-dubious solutions—stealing bricks from the neighbor's shed, jerry-rigging the plumbing—don't just get removed when the real crew comes back. They become part of the house's permanent structure. The precedent is set: when the system breaks, copper pipes bursting or contaminating the water supply, the various Branch can unilaterally re-route resources without Congressional approval. The boundaries of power are blurred.

The Garden is Permanently Scarred. The "Garden of Precedents" doesn't recover. New, toxic plants have taken root and they are non native and spread like wildfire: the precedent that military pay requires a workaround, that judiciary funding is optional, that food programs are equated to being held political hostage. These weeds will choke out the old norms of compromise and regular order. The landscape of what is politically acceptable is forever altered.

The Focus Shifts from Building to Fortressing. The occupants, having lived through the chaos, stop thinking about adding a new sunroom (ambitious new legislation). Their entire energy goes into reinforcing the walls, boarding up the windows, and building a panic room. Policy becomes about crisis prevention and damage control, not progress or vision. The national mood shifts from aspiration to survival.