No, you’re not missing some hidden constitutional gotcha while everyone else is playing 4D chess.

The Establishment Clause is a limit on government power as a whole, not a suggestion box that only Congress has to read.

The branches are separate in function, not separate sovereigns with their own mini-constitutions.

The executive branch does not get to establish religion any more than Congress does, and pretending otherwise is either bad-faith hair-splitting or a fundamental misunderstanding of how constitutional law works.

Checks and balances exist to prevent abuse of power, not to create cute loopholes where authoritarian nonsense can slip through.