Republicans have made it clear that they’ll put up with a lot from Donald Trump because they expect him to hand them their agenda of kicking people off their health coverage, cutting taxes for the wealthy, and weakening environmental and job protections. But, thanks to factors including Trump’s incompetence and unpredictability, that agenda isn’t becoming reality as quickly as Republicans had hoped, and they don’t quite know what to do about it:
Congressional Republicans seem wary of offering their own bills, lest Mr. Trump or one of his aides, who have largely been distracted by personnel and intelligence scandals, undercut their efforts. This was most visible when Mr. Trump demanded that Republicans come up with a replacement plan for a health care law they had hoped to simply repeal, sending members flailing. The administration also gave conflicting messages on a tax plan embraced by House Republicans that would apply the corporate tax rate to all imports while exempting exports.
“On our side, it’s pretty clear who drives policy,” said a Republican aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being written about by Mr. Trump on Twitter. “But take any issue and try to figure that out from their side.”
“Our side” and “their side,” huh? Republican congressional aides are even making the White House sound like an opponent.
The fact that Trump hasn’t been able to keep his Russia ties as buried as he—and congressional Republicans—hoped isn’t helping them speed through their plans to crush the non-rich, either:
“Our agenda is full,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said in an interview. “So anything that’s added as a result of the storyline that’s evolving with Russia intrudes on the ability to pursue the agenda that we set out for us: regulations, Obamacare and the tax code.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokesman is hilariously trying to claim that “We are 100 percent on pace with the 200-day plan we presented to President Trump and to members at our retreat,” but seriously, guys, it’s been nearly a month and you’ve watched the national security adviser resign in a scandal, the labor secretary nominee dropped out, your aides are talking about the Republican White House as “their side,” and everyone knows you are not 100 percent on pace.
America has gotten a reprieve. The question is how long it will last—how effectively Senate Democrats can block or slow the worst of the Republican assaults on decency, how many Republicans will get a scare from their angry constituents, how much of a distraction and delay Trump’s scandals and instability will prove to be.