The Impostors

Republicans abandoned any pretense of governing long ago.

In 2017, with Donald Trump freshly inaugurated, Republicans turned their attention to undoing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – known as “Obamacare.” In March, House Speaker Paul Ryan promised that the Republican’s plan to “repeal and replace” the ACA would pass. However, the GOP had no clear path for its proposal, and the entire effort quickly collapsed. Ryan offered an uncharacteristically honest assessment of the party’s failure: “I think what you’re seeing is, we’re going through the inevitable growing pains of being an opposition party to becoming a governing party.” In other words, a party that had controlled the White House for eight of the past 16 years, and at least one chamber of Congress for 18 of the past 22 years, wasn’t prepared to govern.

It’s not just that the GOP isn’t ready to govern. Republicans are openly hostile to the basics of policymaking. Creating legislation requires careful study, intense reading and protracted negotiation. Yet Republicans in the Trump era ignore evidence and analysis. They’re wedded to simplistic, ideological slogans designed to appeal...