The Post-Policy Republicans Seized Control Long Ago

It's easy to blame Donald Trump for the disarray of the Republican legislative agenda. After all, he is an unusually inept president. But Trump is not the cause of the current Republican crisis, more like a side effect. Some leading members are starting to get the message.

Some excellent reporting from the Atlantic's McKay Coppins tells us that Republican campaign operatives "are mystified -- and alarmed -- by the fact that not even Donald 'Drain the Swamp' Trump had enough populist cred to swing a primary race to his candidate in deep-red Alabama," where Christian conservative Roy Moore defeated mainstream conservative incumbent Luther Strange. Coppins quotes one Republican strategist who worries that: