Why the Republicans' civil war is a sign of political strength

Is the GOP just too big to govern?

Facing off.
(Image credit: iStock)

It's been a fun news week if you believe, or want to believe, there's a civil war in the Republican Party. But as entertaining as this fractiousness is, it is also a sign that the GOP may simply have too much electoral strength to govern. The different members of the party don't need each other enough to be disciplined. And so they fight.

To recap: A few days after Republican leadership in the House let the public see its new health-care bill, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate that 24 million Americans who get health insurance under ObamaCare would lose it or drop it under the plan devised by Speaker Paul Ryan. Close news watchers, always looking for the hidden hand of Trump's adviser Stephen Bannon in the news then saw something that looked like a Bannonite plot unfolding in real time.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.