What Republicans really want

Solving the mystery of the GOP's legislative motives

The big question.
(Image credit: Illustration)

One of the strangest things about this supremely strange moment in American political history is the resolve of the Republican Congress and White House to initiate sweeping policy reform without offering a clear and honest rationale for it.

We saw this time and time again in the spring and summer with the effort to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, which House Speaker Paul Ryan repeatedly described as an effort "to give every American access to quality, affordable health care," despite the fact that every analyst of every bill produced by the House or the Senate concluded that it would result in millions of Americans losing access to quality, affordable health care.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.