Congressional Republicans like to every now and then pretend that they’re above Donald Trump’s crudeness, his abuse of power, his Russia ties. But they’ll go along with all of that as long as he’s helping them deliver their agenda by stripping health coverage from tens of millions of people and cutting taxes on the wealthy. Which means that right now, Republicans are starting to have more of a problem with Trump—because he’s not helping them pass legislation to hurt working Americans.
"I don't even pay any attention to what is going on with the administration because I don't care. They're a distraction. The family is a distraction, the president is a distraction," complained Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). "At first, it was 'Well yeah, this is the guy we elected. He'll learn, he'll learn.' And you just don't see that happening."
Also, congressional Republicans are totally not afraid of Trump and his pressure to pass Trumpcare … as they’ll say anonymously.
A Republican senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wanted to preserve his relationship with Mr. Trump, put it more bluntly. The president, he said, scares no one in the Senate, not even the pages.
But the thing is, they don’t need to be afraid of Trump to do terrible things. The Republican agenda is filled with terrible things intended to hurt working people and make the rich richer. Congressional Republicans’ allegiance to Trump is precisely because they think he’ll help them do that. Their problem with him comes if he won’t or can’t make that happen.