When Republicans won in November, it looked as if 2017 would mean a major legislative shift to the right. But two months into the 115th Congress and six weeks into the Trump administration, progress on fulfilling Republicans’ major domestic policy goals is looking further away, not closer.

Plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act have quickly become a quagmire as lawmakers grapple with the risk of millions losing their health insurance. A corporate tax overhaul that has backing from House Republicans is running into serious opposition among Senate Republicans. Work on a major infrastructure bill, which President Trump has always been more enthusiastic about than congressional Republicans, has been punted to next year. Overhauling the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, it is clear, will be no quick task.

This is partly just the usual slow grinding of legislative gears; don’t forget that it took the Obama administration 14 months to pass its health care overhaul. And it’s partly a result of Democrats in the Senate slowing down confirmation of most of President Trump’s nominees, which leaves less time for legislating.

But there’s another element in the sluggish or nonexistent progress on major elements of the Republican agenda. Large portions of the Republican caucus embrace a kind of policy nihilism. They criticize any piece of legislation that doesn’t completely accomplish conservative goals, but don’t build coalitions to devise complex legislation themselves.