
Republicans are in full control of the government — and they have made a complete mess of it.

Republicans have complete control in Washington, but are unable to do the bare minimum it takes to run the most important government in the world.

Despite their electoral victories and governing majorities, Republicans can't get their own party in line to support their health care bill — the one they've been threatening for eight years — and the budget process has also ground to a halt.

And Paul Ryan's tenure as House speaker, even as his party controls Congress and the White House, has been one failure after another and has made him deeply unpopular.


While America is being spared from the policy prescriptions many in the Republican Party support due to their incompetence, Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) admitted to the Washington Post, "It’s almost like we’re serving in the minority right now. We just simply don’t know how to govern."

On the same day Sen. Mitch McConnell was forced to pull the health care bill until after the July recess, House Republicans also had to cancel a meeting where they were supposed to prepare a budget resolution for a vote on the floor.

The party is stuck in a tug of war between its conservative members and its very conservative members, who are arguing over how much pain to inflict on poor Americans. Since taking over leadership in the House, Ryan has had to negotiate between the two factions, without much to show for it.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), head of the ultra-right "Freedom Caucus," told the Washington Post his group wants cuts to SNAP, the food assistance program, as well as to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the overall U.S. welfare program.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called out the Republican chaos and Ryan's underwhelming leadership in a statement, noting, "Almost five months into the Trump Administration, House Republicans still haven’t met their most basic responsibility to pass a budget."

She added, "After the disaster of President Trump’s budget proposal, Republicans are rightly afraid of their budget exposing the GOP’s job-killing agenda to the American people," and concluded, "Even with control of the White House and majorities in Congress, Republicans have had nothing but chaos and cold-heartedness to offer American families."

Republicans are in such a sad state of affairs that Ryan had to rely on Democrats, led by Pelosi, to pass an omnibus spending bill. The Republican disorganization forced the party to remove budget items like financing to build a southern border wall, a pet project of Donald Trump's.

Ryan's humiliation echoed similar failures under former Speaker John Boehner, even after Ryan had made such a public showing of embracing Trump after the election.

Even with Trump, who has made clear he will sign any piece of paper passed on to him by Congress and his handlers, the Republican Party is earning a failing grade in governance. For years, the party has campaigned against the concept of governing.

Now they have been handed the reins of power — with some outside help thanks to the electoral college and Russia — and are quickly proving why it is a bad idea to put people in charge of something they profess to hate.