So Paul Ryan has had a rough week, and not just Paul Ryan. The failure of Ryancare has made Donald Trump angry, and when Trump is angry, Steve Bannon gets upset, and when Steve Bannon gets upset, people die. Or, at the very least, helicopters leave for Mar-a-Lago without Reince Priebus. Granted, last time Trump got furious with his staff, Bannon suffered too, but this time is different. Ryancare—both in substance and in timing—was a product of the Republican establishment, and that means people like Chief of Staff Priebus, House Speaker Ryan, and Vice President Mike Pence. As The New York Times reports, it was these three men who got Donald Trump to sign off on placing health care first on the legislative to-do list. So Bannon makes it onto Marine One. Reince gets put on K.P.

Despite the weakening of Trump, the death of Trumpcare/Ryancare in the crib has been a blessing to nearly everyone not named Paul Ryan, and that includes Donald Trump. Had Ryancare become law, it would have been bad for most people below the Republican poverty line, i.e., $200,000 a year for a family of one, and Democrats would have reaped the political rewards. To be sure, Trump has taken a giant hit by campaigning hard for the bill and seeing it fail anyway, but he’ll have chances to recover, if he doesn’t self-destruct. He can move on to other campaign promises, even controversial ones, like building a border wall. At least these are more popular than Ryancare, as are most things. Car exhaust is more popular than Ryancare.

Even Paul Ryan has a second act ahead of him. He now moves on to fight for things closer to his heart, like tax cuts for the wealthy. While he has surely sunk even further in Trump’s estimation, he has a good chance of being spared Trump’s direct wrath. Trump needs Ryan (I tried to explain their symbiotic relationship yesterday), and there’s no obvious replacement for him, either. Pence remains important as an emissary, even if his counsel will suffer a drop in value. So, if Trump needs someone to abuse, it’s going to be Reince. Perhaps Priebus will be instructed to bend over when approached by Trump, to allow for easier kicking. Of course, it’s not fair that Priebus, a man of some stature in his recent past, should have to take on such a role, but Chris Christie is in New Jersey.

Outside the White House, the Freedom Caucus, at whose feet much of the blame for defeat of the bill can be laid, will weather some attacks from the White House. Maybe some nasty midnight tweeting follows this weekend. But it will be O.K. Its members are likelier now to go along with some other legislation that they don’t love but feel obligated to support, in order to repair the rift. Wall funding is an easy way to do that—low cost, relative to most other things, and justifiable as a way of preventing spending on things like social services for people who would otherwise make their way illegally across the border. Tax cuts are always popular too, although the outlays associated with Obamacare will require that they be smaller.

But what a week for the Republican Party overall! While the Democratic Party is impossible to love—perhaps, at times, even impossible not to hate—at least it takes policy seriously. The G.O.P. is at this point just a quack. If dissidents among the Freedom Caucus members are rigid, at least they had serious convictions about what they hope to achieve concretely. By contrast, Paul Ryan and his allies just want to get something out the door and get on to tax cuts. The establishment G.O.P. exists to reward its donors with cheap labor, cheap imports, low taxes, and—because why not?—war. This establishment is what G.O.P. primary voters sent Trump to Washington to kill. But he can’t kill it, because what else does he have? So now he has tried to join it, sort of. It’s a dreadful marriage for both sides, but divorce is impossible. That’s certainly not a type of predicament familiar to Trump. He’ll need something to kick. Bring in Reince.