The following article by Kenneth T. Walsh was posted on the U.S. News website July 21, 2017:
President Donald Trump didn’t create the bitter atmosphere in Washington, but he’s making it worse.
America’s polarization and political dysfunction have become structural, built into the system as never before. President Donald Trump didn’t create the situation in which the country finds itself, increasingly divided into irreconcilable camps, but Trump is intensifying the hard feelings all around. And things are getting worse.
The collapse of the Senate Republican health care bill this week is a case in point. Trump and GOP leaders were unable to muster the necessary 50 votes to advance the measure, which would have overhauled the health-care law passed under Democratic President Barack Obama. Even though the Republicans have been campaigning against Obamacare since it was enacted seven years ago, they couldn’t agree on how to do it. And neither major party was willing to compromise with the other side. The result: an embarrassing failure. And since the GOP controls the House, the Senate and the White House, Republicans bear most of the burden for the setback.