The unexpected transition from a Washington defined by Republican opposition to President Barack Obama to a Washington in which the Republican Party is the sole shaper of the national agenda has served as a kind of natural experiment for identifying root sources of political dysfunction.
The through-line connecting the Obama and Trump eras is a presumption that only Republicans are entitled to maximal demonstrations of power. Norms are meant to constrict Democrats; rules are for them to follow. This double standard creates a number of jarring discontinuities, the most abrupt of which was an overnight whipsaw from the indiscriminate denial of Obama's power to fill a Supreme Court vacancy to the scowling demand that President Donald Trump's nominee receive a fair hearing.
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