Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) told GOP donors Monday that he had not abandoned his effort to pass a major health-care reform bill. But he sounded a more realistic note last Friday: “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” he admitted after House Republicans failed to unite around a repeal-and-replace bill.

The real question facing Republicans is one Mr. Ryan fielded Friday: “Do we try to prop it up?” His answer: “It is so fundamentally flawed, I don’t know if that is possible.”

Actually, it is possible, and it is the responsibility of Mr. Ryan, his GOP majority and President Trump. “Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains,” Mr. Ryan said. Indeed: A governing GOP would restrain its anti-Obamacare hyperbole and seek to ensure the system’s stability, because millions depend on it. Instead, Republicans still sound as though they are rooting for it to fail.