Senate Republicans don’t need him. They’re pressing ahead with their investigations into Russian interference in the election and pushing sanctions against Vladimir Putin. They’re pushing their own health care bill on their own timetable and hardly rushing to Trump’s defense. With a very favorable set of 2018 races, it’s hard to see a need materializing.

I’m told Senate Republicans will also go their own way on tax reform, unconstrained by White House policy priorities or timetable.

Most Republicans don’t like him. President Obama used a mix of need and genuine affection to jam through Obamacare in his first two years. There are very few Trump Republicans, much less lawmakers who dig their president. They tolerate him and they often vote with him, because Trump has largely embraced conventional GOP ideas. But most think he’s blowing it.

No one fears him. Not long ago, Republicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more. And Democrats certainly don’t fear a president opposed by most Americans. In fact, as Axios’ Jonathan Swan reported in his weekly Sneak Peek newsletter last night, they’re ready to effectively shut down the Senate to force a special prosecutor for the Russia probe.