No matter where your political loyalties lie, the sight of the Republican party at war with itself is an alarming development when America is facing national and international crises that demand leadership.
Members of the House and Senate cannot operate in a vacuum, yet that is a troubling aspect of their dilemma. Presidents have historically provided the leadership aimed at translating their vision for the country into legislation vital to the nation's - and Americans' - future.
President Trump has not. Our commander in chief, unfortunately, is AWOL on this issue.
When he exhibits anything that passes for leadership, it is generally anything but. In so many words, he tells Congress to get off its collective backside and "pass [insert legislative issue here]." Left unsaid: "So I can sign a bill" - and luxuriate in the moment.
There was a telling moment regarding this problem a few weeks ago. Meeting with GOP congressional leaders at the White House, Trump complained, "We're not getting the job done."
Yet crossing his arms - and make of that body language what you will - he continued: "And I'm not going to blame myself. I'll be honest: They [read: Congress] are not getting the job done."
To paraphrase the famous plaque on former President Harry Truman's Oval Office desk: "The Buck Stops Wherever".
Trump's failure to take command of the administration's legislative agenda leaves the House and Senate to get by as best they can. The inevitable complications have locked up the congressional engine, and led Trump to Twitter-bomb party leaders.
More broadly, his declaration of war against the party has been outsourced to Stephen Bannon, the self-described "Leninist" and former White House strategist. Since Bannon's deployment to the political front lines, he has been targeting GOP incumbents deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump, whose own conservative and Republican bona fides are ironically suspect.
Hence the bizarre development of the Republican party at risk of collapsing upon itself for lack of presidential leadership.
Trump's failed leadership is undermining his own party's self-confidence and effectiveness, and there is no clearer evidence than Congress' failure to pass any substantive legislation - including the seven-year-old pledge to "repeal and replace" Obamacare.
This puts GOP legislators in a dilemma, especially given a recent poll reporting that more than half of respondents believe Trump is unfit for the presidency. Whether they and congressional Democrats can provide reliable governance is an open question.
Two GOP senators, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, have decided that to remain silent is to be complicit in Trump's fecklessness. That led Flake, who like Corker has decided not to seek re-election next year, to deliver a speech Tuesday that should be required reading for anyone concerned about our political leadership.
And Corker, immune to Trump's infantile insults, confirmed his independence with an acid comment that Trump is "debasing our country."
It was disappointing that more of Corker's fellow Tennesseans feared speaking out. Sen. Lamar Alexander's office said he has not issued a statement. And the word from Rep. Chuck Fleischmann's office is that he is "100 percent behind the president."
It is unclear when or if this political deadlock can be resolved. But since the GOP's internal conflict involves more than just its own future, Democrats should take no pleasure in their counterparts' crisis.
In a recent Forbes magazine article about a new biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, John Baldoni observed, "Too often in the face of adversity we may be tempted to blame other factors rather than face the truth. Leaders who acknowledge trouble are those who believe in their abilities to lead others in joint purpose. They can only do so by facing facts as facts, not as fiction."
Good advice for Donald Trump. And for the still silent colleagues of Senators Flake and Corker.
Michael Loftin is a former opinion editor of The Chattanooga Times.