Democrats in particular say that by supporting the group, members of their own party have given political cover to lawmakers with conservative voting records without forcing those same lawmakers to take concrete action to stall Republican legislation on health care or taxes. The caucus’s Republican members have on average voted in line with the White House’s position 93 percent of the time, according to calculations based on FiveThirtyEight’s vote tracker, with at least nine Republicans in the group doing so more than 95 percent of the time.
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The Problem Solvers also expressed faith in a set of proposed House rules changes they unveiled this summer to Break the Gridlock, vowing as a bloc to withhold their votes for any potential House speaker who did not agree to adopt the rules. The rule changes would weaken House leadership’s control over which bills get a vote, forcing to the floor bills co-sponsored by more than 290 members.

A display of leadership solidarity in the face of the scourge of war became once more an exercise in isolation. As other leaders walked in a phalanx along the Champs Élysées on Sunday, Trump travelled separately, by armoured limousine. On early occasions he had managed a show of bonhomie in meetings with Macron but at his Élysée Palace meeting this time, he sat glumly like a pupil made to stay after school and did not respond when Macron patted him on the arm.

When the French president spoke under the Arc de Triomphe, no one had any doubt whom he was speaking to when he said: “Patriotism is the antithesis of nationalism. Nationalism is inherently treasonous. In saying ‘our interests first, and forget the others’, we lose the most important part of the nation: its moral values.”

Trump looked on grimly throughout. The only moment he brightened up was when he saw Vladimir Putin approach. He flashed a goofy smile, all the more noticeable alongside Macron and Merkel who had switched their demeanour to steel resolve on spotting the Russian leader.

Putin solemnly shook hands with them and then gave Trump a big thumbs up.

Nationwide, the voices of Rashida Tlaib, Sharice Davids, Deb Haaland and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are rising up and being heard, joining with the last wave of winning legislators including strong women like Pramila Jayapal and Kamala Harris and adding to the longstanding strength of leaders like Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Patty Murray, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jan Schakowsky and on and on.