Read this piece by James Hohmann, which argues that the importance of Trump's loss on health care is being overblown and that, in fact, Trump is largely succeeding so far. It includes this passage:
Despite the chaos and the growing credibility gap, Trump is systematically succeeding in his quest to “deconstruct the administrative state” [quoting Steve Bannon] He’s pursued the most aggressive regulatory rollback since Ronald Reagan, especially on environmental issues, with a series of bills and executive orders. He’s placed devoted ideologues into perches from which they can stop aggressively enforcing laws that conservatives don’t like. By not filling certain posts, he’s ensuring that certain government functions will simply not be performed. His budget proposal spotlighted his desire to make as much of the federal bureaucracy as possible wither on the vine.
