After World War I, the Soviet Union quickly rose to be a powerful nation and world leader. They flexed their communist muscle and expanded into some of their neighboring countries.

By World War II, there was no doubt that they were one of the world’s super powers. They had a military presence in the world. With the development of atomic and nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union rose to be one of the two most powerful nations in the world, along with the United States.

However, the Soviet super power eventually collapsed from within. Their internal strife caused their political infrastructure to fracture, crumble and fall with a crash that was heard worldwide.

Under the regime of Barack Obama, it seemed that the United States was well on its way to following the example of the Soviet Union by experiencing a government collapse from within. Obama did everything possible to make it happen and I truly believe had Hillary Clinton been elected, that it would happen within her tenure in the White House.

But the American people spoke up at the polls last November and narrowly averted the certain governmental collapse under Democratic leadership. The people listened to political outsider Donald Trump and elected him to lead the nation, believing that he would fulfill many of his campaign promises.

Likewise, many Republicans also made a number of campaign promises that the American people expected them to keep. The number one promise, and most important promise, was to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have been making that promise for ever since Obamacare was first passed.

Once Republicans gained control of the House in 2010, thye did pass a measure to repeal Obamacare on a number of occasions, but those efforts always died in the then Democrat-controlled Senate. They also knew there would be no chance of Obama signing their measure into law, but they went through the motions anyway.

Now that Republicans have control of the House, Senate and White House, the American people fully expect them to keep their promise to at least repeal Obamacare and hopefully replace it with something better.

House Republicans struggled to get a mediocre replacement passed, and calling it mediocre is being generous. Senate Republicans have utterly failed. After twice failing to compose an acceptable and affordable replacement (which is impossible) for Obamacare, they turned to just trying to repeal the key tenets of Obamacare, but fell short by one vote – the vote of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who is suffering from brain cancer.

Over the past few days, President Trump has taken to Twitter and other means to chastise Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for failing to pass a healthcare bill and for failing to repeal parts of Obamacare. After all, McConnell is supposed to be the Party leader in the Senate and his failure to lead has raised great concern with many Republicans, including President Trump.

In one tweet, Trump declared:

“Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!”

In his tweets about the Senate and McConnell’s failure, Trump called it a disgrace. Trump was asked if McConnell should step aside from his leadership position. He responded:

“If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done and if he doesn’t get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure, if he doesn’t get them done, then you can ask me that question.”

“Let’s hope he gets it done.”

An interesting twist is that McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao is currently serving as President Trump’s Secretary of Transportation. In one of his tweets, Trump stated:

Elaine is doing very good job. I’m very disappointed in Mitch.”

However, a growing number of Republican Senators have come to McConnell’s defense. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) stated that McConnell has a tough job and that he’s doing it well and his full support. Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) has also publicly supported McConnell.

The current rift between Trump and McConnell is growing like an aggressive cancer. I’ve heard several political commentators say that the rift is significant enough that it could lead to a full rebellion of the Senate against Trump, making it impossible for Trump to keep any more of his campaign promises.

If this happens, it is certain to drive voters to turn back to the Democrats and even Independents when they next go to the polls. Such a rift, if not soon repaired, will certainly destroy the Republican Party and if that happens, the entire American government could follow with a self-implosion equal to that of the Soviet Union in 1991.