Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said something out loud this weekend that many in Washington have long understood: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), he argued, lives in fear of the far-left wing of his party. Thune pointed to Democrats blocking debate on military funding and a defense authorization bill, as well as resistance around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He also recalled the backlash Schumer faced after voting to reopen the government during an earlier shutdown fight. In Thune's telling, Schumer learned the price of defying his party's loudest faction and has deferred to it ever since.

Thune's criticism deserves scrutiny. He is a Republican leader making a partisan argument, and his account is not the whole story. But the larger point is difficult to dismiss: Party leaders increasingly govern under threat from their own flanks. That pressure weakens compromise, rewards confrontation and leaves basic responsibilities of government hostage to factions that often have little incentive to accept an imperfect deal.

Democrats are not alone in this predicament. Republicans have spent years watching members who once acted as reliable rubber stamps for Trump begin, however cautiously, to assert their own judgment. That independence is welcome when it reflects principle and a willingness to answer........

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