I’m coming round to the idea that the all-Republican government of 2017-18 was basically the dog that caught the car—not because they didn’t know what to do with it, but rather they knew it was a bad idea to do anything with it.
Republicans as currently constructed is an “anti” entity—they get their power being anti-Democrats, anti-woke, anti-trans, anti-etc. So they need to be seen as being on the outside to maintain their power. If they started making decisions once they got power, they would not only be held accountable for those decisions, but they would also come to be considered insiders, which among that base would be a one-way ticket to the outside of the party. I think that’s why they did basically nothing even when they were in control: it was have been political suicide for them to do anything.