Republicans, bring your healthcare bill out for inspection

Republicans are becoming a party that won't take the obviously helpful step of preparing the field before engaging in battle. Like President Trump, congressional Republicans get ready to make major moves by shutting their intentions off from the disinfecting reach of daylight.

In the latest case, their secrecy surrounds the writing of a healthcare bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made it clear recently that he intends to speed the Affordable Health Care Act through the Senate. But the bill has not been made public, and the regular order of a committee process has been abandoned.

This echoes the Trump administration's rushed travel ban in January and, more pertinently, resembles the House's first abortive stab at passing the same bill, the American Health Care Act. These are not attractive precedents.

Many of the attacks, in the courts and in the media, on Trump's refugee and visa order are unfair. But the president made his job harder by skipping proper preparation. The White House didn't make the case for the order and failed to run it through legal checks and interdepartmental review. The resulting mess damaged efforts to control the border.

Trump's firing of James Comey had a similar flavor or something justified in principle but botched in practice. White House officials took the action without notice, without consulting those involved (including Comey), and without even agreeing on their reasons. The result, again, was a mess.