THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The Republican Party has a chance of surviving its disastrous exercise in governing under Pumpkin Potemkin, Mitch the Turtle and Lyin' Paul Ryan.

The Republican tax plan is a bit like having a baby to save a failing marriage.

With divisions roiling the party, the prospect of a once-in-a-generation bill to cut taxes on businesses and individuals increasingly appears to be the last, best hope for a fractured establishment desperate to find common ground and advance an effort it has long championed as the pinnacle of Republican orthodoxy.

But even in this policy refuge, tensions are sure to rise as the details of a formal tax plan spill out. On Wednesday, a top House Republican said that changes to retirement savings were still being considered, even after Mr. Trump declared Monday that “there will be NO change to your 401(k).”

A fight over taxes would be particularly rough on a Republican Party already fraying on the edges. The potential for further dissolution was strikingly apparent on Tuesday, when Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, blistered his party and President Trump in announcing his plans not to seek re-election. Mr. Flake’s broadsides came on the heels of a morning spat between Mr. Trump and another retiring Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee, which exposed the growing rifts between old-guard conservatives and Mr. Trump’s new-wave populists in Washington.

In the face of those divides, Republican leaders retreated to the only safe ground they have left: a partisan, fast-tracked tax bill, which party leaders hope to introduce next week in the House and deliver to Mr. Trump’s desk by Christmas. The stakes are rising by the day, as Republican donors and voters watch the intraparty dispute unfold and worry about the party advancing the legislative priorities it has long espoused, let alone holding its congressional majorities in the 2018 midterms.

Pressure is only increasing on Republican lawmakers, with conservative commentators and other observers saying failure on a tax bill is not an option.

“I’ve sensed this shift in just the last couple of weeks. I think the Republicans are finally figuring out if they don’t pass this, the political consequences are going to be catastrophic,” said Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who is advising Mr. Trump on tax policy. “The attitude of the conservative base is, ‘If they don’t do this, they’re worthless.’”

Large donor groups are particularly blunt on this point. “Passing tax reform is critical for Republican lawmakers, and they are building momentum to get it done,” said James Davis, an executive vice president at Freedom Partners, which is part of the billionaire Koch brothers’ network of political groups.

The comity of a tax cut was evident only on Tuesday, as Republicans appeared to come apart at the seams over their party’s president.

The Republicans find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. They can agree that massive tax cuts for their stinking rich donors and corporations are a must have. On the other they have to find ways to pay for it if they want to pass it under reconciliation rules to avoid a filibuster. And the ways to pay are where they get down in the weeds and will probably blow the whole thing up because every one knows Republicans can't agree on any details like that.