Why Trump Sided With Democrats On The Debt Ceiling

Casting aside all the multi- dimensional chess chin- stroking explanations for why narcissist Man-Baby Donald "Rump" Trump decided to pull the rug out from under his Republican Congressional leadership when he agreed to the Schumer- Pelosi approach for a 3- month debt ceiling increase, Paul Waldman employs Occam's razor to find the truth:

The odds that he [Trump] has an actual opinion about the relative merits of a three-month increase versus an 18-month increase in the debt ceiling are near zero. The political subtleties of the current situation and the potential for a complicated set of challenges in December when the debt ceiling will have to be raised again are probably lost on him. But he knows he was mad at McConnell and Ryan, so making an agreement with the Democrats was kind of like a 5-year-old saying, "I wish Mr. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi were my parents!" when he didn't get to eat cookies for breakfast. Except this 5-year-old is the president of the United States.

Rump, when he tweets or acts precipitously as he appears to have during this meeting, should never be over- analyzed as being tactically or strategically astute. No, he should be seen the way Waldman sees him: as a 5- year- old who happens to be the "president." Sometimes it works to Democrats advantage, as in this instance. But someone as narcissistic and unmoored as Rump can never be trusted as a partner. Just ask Missy McConnell and Lyin' Ryan.