Art of the [debt] deal

So the guy who wrote a book on “The Art of the Deal” struck an important, albeit short-term, one yesterday, by throwing in his lot with Democratic congressional leaders. In doing so President Trump signaled to fellow Republicans it’s long past time to get their own lawmaking act together.

Trump has surely made no secret of his disdain for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in recent days. Nor was he about to have aid to hurricane damaged Texas held up by the Freedom Caucus in the House if it were tied to raising the debt ceiling.

So at a White House meeting yesterday with congressional leaders from both parties and both branches, Trump opted for a three-month deal to fund government and raise the debt limit and provide $7.9 billion in disaster relief funding.

“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, without mentioning House Speaker Paul Ryan or McConnell. “We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred, very important.”

“We had a very good meeting, we essentially came to a deal, and I think the deal will be very good,” Trump said.

Earlier yesterday Ryan had called the Democratic proposal “unworkable” and “ridiculous.”

Republicans in both branches wanted an 18-month extension on the debt limit — to get them beyond the 2018 election. Trump’s own Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wanted a longer-term limit.

The danger, of course, is that no one knows what price Democrats will want to extract three months from now. But then again Trump is right to be skeptical about congressional Republicans being able to get the job done in a timely fashion.

Who knows, perhaps Trump will be able to strike a deal over immigration that even Barack Obama wasn’t able to pull off — and get a real Dream Act through a newly energized Congress.