Conservatives give Trump a pass on the debt ceiling, but next time it could get ugly

During the Obama years, the politics of the debt ceiling were simple for conservatives: President Barack Obama was the adversary, and they should use the debt ceiling as a tool to gain as many concessions from him as possible.

With a Republican in office, though, the politics are much more difficult.

Especially because that Republican, Donald Trump, is an ideologically flexible one who just unexpectedly cut a deal with Democrats to suspend the debt ceiling until December and then immediately suggested eliminating the debt cap altogether.

For now, conservatives are warily giving Trump the benefit of the doubt. They are proceeding with the understanding that the surprising deal, rushed together in part to provide aid to hurricane-stricken southern states, is not the beginning of a separation of the White House from the Right.

Yet, they are concerned. And the sudden reversal in early September raises the prospect of major conflict among Republicans the next time the debt ceiling has to be lifted, sometime early next year. That is likely to be sometime in early 2018, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, when the government will have exhausted its options for paying incoming bills.