Is President Trump finally fulfilling his destiny as a northeastern Republican squish? It's true that notwithstanding his many heresies throughout the 2016 campaign and even into his presidency, Trump has governed like a down-the-line conservative Republican 99 percent of the time. Still, there is something to his surprising short-term budget deal with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that exposes something essential about Trump: Up until about five minutes ago before he discovered that birtherism was a handy tool for gaining notoriety — the political equivalent of tabloid schlock — Trump was a Republican squish. Not a moderate, not an independent, not a centrist.