With aid deal, Trump creates his own roadmap for handling gridlock

Returning to Washington after the August recess, Sen. Tim Kaine sensed that change was in the air.

The embarrassing failure of Republican lawmakers to repeal and replace Obamacare – one of the GOP’s top priorities – along with the sharp criticism many members had aimed at President Trump after the violence in Charlottesville, Va., would make for a “dramatically different” dynamic in the nation’s capital, the Virginia Democrat told reporters.

But even he had no idea how dramatic a political shift was in store.

This week, Mr. Trump abruptly