Daily Beast's Matt Lewis: 'Donald Trump got rolled' on 'unfathomable' deal with Democrats

Daily Beast conservative columnist Matt Lewis has a dim view of the deal President Donald Trump stuck with Democrats to increase the debt ceiling and extend the budget for three months.

"Donald Trump got rolled," he claimed to CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday.

"Democrats couldn't have gotten a better deal if they had Barack Obama in the White House," he said. "It's really unfathomable."

"Explain why this is a good deal for Democrats," Cooper asked.

"First of all, I would say this," Lewis explained. "It's so rare when Republicans get to feel like they have the moral authority and they have the emotional issue on their side."

"For a brief moment today you could tell [Republican House Speaker] Paul Ryan believed he was in that position, because he wanted to have this long term sort of, raising the debt ceiling, and it was going to be tied to funding hurricane relief and he was gonna dare Democrats to vote against it."

Lewis referred to a news conference Ryan gave Wednesday where the speaker decried the Democratic plan as "ridiculous" and "disgraceful." Trump would completely undermine Ryan's criticism by endorsing the deal mere hours afterward.

"I don't think they would've," Lewis continued, "I think Democrats would have had to go along with raising the debt ceiling and funding for Harvey."

"But because Donald Trump gave in, two things happen," he added. "No. 1, Republicans have to come back several times between now and the midterms and raise the debt ceiling."

"And they need Democratic votes to do that," Cooper asked.

"Right, and to get those Democratic votes they will have to compromise on other stuff and horse trade," Lewis answered. "So, maybe they're talking about tax reform three months from now. Chuck Schumer can say, 'Well, we'll raise the debt ceiling but you have to give us this on tax reform.'"

"So, this isn't just a disaster in terms of negotiating today," he continued, "it will have long-term ramifications that will hurt, I would say, the cause of conservatism."

Pundit @mattklewis: Trump "got rolled" on debt ceiling deal. Dems couldn't have gotten a better deal even from Obama https://t.co/IWDHf7VYLx

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 7, 2017

Ed Martin, a Trump supporter, tried to spin the deal as good news for Trump, but fellow panelist Kirsten Powers tried to explain that Trump didn't appear to gain anything by the deal.

"But he didn't need to do it, I think is the point," Powers said. "There was — I don't think anybody really thinks the Democrats wouldn't vote to raise a debt ceiling, right? So I mean, you don't really need to trade for that. I mean that's something they're gonna do anyway."

"Grasping defeat out of the jaws of victory," Lewis added, as they grinned at each other.

Some reports indicated that Republicans were livid over Trump's deal that appeared to cave to Democrats' demands without securing anything in return.