Just as many Never Trumpers warned would happen, Donald Trump is starting to sound like a Democrat. After spending the better part of a year governing as a far-right Republican, the president apparently decided that he wasn’t getting anywhere and might have more success working with the opposition. The newly minted dealmaker is now buddies with “Chuck and Nancy,” as he refers to the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In chummy chats, Trump seems open to ideas like granting legal status to Dreamers and shoring up Obamacare insurance markets, policies that are not only anathema to conservatives but which Trump himself vehemently opposed until his latest about-face.

Republicans are aghast; Democrats are warily optimistic. Given Trump’s erratic management style and fickle policy positions, Democrats have little reason to trust him. But Schumer and Pelosi seem to think they also have nothing to lose. With Republicans in full control of the government, Democrats have very little leverage. So Schumer and Pelosi can hardly be blamed for their dalliance with Trump, especially if it pays off in humane policies like legal protection for young undocumented immigrants.

Yet the idea that Democrats have little to lose elides several clear dangers. On a purely political level, Trump has already humiliated and betrayed the leaders of his own party, and may well do the same to Schumer and Pelosi. On an electoral level, cooperating with Trump could extend his political life, making him a more palatable figure to the general population. But most important, by working with Trump, Democrats are implicitly legitimizing a president who has repeatedly proven unworthy of the office. That we would even have to weigh this concern against the fate of 800,000 young undocumented immigrants lays bare the malignancy of Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s bipartisan gambit reveals his fundamental lack of seriousness about policy and his naked pursuit of a “win.” He’s even willing to slap a conservative label on Democratic policies, Politico reports:

After months of hammering Republicans over their failure to repeal Obamacare, President Donald Trump huddled this week with moderate House Democrats and Republicans who were trying to sell him on a fix to the health care law. Upon hearing it had bipartisan support, the president had one question: “Can I call it ‘repeal and replace’?” “You can call it whatever you want, Mr. President,” a Democratic lawmaker told Trump, eliciting laughter throughout the room. The president loved that response.

Yet whatever policy harvest the Democrats can reap from cajoling Trump will come at a price. He might change his ideological orientation to suit Democrats, but he can’t change his feckless character. Trump is the same unfit president he was when trying to deliver “wins” to the far right. He’s still unprincipled, ill-informed, lazy, and mercurial. Trump continues to act like a 13-year-old trapped in the body of a 71-year-old world leader, as if his prefrontal cortex never developed beyond adolescence. Trump is all libido, lacks impulse control, and is prone to poor decision-making.