Trump's real test begins!

For all the dramatic monologue that he was ranting after the hour-long Cabinet meeting, Donald Trump's real test is set to begin from today. Indeed, a lot will have changed. Nancy Pelosi will become the new speaker of the House of Representatives in which the Democrats will call the shots. Their majority will restrain the President from going berserk as is his "style". And that may change everything. Trump has constantly been under the opinion that maybe he will be able to make deals with the new Democrat majority in the House. He had been hoping, against hope, that the bipartisan spirit would prevail. But that, perhaps, was hoping too much. As matters stand, the early returns are not promising. The federal government has been shut down for the past 12 days. Trump continues to demand $5 billion to fund the construction of his border wall. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are equally determined to provide nothing for Trump's wall. And, this is just the beginning. Democrats in the House will make Trump's life a living hell. Efforts are already underway to bring a number of his Cabinet officials before Congress, to extricate his tax returns from his grip and to more deeply probe his business dealings both before and during his presidency. Trump was a political neophyte before he stepped into the Oval office the first time. He never had to deal with this sort of opposition before. He never really needed Democrats to do much of anything, either. The Republican majorities in the House and Senate ensured Trump smooth sailing. There was no real political penalty for his total unwillingness and inability to work with Democrats. Those days are now over. Democrats can now give Trump nightmares and cause real political damage using the official means of their House majority. While they may not be able to force his tax returns into public view, they can make sure the issue is up front and create major distractions for the White House. For the present, Trump is supremely confident everything will eventually go his way and, following the Cabinet meeting, said so in so many words. In fact, he seemed ready for any eventuality. For a President presiding over a government shut close to a fortnight, it was his intellect and his obsession with being the "greatest Republican President in the history of the United States of America" that mattered. For him, it will take some time for the new reality to sink in. His totalitarian method of operating as the head of democracy will have to change. It is a form of transformation that will take quite some time to adjust to for someone who, so far, could virtually get away with anything.