Toward Trump They Will Be Less Submissive

The Democrats officially took control of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 3, and this news can only make us happy.

It does not mean, though, that Donald Trump will be confined to a straitjacket over the course of his last two years in office – even though some have no doubt wished it. But for the first time since Trump took office, the U.S. Congress will no longer cave in at all times to the whims of an excessive president that stretches the truth.

The Republicans, who had controlled both the House and the Senate since 2016, have been troublingly submissive toward the occupant of the White House.

Some Republican senators certainly did express their individual disapproval regarding some of Trump’s initiatives and his unfortunate statements. But that was the exception and not the rule.

Such nonchalance will no longer be the norm. The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was as clear as clear can be: President Trump will now have to live in a “different world.”

Of course, the Democrats’ power in Washington remains limited even within the U.S. Congress, as Republicans still control the Senate.

But the House of Representatives will nevertheless now be able to resume exercising its authority to investigate the executive branch. It will probe just as much into the Trump administration’s failures as it will into its misappropriation of funds and its scandals, shedding light on the gray areas. We already know that Russia’s meddling in American politics and the separation of migrant families at the border are on the Democrats’ radar.

They will also try to obtain the tax returns that Trump has always refused to release. And they will put emphasis on those issues that are crucial but neglected or scorned by the White House, such as climate change.

This change is all the more reassuring because it comes at a moment where those nicknamed the “adults” in Trump’s entourage have almost all resigned or been fired.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one of those adults, confirmed at the end of December that he would leave his position at the end of February 2019. President Trump, outraged, opted to replace the respected general starting Jan. 1. The latter’s second in command, Patrick Shanahan, is now serving as acting secretary of defense.

Doubts linger as to whether the majority of the president’s new Cabinet members will also behave like adults or if they will act more like obedient supporters that would not dare oppose his worst instincts.

Democratic control of the House of Representatives will probably only have a small effect on the president’s instincts. But, at the very least, it means that Congress is now in a better position to carry out its role of serving as a check and balance on the president’s power, a role that the nation’s Founding Fathers wished it to have.