Trump faces several near-term challenges

President Donald Trump’s new-found enthusiasm for realpolitik rather than the “America First” doctrine he championed in his inaugural speech is encouraging, but his administration still faces several key tests over the next few months. We suspect that Congress will manage to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this month although, as usual, it will be a close run thing. But our bigger fear is that negotiations over the summer to raise the debt ceiling could end in failure.