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COMMENTARY: Where does a divided U.S. government leave Donald Trump?

It was definitely not a good night for the Republican Party.

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But it was an especially painful night for U.S. President Donald Trump – in no small measure because he has now lost control of both chambers of Congress. Without sufficient numbers of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, he can no longer dictate the terms for his legislative agenda.

More significantly, the Trump Administration will effectively lose congressional control over the “power of the purse” (aka the spending or appropriations power). In a divided U.S. government, then, it is much harder for the executive branch to secure funding for its various programs, departments and agencies –along with discretionary policy initiatives, tax measures and supplemental wartime requests.

Oversight and scrutiny

On the positive side of the ledger, divided government can lead to greater oversight or scrutiny by the legislative branch over the executive – or vice versa. These checks and balances are integral to the U.S. democratic process and thus can incentivize both branches of government to work together to find workable compromises.

When government is divided,........

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