The rocky road ahead for Donald Trump in 2019

Donald Trump enters 2019 locked in a fierce political battle with new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fight he will lose. He can't force Democrats to apportion money for a wall between the United States and Mexico, but influential conservatives in media threaten to punish him if he retreats. He'll eventually find a way to surrender while declaring victory. And then his year will become even more complicated.

Trump's 2019 "to-do" list is formidable, even by presidential standards. He must help restore confidence in the US economy after three months of the worst US stock market meltdown in many years, and he must accomplish this at a time when global economic growth is beginning to look soft.

He must reassure the world that the US and China are not on a course toward endless trade conflict or a Cold War-scale military confrontation while addressing the genuine security...