Biblical Houston flood is Trump's first great challenge: Stuart Varney

A presidency is often defined by the challenges it has to face.

The biblical Houston flood is President Trump's first great challenge. It is not of his making, and the presidency can’t make the waters recede, but a president can lead. He can bring the country together and focus the nation on the task. That’s what President Trump is trying to do right now.

He will get no help from the media, they loath him. They are looking for the slightest fault. Any fault. Look at this headline in the Trump-hating Washington Post: "Trump abuses his power to help the cause of bigotry"...that’s a reference to last week's pardoning of Sheriff Joe [Arpaio]...the elites have no time for Texas.

How much help will he get from the Left? The president has asked for a bipartisan approach to funding Houston’s recovery. He wants Democrats on board with supplying the money. He will have to overcome the deep-seated hostility that coastal liberals have for the brash, successful and Republican Texans.

It is this divided country that President Trump is trying to unite. When you see the biblical scale of the Houston flood, you would think all of us would rally around him, as we should. A flood knows no ideology.

That is the president's challenge: To lead. To rally in times of trouble.