Worst Predictions for 2019

The U.S. withdrawal from Syria in 2019—allowing Turkey to decimate the Kurdish population and Russia to make major advances in the country, including taking over American military installations—marked a more than cosmetic change in Middle East policy.  Damir Marusic, The American Interest

15. Trump will “resign from office before he can be impeached, citing health reasons”

Predicted by: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper, a Democratic fundraiser and prominent #resistance Twitter personality, is prone to outlandish statements that rack up retweets from his fellow partisans. A particular subgenre of this type of tweet is calling for the resignation of Republican officeholders (retweet if you agree!) and then predicting they will resign. With Trump, Cooper has done both, repeatedly calling for his resignation and predicting that the resignation is coming soon.

14. “Beto O’Rourke will be the next president of the United States”

Predicted by: Lee Drutman (severaltimes) and a great many others

For a time in late 2018 and early 2019, it plausibly looked like Beto O’Rourke was the future of the Democratic Party. CNN’s S.E. Cupp, James Gagliano, Joey Jackson, Scott Jennings, Roxanne Jones, Peniel Joseph, Jen Psaki and Alice Stewart each predicted that he would be leading the polls of Democratic presidential candidates at the end of this year. Less than eight months later, O’Rourke dropped out of the presidential race altogether.

13. Joe Biden won’t run for president

Predicted by: Ari Fleischer

12. House Democrats and Senate Republicans will “secure a number of legislative victories … [and] meet on middle ground”

Predicted by: Orrin Hatch

At the start of 2019, with a new Democratic majority in the House and the Republicans firmly in control of the Senate, retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) saw the possibility of bipartisan compromise on the horizon. The actual story of Congress this year was not one of meeting “on middle ground,” but of party-line triumphs—House Democrats impeaching Trump and Senate Republicans installing ever more conservatives into the federal judiciary. It’s become so routine for legislation that passed in the House to get held up in the Senate that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dubbed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chamber “the graveyard.” Bipartisan successes? There were very few.

11. Mueller will “exonerate Trump,” “implicate the Deep State” and “forever legitimize his presidency”

Predicted by: Bill Mitchell

10. Kamala Harris will win the Democratic presidential nomination

Predicted by: Myra Adams, Real Clear Politics

9. “Buttigieg will drop [in the polls] soon, and many of his supporters will migrate to Warren”

Predicted by: Noah Smith

Leading the fourth-largest city in Indiana hasn’t historically been a launching pad for the Oval Office, but in late December, Pete Buttigieg remains at or near the top of the Democratic pack in Iowa and New Hampshire.

8. Trump will nominate Jared Kushner for attorney general

Predicted by: Carl P. Leubsdorf, Dallas Morning News

When Trump went about finding a successor for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he could have chosen Jared Kushner, a graduate of New York University School of Law whose legal experience largely consists of two internships. Instead, Trump chose former Attorney General Willam Barr.

7. House Democrats will not impeach Trump

Predicted by (among others): Peter Daou, Kai Ryssdal and Stephen L. Carter

That of course was entirely wrong.  Instead the dems have become known as the party of impeachment.   Yes, its true, just find Nancy Pelosi, she carries the impeachment papers around with her stuffed into her purse.

6. House Dems and the Senate GOP will work together to enact immigration reform

Predicted by: Fortune magazine

In its annual “Crystal Ball” forecast for the year ahead, Fortune imagined Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi working together to pass a “farm bill, immigration reform, and an infrastructure bill that President Trump has long wanted to see on his desk.” Immigration reform shows no signs of life, and major investments in infrastructure—despite the ostensible support of both Trump and House Democrats—remain unrealized.

5. Mueller will reveal that Trump’s 2016 campaign received millions of dollars from Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar

Predicted by: Former Rep. John Leboutillier

4. In 2019, there will be a “move toward forcing African-Americans to secure 19th century Black Codes-type passes that they must carry in public”

Predicted by: Dr. Ricky L. Jones, Louisville Courier Journal

It was an alarming, eye-popping prediction from Ricky Jones, a professor at the University of Louisville and a contributor to the Courier Journal: “We will see a move toward forcing African-Americans to secure 19th century Black Codes-type passes that they must carry in public. Any white person would be able to demand the blacks in question produce these IDs to prove they have the right to inhabit certain spaces or engage in pre-approved activities in 2019.” Nothing even hazily resembling the prediction has been entertained. Was Dr. Jones black?  Well, yes, but why would you ask that?  Do you think he’s biased or something?

3. British Prime Minister Theresa May “will see out Brexit and then depart on her own terms and timing”

Predicted by: Nick Williams

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she would resign as prime minister in May, after the Brexit plans she negotiated were defeated in Parliament for the third time in as many months. The House of Commons rejected her Brexit plan for a fourth time two days later. She stepped down as prime minister in July and was succeeded by Boris Johnson.

2. Republicans will break ranks with an increasingly erratic Trump

Predicted by: Patti Solis Doyle

At the end of 2018, Patti Solis Doyle, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, predicted: “Republicans, who have supported the mayhem and chaos up to now, will be looking down the barrel of a 2020 presidential cycle with abysmal numbers with women, suburban voters and independents. They’re going to break.”  Not a single Republican broke…

1. Alabama will be hit by Hurricane Dorian, never mind what the National Weather Service says!

Predicted by: President Donald Trump    Donald, if you want to be a weatherman, take a hint….don’t.  And don’t quit your day job either.

Thanks go to Politico for the above work.  Please visit   https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/30/worst-political-predictions-of-2019-089874