Welp, another year and we head into Year Ten of ZVTS: 2018. I never imagined I'd still be writing at this date, let alone having regular readers like yourselves. So, without further ado, it's time for my ten predictions for news events in 2018, and I'm going to go big:
1) Robert Muller recommends impeachable offenses for Donald Trump. I know, this is a huge bet: that Trump won't fire Mueller, that Mueller will complete his investigation this year, and that he will find something that warrants an official recommendation to Congress that articles of impeachment be voted on. But I see it happening. There's just too much self-reinforcing evidence at this point to ignore, unless you're a Republican in Congress, in which case...
2) Trump will wait until after Mueller's report is delivered in order to issue pardons. More indictments in 2018 by Mueller are as close to a guarantee as you can get at this point. There are so many targets, too. But Trump will wait until the investigation ends in order to start dishing out pardons. Furthermore...
3) The GOP-led Congress will take no action on Mueller's recommendations. Not in 2018, at least. They will wait for midterm elections, hoping that either Mueller spares them by continuing the investigation into 2019, or that Trump ends it for them. But Paul Ryan, as Speaker of the House, will never let impeachment articles come to a floor vote, which leads me to...
4) Democrats will take control of the House in 2018 midterms. Yes, I know all this is dependent on a media that is already attacking Democrats for their sure-to-be failures on getting anything signed into law by Trump and the Senate remains a tough road...but I think it will happen. I'll even go one step further, because I need a serious goal to help shoot for...
5) Dems will take the Senate back in 2018 too. They would have to hold their Trump state incumbents and win Nevada and Arizona, but it's not impossible. And if it's truly a 2018 blue wave year, I think there are a lot fewer safe red states than the GOP is willing to even think about.
6) A Trump miscalculation leads to a military incident with North Korea. I don't mean war, but I do mean a US ship or airplane is destroyed, or US soldiers captured, something along those lines. I don't believe it will lead to a larger exchange yet, otherwise all bets are off for everyone. Trump needs something he can rally his base around ahead of midterm elections, especially as Mueller closes in.
7) America will fall victim to a significant cyber-attack. I don't want to be right about this one either, because I don't know how Trump would react to it. But I'm betting that something along the lines of a major computer virus or infrastructure blackout will affect a major portion of the US for some time. Frankly, we're long overdue for this one.
8) Trump's complete failure in Puerto Rico helps turn Florida blue. I think Rick Scott will be succeeded by a Democrat in November 2018 at the minimum. I don't know how feasible it is for the state's heave GOP majority in Tallahassee to flip, but the Dems will at least make major gains. In lighter news...
9) Marvel's 2018 films will make $250 million at the US box office. Black Panther, Avengers 3, Ant-Man and The Wasp and Deadpool 2 are easily going to hit that, and there's a good chance that Venom will too, but I'll put a marker down on the first four, no contest.
and finally 10) ZVTS will make it through its tenth year and into 2019. Here's hoping. I've basically spent my entire 30's blogging, so we'll see how it works out now that I'm older and wiser.
Thanks for staying with me on this ride.
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