Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023: the end of Donald Trump, the Democrats come out swinging, and what comes next
President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress have done a fine, even historic, job of moving the nation forward over the past two years. And over the past two years, a number of dangerously corrupt and deranged political figures have arisen on the right. Yet because he just won’t go away, Donald Trump is still sucking much of the optical oxygen out of the room. This is the year where that will change.
Don’t get me wrong; Trump’s impending indictment and arrest, along with his eventual criminal trials, and the manner in which that’ll bring an ugly end to his 2024 “campaign” for President, will get plenty of headlines. If anything, those events will bring Trump more headlines than he’s been getting of late. But those headlines will be the devastating kind – and they’ll cause Trump’s political relevance to start being spoken of in the past tense.
2023 will be the year in which Donald Trump is finally held accountable, and finally pushed out of the conversation when it comes to current and viable political figures. But through all the endless coverage of his indictments, trials, and downfalls, it’ll be important to remember that politics will still be moving forward without him – and there will be crucial stories to cover on both sides.
On the Republican side, the story is not just George Santos. It’s that pretty much every Republican in Congress is George Santos when it comes to lying constantly, and most of them are just better at figuring out how to get away with it. Even if Santos is forced out in 2023, it’ll be important not to let the media portray that as “crisis over.” As long as the Republican House is dominated by people like Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, and Lauren Boebert, Santos is just icing on the toxic cake.
On the Democratic side, there are a few key storylines. These House Democrats are the most savvy and fearless we’ve seen in our lifetime, and while they’ll be fighting from the minority position, they’re going to put on one heck of a fight. And in spite of all the headlines we’ll see about how President Biden’s agenda is supposedly finished because he no longer controls the House, history suggests that his moves could be more consequential in his second two years than they were in his first two years.
Meanwhile, throughout 2023 there will be endless speculation about the 2024 presidential race. Most of it will be empty ratings driven nonsense. The majority of Republicans who are currently hinting at running in 2024 are unpopular and non-viable, and are only doing it to try to squeeze a book deal or a commentator gig out of it. And while Biden has already made it clear that he’s likely to run in 2024, the media will push the narrative that Biden won’t run, so it can chase headlines about other supposed 2024 Democratic candidates instead.
In other words, some things don’t change. But we’re heading into what could ultimately be a fascinating political year. We’re about to see what will happen to the Republican Party once Donald Trump’s remaining influence and leverage are run through a shredder. We’re about to see a whole lot of Republicans try to fill the vacuum created by Trump’s downfall, and fall flat on their faces. And we’re about to see Biden and the Democrats come out swinging in a way that’ll frankly surprise a lot of people.
Through all of this, let’s keep in mind the entire reason we’ve all gotten involved in politics and political activism to begin with: to fight and worthwhile battles, win elections, and deliver positive change for our nation and planet in a way that benefits us all. As long as we keep abiding by those principles, we will win more political battles than we lose. And in the end, that’s what winning looks like. Happy New Year!
