I’ve been wondering how I would do this post for a long time. I even debated doing it at all, sure that everything I predicted for this year would be out the window and over the fence because once I write it, I don’t look at it. So, let’s open the time capsule and see what’s inside.
Trump will survive impeachment. The fix is in. Revelations about his corruption will keep on coming, and yet the Republicans will cower with him. It will be his big campaign rallying point.
That was an easy one.
I have no idea who the Democratic Party will nominate for president, and neither do you, but whoever it is will beat Trump in November despite the best efforts of the Kremlin. I hope it is by such a margin that even Fox News will call it a blowout. Trump will scream and carry on about it being rigged, but by this time in 2020, he’ll be doing everything he can to trash the place on the way out the door with pardons and lame-duck appointments of Nazi sympathizers and pedophiles. (If I’m wrong on this and Trump is reelected, I’m moving to Montserrat. It’s safer to live on an island with an active volcano.)
Wow, I’m impressed how I nailed that one.
Obamacare will survive in the Supreme Court but by a 5-4 ruling.
They haven’t ruled on the latest attempt to kill it, but it sounds like it will survive based on the weakness of the case brought by Texas.
There will be more restrictions placed on reproductive rights, but Roe v. Wade will not be struck down.
Still with us. I give it even odds with the new court in the future.
The Democrats will take back the Senate by one seat and all that bottled-up legislation will finally get through in time for the House, still under Nancy Pelosi, to pass them all again and get them signed by the new president.
Close but no cigar. We’ll know the outcome of this one next week.
The economic bubble will burst, the trade deals with China and Europe will screw over the American consumer, and it’s going to look like one of those 19,000 piece domino videos. Trump and Fox will blame the Democrats for the monster deficit and carry on about how we need to cut more taxes and destroy Social Security and Medicare to save them.
And it did, thanks to Covid-19. More on that later.
Even with the Democrats taking over in 2020, they won’t be in office until January 2021, so I’ll save predictions for what they’ll come up with in terms of health care, gun safety, and climate change until this time next year, assuming my house in the suburbs of Miami at 10 feet above sea level is still on dry land.
See below.
As for me, my playwriting and productions thereof will continue. I’m planning on my 29th trip to the Inge Festival in May and hope to be invited back to Alaska in June. As I’m writing this, the novel that I started twenty-five years ago tomorrow is on the glide path to land by the time I go back to work next week. I can predict that it will never be published because I never meant it to be.
This was a productive year for me as a playwright: 23 new plays written since this time last year: 4 full length, 1 monologue, 2 one-acts, 1 one-minute, and 15 ten-minutes. I compiled 2 anthologies. Four of them were produced via pixels. Covid-19 postponed Inge and Valdez to 2021, and plans are in the works to return with the vaccine swimming in my bloodstream. I signed with Smith Scripts to publish and license seven plays and two anthologies. And I did finish “Bobby Cramer” on January 10, 2020.
As for hopes for the new year, I hope for continued good health and fortune for my friends and family. I can’t ask for more than that.
I remain in good health, so far. Regular readers know that my father died on May 25 from Covid-19. My mom, aka Faithful Correspondent, is in assisted living and spending a lot of time doing a lot a reading. She passes on her best wishes to her faithful readers.
Now on to my fearless predictions for 2021.
- Trump will not go quietly; he may even announce his run for 2024 as they give him the bum’s rush, literally or figuratively, as Joe Biden is being sworn in. But by March, if not sooner, he’ll be old news and as much a distant memory as “Pink Lady and Jeff.” (Look it up.)
- The Republicans will do as much as they can to throw squirrels in the wood-chipper for President Biden like they did with President Obama, but I have a feeling it won’t happen. For one thing, Joe Biden isn’t Barack Obama, and second, this country is so fucking tired of noise and fury and discombobulation that the GOP will find little patience for the MAGA noise.
- Every executive order signed by Trump will be rescinded by President Biden.
- Relations with Cuba, put on ice by Trump, will resume its thaw under Biden, and los historicos in Miami can lump it.
- The pandemic will be under control by June — just in time for my trip to Alaska — and the masks and restrictions will slowly and cautiously be going away by Labor Day. The final casualty count, though, will be over 500,000 deaths. I wish I could say there will be a reckoning for those who could have prevented it, but I doubt it.
- Racial and social justice will continue to make strides forward, and it is to be hoped that with an administration that is not actively opposed to it and supporting racism, overt or otherwise, we will be further along than we are now.
- The economy will slowly recover as the pandemic gets under control and people emerge from isolation. The Republicans will suddenly remember that they hate deficits, something they never seem to worry about when they’re in the White House.
- Obamacare will survive in the Supreme Court because the case brought by Texas is flawed. Even the conservatives on the court seem skeptical during oral arguments in November.
- Foreign relations will improve now that the bully has been sent packing. Suddenly France, Germany, and the EU will be more willing to work with us, and although my expertise in foreign affairs is limited, I think we’ll be better off with China and Japan than we are now. Russia will still try to mess with us, but at least they won’t have an ally in the White House.
- We will still have soldiers in harm’s way overseas a year from today.
- On a personal level, I will strive to keep up my writing. I have made many connections during these uncertain times, and they will grow.
- As for hopes for the new year, I hope for continued good health and fortune for my friends and family. I can’t ask for more than that.
I am glad 2020 is over. But in reality, the date on the calendar doesn’t matter; it’s up to all of us to make this year as good or as bad as we can. Unpredictable things will continue to happen: a year ago, “coronavirus” was a crossword puzzle clue, “wear a mask” was a Halloween suggestion, social distancing was for introverts, and Zoom was a brand of hot cereal. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I just hope we’re all here to find out.