Dec 30, 2018 5 min read

Amazingly, we have reached the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. The sky has not fallen and the ocean has not devoured New York City, despite the apocalyptic prognostications of the liberal media.

The year 2019 is shaping up to be tumultuous. Politically, it is the prelude to the fireworks show that 2020 promises to be. Let’s look at what seem to be emerging themes for the year.

Among the national themes that will continue to dominate the news will be national and congressional divides, the Mueller investigation, the economy, immigration and what direction the new House of Representatives will take.

It will certainly not come as a revelation that our nation is more divided now than at any point in history. Eighty percent of Americans believe the nation is greatly divided over important issues. Thirty-nine percent think things will get worse in coming years. A majority of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the gap between the rich and the poor, race relations and environmental issues. This is clearly manifest along partisan lines. Eighty-three percent of Democrats are dissatisfied with the wealth gap as compared to 43 percent of Republicans. Seventy-five percent of Democrats are dissatisfied with the environment as opposed to 32 percent of Republicans. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats are dissatisfied with race relations with 50 percent of Republicans feeling the same way. How important are these issues to Americans? Eighty percent of Democrats and only 33 percent of Republicans say they are very important.

In Congress, the divide is easy to see. The real state of the Congress was on display during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing where Democrats put on one of the most disgusting displays of government imaginable, featuring false witnesses, suborning of perjury and abominable conduct.

Further evidence of the true state of the congressional divide is manifest in the Mueller inquisition.

The very concept of “Russian collusion” was born of Hillary Clinton’s hysterical need to blame her loss on something other than herself. This investigation has now been going on for 20 months and cost taxpayers $25 million. No evidence of collusion has been found. This is political vendetta, plain and simple. Who has asked the simple question, “What would the Russians have to gain?” They were already colluding with Clinton on Uranium One, removal of missiles from Central Europe and concessions on the Iran nuclear deal. Why would the Russians want someone with guts and a backbone when they could have a bowl of mush like Clinton?

Robert Mueller is losing credibility faster than a carney shill. The Democrats will prolong the Mueller prosecutorial malfeasance as long as possible. It is too valuable a political stage. Truth is not the objective. The Mueller sham is just another tool to “get Trump.”

The economy is, and will continue to be, another divisive issue. President Trump’s tax policies have shown great success in creating jobs and improving the financial position of all Americans, including the middle class.

The big issue with regard to the economy will be rising interest rates. Rising interest rates take money out of the productive economy. They depress stock prices. They increase the cost of buying a home or a car. They depress manufacturing and hence jobs. The markets are sagging because that’s historically what Democrats do to the market. Elect Democrats and business becomes wary. Each of the last three recessions occurred when Democrats won the House or the Senate or both; to wit, 1992, 2001 and 2008.

As unemployment increases under the threat of Democratic Socialism, the Fed will start lowering the interest rate. The economy should begin to recover by early 2020 and Trump will win again.

Now comes the big issue for the coming year. What will the 116th Congress do?

Very little for the country.

The Democrats took the House, and the Republicans strengthened their position in the Senate. Neither party is united. It takes two congressional bodies and the president for a bill to become law. Neither chamber is likely to override a veto.

It appears that half of the Democrats in Congress have said they are running for president. This, by itself, speaks against united action. There will be much posturing and jockeying for position. The Republicans are witnessing an in-house battle between several factions of the party, which also precludes cohesive action. I see a lot of wrangling and posing and competition for sound bites. Positions will continue to polarize, and compromise will become ever more elusive.

The Democrats are only united by their hatred of Trump and their maniacal desire to do him harm. The far left has taken over the Democratic Party and, to play to their base, they must continue the Quixotic quest for the president’s scalp, lest they be branded not left enough. Several probable committee chairs, “Mad Max” Waters, Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff to highlight three, have talked about nothing but holding endless hearings and inquisitions and subpoenaing everything in sight. This is definitely not the way to get anything done and will only ignite the conservatives. The more they talk about impeachment and hold inquisitions, the stronger Trump gets and the more they turn off moderate Democrats.

What legislation they may end up proposing will be costly and likely be all left-wing social issues. They want to re-nstate Obamacare, dump billions, maybe trillions, of dollars into social programs like Medicare-for-all and free college, cut the military budget, increase taxes and generally do all the things that have never worked and never will and will cause huge economic problems for the nation. They also want open borders and amnesty. This is a non-seller to a very large part of English speaking America. All of this only plays to the feel good emotions of the left.

No, 2019 will not be pretty. It will be chaos, no accomplishment and even wider national divides.

Dave Ball is vice chairman of the Washington County Republican Party and a Peters Township councilman.