Jeff Edelstein’s predictions for the big news in the year ahead
So I totally kicked butt on my 2018 predictions, going 10-3-1. Some of them were definitely unpopular at the time, like President Donald Trump’s approval rating going up and Gov. Phil Murphy’s first year being very underwhelming.
Of course, I’m back at it this year with some 2019 predictions. Here we go …
1) President Donald Trump will still be President Donald Trump by the end of the year. The Mueller investigation, the House Dems launching investigations, and heaven knows what else will continue to hammer away at POTUS, but he’ll still be there in all his glory come this time next year.
2) America will actually start to suffer as a result of #1. I mean, look at the map. Trump is aligned with the traditional bad guys. This is the year we start to have repercussions from that. We may still be the “leader of the world,” but our “leader of the free world” status is going to be in doubt. I expect this to play out with other democracies in the world leaving us out of many non-world dominating issues. I recognize this prediction will be tough to prove, but something geopolitically will happen and somehow, we’ll be witnesses to it instead of actors.
3) Trump will end 2019 as the odds-on favorite to win re-election in 2020. Remember, the 2020 election pretty much begins in April. Most candidates will have declared by June. And while Democrats will be climbing over each other in an effort to grab the nomination, Trump’s hold on the Republican party will be absolute.
4) Sen. Cory Booker will be the early favorite because he will declare very early, but he will fall out of favor as the year wears on because his slippery style — not saying he’s slippery, just saying that’s the vibe he gives off — is going to rub us the wrong way. I expect Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota to start small and grow as the season wears on. Midwestern, woman, young but not too young for old people to dismiss (she’ll be 60 in 2020; remember, Trump will be 74), smart, well-spoken, not an East Coast elite. She’s got a strong list of positives. I expect her to be the favorite by this time next year.
5) And if not Klobuchar, then Sen. Kamala Harris from California, but she’d be a tougher sell in the general election.
6) The Mets will disappoint. 7) There will not be a major terrorist attack on American soil.
8) Numbers 6 and 7 are perennials for me. Haven’t been wrong yet. Won’t be wrong again this year. And now, going to add a third perennial, making its debut right this second: I’m going to win $100,000 playing Daily Fantasy sports this year. I figure if I piggyback it off the other two locks I might win a big tourney or two.
9) Gov. Phil Murphy’s approval rating will tumble into the mid40s. He was at 54 percent in the Quinnipiac poll back in October. Why will it go down? Because all his promises will end up being empty. In fact, you’re going to hear this a few times during the year: “I wish Steve Sweeney was the governor.”
10) Marijuana will finally be legalized in New Jersey, and the minimum wage will finally go up to $15 an hour for most workers. And that will be the last big items Murphy gets.
11) We’re going to get smacked with a Superstorm Sandy-like weather event. Feels like we’ve dodged it for too long.
12) Phil Murphy will not appear on “Saturday Night Live” after the storm.
13) Pork roll will be featured in some nationwide way (maybe on a TV show, or in a movie, or something) and there will be at least three of my columns dedicated to it.
14) Giants fans will come to the realization taking Saquon Barkley instead of Sam Darnold was the dumbest move ever. And lastly …
15) “The Irishman” will be alltime great. Please. Please please please let it be good. It’s a Martin Scorsese movie starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and more and it’s about who killed Jimmy Hoffa and please let this be a “Goodfellas” esque triumph. I don’t ask for much. Let me have this one.