Going way out on several limbs, I herewith present my boldest (but real) political predictions for the rest of this year.

Prediction one, with an asterisk: If Joe Biden remains on the Democratic ticket, President Trump will win re-election. Biden will continue to embarrass himself when he talks, and he will be a disaster in the debates. Kamala Harris will be too unlikeable and way too leftist for “Middle America” to vote for, especially if they think Biden won’t last a full term in office and she would then become president. The well-funded Trump campaign will successfully drive home the reality of how scary-left the Democrats are, how much Biden will raise taxes, how wrong he always has been on foreign policy, how weak the Democrats will be against civil unrest, and how a Biden presidency would allow borders so wide open that even moderates blanch.

Prediction two: This is the asterisk: Within a week from the end of the Democratic convention, a serious move will be afoot on the Democratic National Committee to remove Biden from the ticket. Biden isn’t up to the job. His acceptance speech will demonstrate this sad reality. Leading Democrats will panic. The only question is whether they will panic so much that they remove Biden, or whether they are too afraid of the optics of the mad scramble to figure out who should replace him. Either way, word will get out about the “replace Biden” effort, and it will almost certainly hurt whichever ticket (including the current one) that emerges.

Prediction three: Mike Pence will significantly outclass Kamala Harris in the vice-presidential debate. (This is assuming that Harris doesn’t emerge at the top of the Democratic ticket.) The more Harris debated in 2019, the worse she did. Long-shot Tulsi Gabbard wiped the floor with her. Pence is steady and re-assuring, while Harris has too many sharp edges without enough modulation.

Prediction four: The Senate will end in a 50-50 Republican/Democrat tie (counting “independents” who caucus with the Democrats). Even with Trump eking out a win, he won’t have coattails. Too many Republican-held Senate seats are now vulnerable for them not to lose a net of three seats. The GOP will win Alabama from the Democrats, but lose four from among the following: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. With the House remaining in Democratic hands, governing will become even more difficult in the next four years than it has been in Trump’s first term.

 

There you go. You heard it all here first.

 

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