Another year has passed—and what a year it’s been! Our very own Kemberlee started a New Year LI tradition of our authors making predictions for the coming year, and I’m honored to compile the post for her while she tends to her precious miracle, Baby Walt.

Click the links to see how we did in 2018 and 2019.

So without further ado, here are the 2020 LI author predictions.

William Jacobson

I’m going big and bold this year. The center cannot hold.

1. Trump will not be removed by the Senate, but Romney and Murkowski will vote with the Democrats for removal. Doug Jones and Joe Manchin will vote against removal.

2. If no Democrat has a majority of delegates, but it looks like Bernie or Warren will be in a strong position at the convention, Michelle Obama or Hillary will parachute (figuratively) into the convention to save the party from general election disaster. It won’t work in the General Election, as Bernie supporters go all Great October Revolution on the Democrat Party.

3. Trump will win a second term, Republicans will narrowly retake the House, and will hang onto the Senate with their current 53-seat majority. There will be crying circles.

4. Notorious RBG will announce her retirement at the end of the term in June, just to dare Trump to appoint a successor on the eve of the elections. Trump will nominate Amy Coney Barrett, and Mitch McConnell will ram the nomination through the Senate just after Labor Day.

5. On July 5, a very special date, AG William Barr and prosecutor John Durham will announce that James Comey has cut a plea deal that avoids jail time, and has turned state’s evidence against senior officials in the Obama White House regarding spying on the Trump campaign and attempting to disrupt the incoming administration, including Obama who will be listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.

6. There will be war in the Middle East between Iran/Hezbollah and Israel/U.S./Saudi Arabia. Tel Aviv will take 300-500 direct missile hits. Beirut and Damascus will be flattened. Tehran will be without water or electricity for months, and Iran’s oil refining capacity will be obliterated. The Mullahs will be overthrown in a popular uprising.

Happy New Year!

Mary Chastain

I’m not good at predictions, but I can see Trump rolling over the Democrat nominee in November. I expect 2020 to be just like 2016.

Fuzzy Slippers

It’s a presidential election year, so that is top in my mind as I think about the coming year. Based on the Democrat’s impeachment fetish and abysmal group of presidential candidates, I don’t see much of a challenge to President Trump. He’s got a great economy, rising approval numbers, and a list of campaign promises he either kept or worked hard to keep. He wins by another Electoral College landslide, and if the Democrats pick the wrong candidate (i.e. any of the current contenders), he may even win the popular vote.

It’s hard to see how the Republicans lose the Senate, and it’s possible to see how they might retake the House. For President Trump to accomplish his goals and have lasting impact (beyond the courts), he’ll need both houses of Congress.

The meltdown on the left will make 2016 look like a gleeful celebration.

Happy New Year everyone!

Mike LaChance

Democrats and the media will demonstrate repeatedly that they still have not learned the lessons of 2016. As it becomes clear that none of their attacks on Trump are working, they will simply double down. The closer we get to the election, the more insane they will sound.

More colleges will close. So far, this has been limited to small schools, but 2020 will probably bring a few surprises. Schools no one ever imagined as endangered will suddenly be at risk.

Trump will win reelection. The popular vote will be closer and Trump will add two states to his 2016 electoral map. The left will react just as they did in 2016 but possibly with more violence and unrest.

Republicans will hold the Senate and the House will be extremely close. If Republicans take the House, it will only be by a handful of seats, some of which will be disputed by Democrats and the media as illegitimate wins.

Enraged by their loss, the far left will revolt and try to completely take over the Democratic party which will ultimately fracture into two separate entities, the Democrats and the Democratic Socialist Party.

Leslie Eastman

My 2019 prediction included a massive volcanic eruption (while not cataclysmic, the White Island eruption in New Zealand was certainly deadly for tourists), the resignation of Pope Francis (that was a bit of a miss, but faithful Catholic are rebelling against his social- and green-justice antics, including dumping idols in the Tiber river outside the Vatican), and troops withdrawing from Afghanistan (as it looks like the Taliban is declaring a cease-fire, I am going to also put this in my win column). So, by my standards, I batted 100%!

Looking ahead at 2020, here are my forecasts:

1) Trump will win re-election, with a 36 state mandate and the popular vote. The press push-polls will be entirely wrong, once again. The Republicans will make historic gains in the House, Senate and governorships. ABC’s Martha Raddatz will weep openly.

2) Joe Biden will win the nomination, thanks to the Democrat Political machine. However, within a week, he will step-aside for health reasons and be replaced by Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton (if Michelle really doesn’t want to run).

3) Durham will bring forth many indictments in the summer, and there will be a huge one in late October as well…because Trump will plan to have his own October Surprise this election.

4) The Senate will shoot down the current impeachment articles, but the Democrats in the House of Representatives will continue to issue articles…depending on them to excite the base. Impeachment is the drug of choice for Democrats.

5) There will be reports of plague in Los Angeles, infecting the homeless. Trump with then declare a national-level emergency, forcing the state to enact some common sense policies.

May everyone have a blessed New Year.

Vijeta Uniyal

Having written political commentary for almost five years, I have learned to keep away from the realm prophesy and forecast. But looking at some global trends unfold, I will still go ahead and make three safe projections for the coming year:

With the UK pulling out of the European Union next year, the 27-member-bloc will come out weakened. Britain, Europe’s second largest economy, has been the biggest cash cow for Brussels since the island nation joined the group more than four decades ago. Germany, already trying to fend off an economic recession, can’t be expected to plug the gap left by the Brexit. An economically weakened EU is also a house divided against itself. With the gravy train slowing down, inner conflicts are bound emerge within the bloc.

Much will depend on the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The political class in Brussels, Berlin and Paris will be rooting for a Democratic win. When Trump took office three years ago, many of them consoled themselves by the hope if sitting out his four-year term. A Trump re-election will leave them inconsolable. This would mean a death knell to joint EU-Obama legacy projects: Iran Deal, Paris Climate Accord and UN Migrant Pact.

I will be keeping an eye on Iran’s expansionist designs in the Middle East. The U.S. sanctions may have economically weakened the regime, but Tehran continues to engage in military adventures across the region. The Islamic regime once again revealed its brutal face by gunning down over a thousand civilians during the recent protests. Mullah regime, driven by its seventh century theology, hasn’t given up the dream of reigning over a Shi’a corridor stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

Stacey Matthews

Joe Biden will win the Democratic nomination for president – and one of his first priorities will be to name Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as his running mate. You heard it here first, folks!

David Gerstman

Last year I made two predictions.

One was that the Women’s March “would collapse.” It still exists but with a muted presence after the big names departed. I think I can get partial credit for that one.

The other one was that a more major publication than the Weekly Standard would cease publication. I don’t believe that happened.

1) Trump will win reelection. Go on Twitter, and see how frequently Ken Gardner tweets, “All they have to do is not be insane…”

2) Republicans will re-take the House. See prediction #1.

3) Israel will have a decisive election in March. I can’t believe that anyone wants an extension of the caretaker government. Either the right will unite behind Netanyahu. Or enough Likud voters will drop off due to the legal war of attrition against Netanyahu. My guess is that unless there’s a major military or diplomatic accomplishment the attrition is more likely to determine Netanyahu’s fate. I’m not convinced that Netanyahu’s legal woes short of conviction will disqualify him. Israeli prosecutors are very aggressive when it comes to political figures, but a lot of politicians have been acquitted or had their cases thrown out.

New Neo

Here we are again. It’s the end of another year, and it’s time to make predictions for the new one. Luckily, few people check back a year later to see whether we were correct.

(1) So first I’ll stick my neck out and predict that Trump won’t be found guilty by the Senate. I know, I know; that was an easy one.

(2) I’ll add that I think that Nancy Pelosi won’t even submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate at all, and that she’ll give as her excuse some variation of “The Republicans are inevitably going to run an unfair show, so they’re the ones who are keeping me from bringing Trump to justice.”

(3) But if I’m wrong, and she does submit them, the trial will be very short.

(4) I predict that Joe Biden’s “gaffes” will increase in severity and make it difficult for the Democrats to stomach him as their candidate, but he’ll be nominated nevertheless because there really is no one else even marginally acceptable.

(5) Brexit will finally happen, and Boris Johnson and Donald Trump will sign a trade agreement.

I refuse to make election predictions, because I get superstitious about them.

And this last bit isn’t a prediction – but I wish everyone at Legal Insurrection a healthy and happy 2020!

Samantha Mandeles

1. Unfortunately, I believe that violence against American Jews, by people of many different hateful ideologies, is going to get worse before it gets better.

2. I predict that we’re going to see more American Jews making Aliyah (moving to Israel) than we have in a long time.

3. Anti-Israel purportedly Jewish groups such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace will continue to make the situation for American Jews worse by deliberately dissembling about any non-white-nationalist-motivated attacks on Jews.

4. All the while, IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace will also continue trying to erode support for the world’s only Jewish state and national safe-haven: Israel.

Also, 5. I predict that my family’s beloved, longtime-favorite football team, the Oakland Raiders, will continue to fail just as spectacularly in their new Las Vegas home. We will continue to love them anyway.

But, a happy prediction: in 2020, I predict that my long-term significant other (Ben) and I will stop procrastinating and finally get around to setting a date for our eventual wedding. We’ll keep you posted.

Happy new year to all!

[Featured image via YouTube]



