Nine Political Predictions for the Rest of 2023

Spring is coming, and so is some political activity

By William S. Bike

As the weather gets warmer in the spring, political activity will heat up, too. Here are nine political predictions for the rest of 2023.

Trump to be indicted

Although Attorney General Merrick Garland’s pace has been particularly slow, former President Donald Trump will be indicted this year. This is a case that is so big that Garland has wanted to get it right by dotting every I and crossing every T. But Garland’s appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith is an indicator that the Justice Department is finally ready to make a move; Smith has always been a bulldog, and Garland didn’t appoint him to do nothing. Plus, every attorney in the Justice Department is putting pressure on Garland to indict and to put them on the case. This is the kind of situation that comes along about once every 50 years — Teapot Dome in the 1920s, Watergate in the 1970s, and now the Trump indictment. Every attorney in the Justice Department wants to be on the case, because they know it will make their careers. Even 50 years later, some of the Watergate lawyers still are household names. Every lawyer in the Justice Department wants to be this century’s Leon Jaworski or Jill Wine-Banks. And that’s just at the federal level. Trump will likely face state charges in Georgia and New York.

DeSantis, Youngkin to declare

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to run for president in 2024, and he’s not going to wait until after Trump serves another term. DeSantis appeals to the hard-right voters that Trump appeals to, so look for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to get in the race too, to try to appeal to suburban and business Republicans.

Biden too

President Joe Biden will run for a second term. No sitting president since Lyndon Johnson has declined to do so, and Biden will not be any different. No president since Gerald Ford has dumped his vice president for an upcoming election, so Kamala Harris is safe, too.

Supreme Court surprises

Because Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, throughout history they have crossed their political parties. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren and William Brennan to be moderate conservatives, and instead they ruled as flaming liberals. President John F. Kennedy…