Best of 2017, Predictions for 2018

The best thing about 2017 is the arrival of 2018.  The past year was nearly as rough as any in recent memory. But we at The Daily Kibitz have taken a few moments to corral a few of what are The Best Memories of 2017. And so, in no particular order and without further ado, let's take a quick romp through these highlights!

Keeping It All In Perspective: Back in March we all laughed heartily when this foreign policy expert's family came piling into his makeshift home office during a live telecast. Years from today, let's bring this up as one of our favorite 2017 memories!

Cussing In Public: As ridiculous and repugnant presidential tweets and actions filled the air, the public reacted with swift and often obscene expressions. Everything made us feel like swearing, loudly! Here is a fun 'Best of Swearing' collection, honoring the different modes of Blue Language. There is a kinda lengthy analysis on the British art of elaborate obscenity, including Doctor Who references (!). Then there are subsequent subheadings for Best Swearing in Print, on Live Television, in Politics, Sports and Twitter. They are all hilarious (looking forward to reading "F*ck, That's Delicious", a cookbook) - but the champ has to be Anthony Scaramucci and his 10-day rampage as Trump's Director of Communications. Read it and weep with laughter:

https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/presenting-the-3rd-annual-tucker-awards-for-excellence-in-swearing/

All this rage and pursuit of obscene expression naturally led us to this Trumpster taking exception to a car pulling up to an intersection too fast for his liking. It's 2017 encapsulated in 10 seconds:

The Resistance:

The day after Trump's Inauguration marked the First Day of the Trump Resistance. It was the Women's March, and it was glorious. The Daily Kibitz was there in DC, and we learned much about the future:

http://thedailykibitz.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-i-learned-at-womens-march.html

A very effective tool for the Resistance is Humor. In one of the best usages of Political Pranking Ever, a guy brought hundreds of little Russian flags - with "Trump" imprinted on them - to the CPAC. This is an annual convention of hard-to-extreme-right political and religious nut jobs that meets in DC. He distributed all the flags to the main hall audience gathered to witness President Donald Trump give an address to them. When Trump emerged, they roared with approval while waving Russian flags. It was a sight to behold:

http://thedailykibitz.blogspot.com/2017/02/cpac-crowd-enthusiastically-waves.html

The Attempted Education of Donald Trump:

Nearly everyone in the White House and the Halls of Congress recognize the President is an imbecile who needs constant "minding". His Secretary of State called him "a fucking moron." Republican Senator Bob Corker described White House staff as pre-school teachers. Trump's staff has developed well-documented management techniques for praising him about anything (excellent pee, Mr. President, the best ever!). They include his name throughout all radically slimmed-down documents for him to read to ensure he actually reads them. This "President as Kindergartner" approach has been embraced by the Pentagon. When meeting with him, they use a global map that highlights where his business interests are, and where US military bases operate:

Pentagon informs Trump by describing Military as protector of US business overseas

Foreign leaders and diplomats have come to terms about the severely limited understanding The President possesses. When they meet with him, they might as well bring a box of crayons. Here is what Germany's Angela Merkel did to direct his attention. It was unsuccessful, but then again it was about his boss country,  Russia:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a55281/merkel-trump-map-of-soviet-union/

The Legend of Sean Spicer:

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was Comedy Gold. His successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is not funny in any way. She serves to merely infuriate whenever her mouth opens and a torrent of obvious lies gushes forth.  Here are five wonderful examples of Spicer's natural-born unintended funniness, including his time spent in the White House bushes:

http://www.newsweek.com/sean-spicer-5-worst-moments-highlighted-brief-white-house-tenure-640418

Weird Moments With Trump and Family:

It must be hard to have made a deal with the Devil when the payment becomes due. Here is Melania Trump, at the Inauguration, when she realizes that her life going forward will be more than a bad dream:

She batted his hand away a couple of times during highly-public moments in the Mid-East and in Rome. Can you blame her?

http://www.newsweek.com/melania-trump-hand-hold-president-donald-614300

While in Riyadh with Melania, Saudi and Egyptian leaders, Trump rubbed what sorta resembled Saruman's Orb from "Lord of the Rings." Here he is, looking for the Eye of Sauron.

Later, in Rome, the Trumps met with the Pope. It appeared as though they were dressed for a funeral. The Pope looks like he'd rather be at Trump's funeral. Later it was revealed that Trump deliberately kept Sean Spicer, a devout Catholic, from meeting the Pontiff. Because that's just the kind of guy that Donald Trump is.

For those readers who are fascinated by the psychological debasement of self, may we present Trump's first cabinet meeting. The prolonged obsequious and egregious statements put forth by his Cabinet and staff are of the sort prized by thugs like Robert Mugabe and dictators like Kim jong-Un or Benito Mussolini. Years from today, it will be studied by historians seeking to understand how America went so quickly wrong:

Crazy "Dear Leader" Cabinet Meeting

The Perfect Picture of Trumpian Democracy:

During the lead-up to the Roy Moore Alabama Senate Election, CNN anchor Jake Tapper interviewed Moore's spokesperson, Ted Crockett. After rambling through an array of points on how Moore would seek to roll back America to the 13th Century, Crockett explained why Muslims shouldn't be in Congress. Tapper, who later must have been treated for multiple bite wounds to his tongue, finally can't stand it anymore. He informs Crockett about how the law here works. Watching Crockett suspended in a speechless, open-mouthed state of gobsmack is a thing of beauty and represents the core of Trump's base:

Trumpian Diplomacy In Action:

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, is sometimes described as a relative moderate in Trump's Cabinet of Zealots and Grifters. Trump usually doesn't pay attention to things like the UN or anything "foreign". But he did recently when he acted to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and to move the US embassy there. There was a big vote in the UN about all this. Haley channeled her boss by declaring that the US "would be watching and taking names" and would cut aid/funds for any country not voting with us. It didn't go well:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/un-vote-jerusalem-allied-nations/549119/

Yep, our dependable allies are now Honduras, Guatemala, Togo, Micronesia, Mauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands. Haley/Trump responded by saying that the US would remember the countries that had "disrespected" it.  It's probably easier to remember the ones that voted with the US.

And no diplomacy-in-2017 can go without our honest Ambassador to the Netherlands being exposed for Utter and Complete Lies during an interview with Dutch TV. In it, he denies saying lies about Muslims. Video is played so he can see himself lying. He then calls it Fake News. When called on it, he denies saying he said Fake News just moments before! You just can't make this stuff up!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/12/22/trumps-ambassador-to-the-netherlands-just-got-caught-lying-about-the-dutch/?utm_term=.085dd9c1e301

Discovering three great new sources:

In 2016, The Daily Kibitz was unaware of these three. In 2018, they are indispensable.

1) Natasha Bertrand is a political investigative reporter for Business Insider. She is the go-to journalist for what's happening with the Russia investigation:

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/natasha-bertrand

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

2) Sarah Kendzior is an expert on authoritarian regimes. Her analysis of what's happening with the Trump Administration has been consistently spot-on. Moreover, her conclusions usually bear fruit six months or so after she makes them. She is well ahead of the pundit curve.

https://sarahkendzior.com

https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor


3) Alexandra Petri is a satirist who has a weekly column for the Washington Post Op-Ed page. When things are crazy and bad, she reliably offers up trenchant humor. Ya gotta laugh...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/alexandra-petri/?utm_term=.f5cbd3086fb6

https://twitter.com/petridishes?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

And now for our highly anticipated 2018 Predictions:

-- Trump is not impeached, but may not remain in office past early 2019. His criminal culpability will be revealed. There may be an arrangement made for him to just go away...

-- Jared Kushner and Donald Jr. are toast. Ivanka cuts a deal and skates.

-- Congress does not act to impeach because some GOP-ers are complicit with Russian money, influence and "kompromat". Republican leadership is "circling the wagons" to prevent damning details from emerging.

-- The movie "A Wrinkle In Time" (based on the 1962 sci-fi/fantasy novel) will enrage Trumpland.

-- November Mid-Terms will be tumultuous and see Democrats winning back the House by a slender margin. Senate remains Republican by one vote. There will be enormous problems with voter suppression and tech-based voting "glitches". Epic long lines of people waiting to vote.  Russia continues its bot and disinformation campaign in service for the GOP.

-- Threat of war in North Korea (there may even be a coup that ousts Lil' Kim), but the real action takes place in the Persian Gulf region.

-- Many more present and past Members of Congress revealed as sexual harassers/predators... both parties. In fact, the whole #metoo movement will upend virtually every corner of American life. Long overdue!!

-- More drought out West, working its way to the East. Ocean and Air Temps continue to rise.

-- The Chicago White Sox finish last in their division in 2018, but will win the Wild Card in 2019.


Finally, a big Muchos Gracias to you for reading these posts throughout 2017! We hope that The Daily Kibitz has informed and entertained. OK, it should really be re-named My Weekly Kibitz. The name has a ring to it! See you next time...