Imagine 2020: A Christmas Story

I know it seems a long way off, but I am an optimist, so put on your 3D glasses and go to the movies with me, here is what I see (or generally hope to see). It is a review of what politics and the presidency might look like after the 2020 elections. It’s not utopia, but it’s pretty good and even possibly attainable.

A new president (I am non-partisan in this exercise, so it could be someone like Mitt Romney or a mirror image of Bush 1, not Bush 2 in this dream) has just been elected. Point being, a well-qualified person from either party (my personal pick – Joe Biden in a New York minute – but I digress.)

On foreign policy, the European leadership is ecstatic and believes America is back! Yes we are, but at 80%, because one must pay a price for screw-ups of the past, it’s just the way it works. The new president does a world tour and visits many European countries and is met with standing ovations and good behind-the-scenes vibes.

It’s a harder road in the Middle East as the Arab world is still smarting over the Jerusalem issue, but talks are going pretty well. It is also a bit more difficult in the far East as China has already began to fill the vacuum we left under the Trump administration, especially in Africa and in the South China Sea. It becomes one of the top challenges of the new administration.

On the domestic front, the R’s still control the Senate by a one-vote margin, but lost control of the House in 2018. Republicans have done a major, what I call “navel studying” exercise and determined that the Trump middle class Midwest voter has finally concluded it was all a big lie, and they bolted in droves. The party has taken that to heart and finally disavowed the far right as not really working for them. Steve Bannon, along with a few spin-offs from Fox are attempting to start a third party and are on the ballot in about 4 states. Looks like a rerun of the Dixiecrat party; we will see where it goes. The 2020 election held for the D’s and the presidency was a toss up, your choice.

Movement toward universal health care is not a done deal, but movement in that direction is occurring and at least a few important fixes of health care have been passed through Congress. A number of bills are being discussed to roll back parts of the egregious tax cuts passed at the end of 2017,and a balanced budget group is reemerging,

A big societal change has finally settled in the Congress with a total of 17 Senators and Representatives choosing not to run because of sexual harassment issues arising. Both the House and Senate have new tough rules on behavior and it is now a model for the country.

We are back to a moderate administration and appointees who, in each instance are qualified for the position and are now running all major agencies. In almost all cases they are not far right or far left, but just good managers.

On the issue of North Korea, the administration has asked former Ambassador Ken Quinn to lead a delegation of world food experts to North Korea to show our humanitarian side and help improve their agriculture production. This outreach is becoming a model for resolving many crises around the world and is touted as the president’s greatest accomplishment during his (hers) next 4 years.

So, where is former President Trump? In 2019 he was diagnosed with vascular dementia, which turned to Alzheimer’s, but it was kept under wraps until after the 2020 election and he is now playing checkers in a nursing home in upstate New York.

So there it is, admittedly, full of wishful thinking, but at least possible.

by Dick Goodson
Posted 12/11/17