As we prepare for 2018—which absolutely, positively, has to be better than 2017—we’ve followed the example of the great Chris Wallace and asked the TWS staff for predictions for next year along four vectors: politics, sports, entertainment, and foreign policy.
Happy New Year!
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2018 Predictions: Foreign Policy
Stephen F. Hayes: There will be military conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
William Kristol: Trump’s withdrawal from NAFTA will not go well, triggering a genuine trade and even foreign policy crisis.
Jim Swift: Donald Trump wags the dog as the Mueller investigation heats up. But, like with Syria, it’s a bad strategic action that serves no serious foreign policy ends. North Korea remains a nuclear state.
Jonathan V. Last: Japan will decide to pursue nuclear weapons.
Mark Hemingway: In response to the Trump administration’s declaration about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, Palestinans will engage in violence, rendering their response indistinguishable from any other declaration from previous American presidents.
Adam Keiper: However briefly, the whole world will be united as it faces a terrible existential threat from space.
Andrew Egger: As the Russia investigation winds down, President Trump will find he has more time to focus on cultivating relationships away from home. U.N. proceedings slow to a crawl as everyone struggles to remember which of his pet nicknames correspond to which world leaders.
Eric Felten: Rex Tillerson will propose placating Kim Jong-un by giving him a stake in Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s Hollywood assets.
Rachael Larimore: Randy Quaid will save the world from an alien invasion, but in the aftermath Donald Trump will threaten the fragile unity of the new world order as his struggles with learning Morse code lead to errant tweets.
Chris Deaton: Trump and India’s Narendra Modi will become the Bill Clinton and Tony Blair of our time.
Ethan Epstein: China’s expansionist foreign policy will continue unabated, while D.C.’s myopic policymakers continue to obsess about a declining Russia. Look for more island building, more aggressive cyber attacks, and more frightening provocations towards Taiwan. The U.S., like the rest of the world, will do little in response.
John McCormack: After the Trump amnesty is enacted, the United States will face a migration crisis worse than the border crisis of 2014. Sean Hannity will cover the story by investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Hannah Yoest:
Jk, jk
World leaders unite as we face off against aliens.
