One thing Americans have learned lo these past two years is that the only thing predictable in our national political life is that it will be unpredictable.
So, is there anything we can foresee about the upcoming events of 2019?
As a service to readers, I consulted an authoritative source, Kelli Fox. She’s an Australian. But more importantly, she’s an astrologer who can read the stars and see into the future. You believe in that, right? You better. It’s all we’ve got right now.
As everyone knows, our president was born June 14, which makes him a Gemini.
Here’s what Kelli says are the good traits of Geminis heading into the new year: They are cheerful, enthusiastic and tactful. Well, two out of three.
Now, here are the negative characteristics of Geminis: duality, prevarication, instability and indecision. Three out of four.
As the new Congress opens this month, President Donald Trump’s main antagonist in Washington is expected to be Nancy Pelosi, who is on track to become the first House Speaker to retake that role in six decades.
As you may know, Pelosi turns 79 on March 26, which makes her an Aries. They are known to be enterprising, incisive, spontaneous and daring. However, Aries also are impatient, willful, impetuous, vain and egotistical.
Take that televised Oval Office confrontation early in December among Pelosi, Trump and Chuck Schumer, who’s a Sagittarius. (irrelevant)
A voluble Trump opened the session all friendly, welcoming the two Democratic leaders and saying he was honored by the meeting. (cheerful) He invited Pelosi to say a few words. (tactful)
She thanked him. “I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that you should not have a Trump shutdown.” (impetuous)
Trump: “Did you say ‘Trump’? Oh-oh.”
The president said the stalled government spending measure, which has caused the partial government shutdown, must include $5 billion to fund a border wall.
Pelosi taunted the president by declaring with certainty that House Republicans didn’t have the votes to pass that spending (vain), adding that abandoning that demand was a necessary first step for negotiations. (vain)
“House Republicans could bring up this bill if they had the votes, immediately, and set the tone for what you want,” she added. (impatient)
The president protested he did have sufficient House GOP votes for passage if he really wanted it. (prevarication)
Pelosi responded, “Well, then go do it.” (daring)
So Trump did. (enthusiastic) A few days later, House Republicans passed a funding bill that included the president’s requested $5 billion.
The meeting degenerated from there. (self-centered) (selfish) (posturing) Geminis and Aries are actually supposed to get along this year, if the stars are any indication.
But it all augurs ill for a cooperative operation of the divided government that Americans chose to have in November. And it sets the tone for the kind of perpetual political campaigns that we seem to have slid into in this country. There’s no time or inclination in Washington to get some things done; just keep anyone else from accomplishing anything.
Perhaps these D.C. denizens could learn something from those Babylonians. About 4,000 years ago, they started making resolutions at the start of each new year.
Theirs came in March, but the idea is the same: Make at least one personal vow to improve yourself at New Year’s. Polls indicate the most common American resolutions involve exercising more, eating better and saving money.
Our president has plenty of money. So, his resolutions might include keeping his mouth shut some and silencing his cellphone more this year. Few folks detect a national shortage of angry tweets.
Pelosi too could work on her public speaking, share fewer non-sequiturs, maybe use notes a bit more to remind of the subject at hand. And perhaps pay some badly-needed attention to her home district of San Francisco, a once-gorgeous city now sliding into public squalor.
But let’s be honest, for a change. They wouldn’t keep their resolutions anyway, just like the rest of us.
Malcolm is an author and veteran national and foreign correspondent covering politics since the 1960s. Follow him @AHMalcolm.