Louisiana Voice

“Just run the presses—print money.”

—Donald Trump, to Gary Cohn, former director of the National Economic Council.

“This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default (on debt) because you print the money.”

—Donald Trump, to CNN’s Chris Cuomo, May 2016.

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If you’re conducting a poll, I’m probably not the person to talk to.

My record of prognostications is spotty at best. While I did pick John Bel Edwards to win both his gubernatorial races and I predicted LSU would beat ‘Bama last fall, my crowning failure was, after watching Donald Trump descend that escalator in Trump Tower back in 2015, laughing and predicting (and these are the exact words I used), “He’ll crash and burn in six weeks.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Intensely disliking either candidate, I muttered in stunned disbelief as I watched the returns on election night, “The S.O.B. is gonna win.”

I also predicted after his election that he would be impeached “within 18 months because Republicans in Congress will need to separate themselves from him.” And while he was impeached, it took a little longer than 18 months and with the exception of Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republicans have instead cleaved unto him like barnacles to the hull of an ocean liner.

So, now that:

• he’s been acquitted (as we all knew he would);
• Now that the Louisiana Republican Party has officially—and shamelessly—censured Sen. Mitt Romney for placing principles and country before party;
• Trump has begun the purge of the castle that once was the White House with the firing of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman (collateral damage, it would seem), and Ambassador Gordon Sondland, his million-dollar contribution to the Trump presidential inaugural committee notwithstanding;
• Trump’s Attorney General William Barr (notice I said Trump’s AG and not the U.S. AG—because that distinction must be made) has intervened in the sentencing of Trump buddy Roger Stone (prompting the immediate resignation of four Justice Department attorneys—and gotten away with it with the apparent blessings of a subservient Republican Party,

I make the following predictions:

• In his second term, he is going to become even more brazen in his complete seizure of the U.S. government with more and more power grabs until he will become the first president to be impeached twice.
• His second term actions will be so controversial and so illegal that the only Republicans who will continue to support him (provided they’re all still in office themselves) will be Moscow Mitch McConnell, Contortionist-in-Chief Lindsey Graham, Fake Investigator-in-Chief Devin Nunes and Ohio State sexual abuse Protector-in-Chief Jim Jordan.
• His second-term takeover attempt will be so egregious that even Louisiana’s own Sen. Kornpone Kennedy will walk away from him after a few well-chosen words of wisdom for the TV networks to further embarrass his home state.
• He will be the first president to be impeached and convicted—unless, of course, he negotiates a pardon for himself and does a Nixon and walks away

So, there you have it. Print this out, fold it up and keep it in your wallet/purse so you can either mock me mercilessly at some date in the future or choose me as Political Pundit of the Century.

There can be no middle ground. Humiliation or glory, fame or infamy.

For now, though, I’m feeling pretty confident in the accuracy of my assessment of the political horizon.

But remember, my record is pock-marked with extraordinary misses—which makes me about as accurate as any other so-called expert (ex: a has-been; spurt: a drip under pressure).

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“What do you think of Lindsay Lohan? There’s something there, right? But you have to like freckles. I’ve seen a close-up of her chest. And a lot of freckles. Are you into freckles? She’s probably deeply troubled, and therefore great in bed. How come the deeply troubled women—deeply, deeply troubled—they’re always the best in bed?”

—Donald Trump, on The Howard Stern Show, 2004. (so, the president of the United States, the world’s most powerful person, knows more about Lindsay Lohan’s chest than he does about diplomacy.)

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“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. [Former Arkansas Gov.] Huckabee copied me.”

—Donald Trump tweet, May 7, 2015.

“The Republicans who want to cut SS & Medicaid are wrong. A robust economy will Make America Great Again!”

—Donald Trump tweet, July 11, 2015

“I am going to save Medicare and Medicaid, Carson wants to abolish, and failing candidate Gov. John Kasich doesn’t have a clue – weak!”

—Donald Trump tweet, Oct. 30, 2015.

“All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions, and if they don’t, they will after I speak to them. I am in total support. Also, Democrats will destroy your Medicare, and I will keep it healthy and well!”

—Donald Trump tweet, Oct. 18, 2018.

“Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!”

—Donald Trump tweet, Jan. 23, 2019.

“[Trump’s] budget calls for removing half a trillion dollars of funding from the Medicare program over 10 years, including $135 billion from Medicare prescription drugs, and tens of billions from the Social Security program.

“In 2015, he promised not to touch Medicaid, either. Now he wants to cut it by $920 billion. He also promised to balance the budget and retire the national debt. The debt has grown by about $3 trillion since Trump took office and the budget plan would add more than $5 trillion to it over the next decade. There is currently more than $20 trillion in government debt.”

—Washington Post, Feb. 10, 2020.

[Trump also supports ongoing litigation that would disqualify recipients with pre-existing conditions.]

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“One of the hardest jobs in politics must be cleaning up after after (Joe Biden) gaffes. I feel sorry for his spokespeople.”

—Donald Trump tweet, Aug. 16, 2012 (of course, that was before Trump became POTUS and promptly eclipsed all records for gaffes).

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