CNN
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The Republican Party’s takeover of the House this week marks the beginning of a two-year political era that threatens to bring about a showdown and shutdown of the government as the Republican Speaker and Democratic President seek to exercise power from opposite sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. .
The unprecedented possibility that former President Donald Trump, who has already launched another bid for the White House, will face indictment could further tear the country apart at a moment when American democracy is under serious strain. Meanwhile, the 2024 presidential race, already hotly contested, is set to stir up more political poison as both parties feel they have control of the White House and Congress. deaf.
Abroad, the war in Ukraine poses a constant and alarming potential for spillovers into the NATO-Russia conflict, with American taxpayers continuing to send billions of dollars to preserve the freedom dreams of foreigners. Leading the West in this crisis, President Joe Biden faces more glaring challenges than ever from the rising superpower China and the astonishing progress of Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs. I’m here.
If 2022 was a turbulent and dangerous year, 2023 could be just as challenging.
Washington is gearing up for a sharp shock. There has been a lot of talk about the lack of red waves since November. But the reality of a divided government finally dawns this week. The Republican majority in the House, with radical conservatives disproportionately influential, would occupy half of the Capitol. Republicans will hurl investigations, obstructions, and possible impeachments in the White House designed to stifle Biden’s presidency and undermine his reelection hopes.
Ironically, a smaller-than-expected Republican majority would mean supporters of the former president, like Ohio House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, so Trump Voters who despised the style of circus politics and vetoism will get more. Georgia has a lot of influence. The new Republican-run House effectively represents Trumpism’s return to power in a powerful corner of Washington. If House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy wins his desperate struggle against his party’s hardliners to secure the chairmanship, he’ll end up on the board after making multiple concessions to the extreme right wing. You will always be exposed to the risk of walking on the
A weak voice and a nihilistic pro-Trump faction across the Republican Party are threatening to create a series of spending showdowns with the White House. Most dangerous is the need to raise government borrowing powers by the middle of this year, which could throw the US into default if not done.
As Democrats head into the minority under a new generation of leaders, a government shutdown is more likely than bipartisan. It vows to investigate. But if voters think they’ve gone too far, Republicans could suffer.
In the Senate, Democrats are still celebrating winning a majority in the midterm elections. (After being split 50-50 for two years, the Chamber now votes 51-49). Wasting no time in establishing a reputation among voters as a force for bipartisanship and effective governance, the president will visit Kentucky this week. He will be at an event attended by Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to highlight his package of infrastructure, which was passed with bipartisan support in 2021.
Attorney General Merrick Garland may soon face one of the most fateful decisions in modern politics. Whether or not Trump will be indicted for trying to steal the 2020 election and for hoarding classified documents.
Criminal prosecution of a former president and current presidential candidate by the administration that succeeded him would put the country’s political and judicial institutions under more strain than even Trump has been able to handle. The former president has already claimed persecution for the investigations he faces, and the early declaration of the 2024 campaign has given him the opportunity to frame them as politicized.
If Trump were indicted, the uproar could be so corrosive that it is only fair to ask whether such action would really be in the national interest.
But if Trump did indeed break the law, and given the strength of the rioting evidence against him presented in the House Jan. 6 committee criminal indictment, his case poses an even more serious dilemma. Failure to indict him would set a precedent for the former president to take precedence over the law.
“There are no limits to what a president can and cannot do as long as he can instigate riots and not be held accountable,” Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a member of the selection committee, told CNN. . “State of the Union” Sunday.
“Frankly, if he’s not guilty, I’m afraid for his country’s future, because now every future president can say, ‘Hey, here’s a bar.'” And Burr is to do everything he can to stay in power. ”
Like it or not, in a November announcement, Trump pitched America for the upcoming presidential election. But his future, which ruled the Republican Party for seven years, is overshadowed by unusual allegations. Mr. Trump’s aura has been undermined by the poor track record of candidates who lamented losing the 2020 election and refused to run for hand-picked elections in the midterms.
Potential alternatives to his populist and nationalist culture-war politics are emerging, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who could test the former president’s bond with his beloved conservatives. has fended off multiple investigations, yet urgently needs to show that he is still the Republican Party’s top dog as more and more Republicans consider him a national liability.
Mr. Biden is close to giving Americans a new piece of history as the re-election campaign for a president over 80. And Biden’s strongest card is that he’s already defeated Trump once. He can’t play that card. DeSantis, for example, is about half the age of the current president.
A repeat White House duel between Trump and Biden would be the best bet as 2023 begins. This means that there is no guarantee that
Last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine showed how external global events can redefine the presidency. Biden’s leadership in the West against Moscow’s gratuitous aggression will be a striking centerpiece of his legacy. But Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing every sign of years of fighting. Ukraine says it won’t stop until all its troops are kicked out. Thus, Biden’s ability to prevent war from spilling over into a disastrous Russia-NATO clash will always be tested.
And if the Western economies plunge into recession this year, who knows how long US and European voters will endure high energy prices and send billions of dollars of taxpayer cash to Ukraine. Hmm.
Biden has his hands full elsewhere. An alarming mid-air near-miss between a Chinese jet and a U.S. military jet in the South China Sea while on vacation shows how tensions over the region, particularly Taiwan, could set off another superpower confrontation. Biden is also facing escalating nuclear crises with Iran and North Korea, and along with the clatter of Russia’s nuclear weapons, hints at the beginning of a dangerous new era of global conflict and risk. ing.
Economic decisions are seldom so difficult. In 2022, four decades of high inflation and falling stock markets coincided with historically low unemployment, creating a strange feeling of economic anxiety and euphoria at the same time. The key question in 2023 is whether the Federal Reserve’s tough interest rate policy, designed to bring down the cost of living, will result in a soft landing without triggering the recession many analysts believe is on the horizon. It is whether or not it is possible.
Washington’s spending showdown and possible government shutdown could also pose new threats to growth. The economy is beyond the control of political leaders, but the state of the economy at the end of the year will play a key role in the elections that will define America, both domestically and globally, in 2024 and beyond.
