Donald Trump and Joe Biden
Donald Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney and prominent online journalist, has a history of correctly predicting that Donald Trump will win presidential elections. Now, Watkins is predicting that Trump will win back the White House in 2024.
As the publisher and author of a legal blog, which has its roots in Alabama, and as a journalist with more than 30 years of professional experience in newspapers, magazines, broadcast, higher education, and digital media, I have deep respect for Donald Watkins' abilities as a lawyer, investigative reporter, and political soothsayer. I also admire him as a person, one who is not afraid to speak out for the civil rights of those who lack power and against corruption of individuals and entities who wield power.
With that being said, I hope (and pray) that Watkins is wrong on his latest Trump prediction. Why? I'm not sure our country can take four more years of dysfunctional, Trumpian "leadership." It's a matter of historical fact that Trump was a wretched president from 2017 to 2021. His failures on three issues alone -- mismanagement of a coronavirus outbreak in China (which many public-health and intelligence experts knew was coming, and the government even had a "playbook" to handle it) that turned into a global pandemic that has killed almost 7 million people worldwide, with 1.1. million deaths in the United States; his instigation of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn a lawfully conducted election, which Trump lost; and his reckless and unlawful handling of classified documents, for which he now faces criminal charges. That does not count Trump's most damaging "achievement" regarding America's democracy -- the packing of America's federal courts with inexperienced, unqualified, partisan hacks (mostly chosen by the Federalist Society), including Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated and appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a process that brazenly violated the U.S. Constitution. In the wake of Trump's court-packing antics, with ample assistance from the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court now is riddled with scandal, its standing in public-opinion polls plummeting by the day.
When Trump first claimed the White House in the 2016 election (with Russia's assistance?) many Americans likely knew him mainly as a real-estate maven and celebrity who happened to host a popular prime-time game show --heck, we might as well have elected Wink Martindale as president, although he might actually have been competent, compared to Trump. Our guess is that many voters took a flier on Trump for fun, or as a middle finger to what they saw as the political establishment, not knowing or caring whether Trump could do the job. Trump now has a four-year record as president, and it's clear he cannot do the job. We, as an electorate, will have only ourselves to blame if Trump returns to the White House and produces a second term that is an even bigger disaster than his first.
Donald Watkins
Given that Trump repeatedly has vowed to seek retaliation against President Joe Biden and Democrats, who he blames for the indictments he currently faces -- Trump certainly is not going to blame himself -- a second term likely will be an unmitigated mess, the likes of which Americans never before have seen.
Finally, we are not the only ones who see signs that Trump's mental health might be deteriorating -- making him even more unfit to hold office than he was before. Consider these recent statements and actions from Trump:
1. He posted Barack Obama's address online, only to see a MAGA-nut gunman show up and get arrested near the former president's residence. Was Trump trying to get Obama assassinated?
2. He referred to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is handling two prosecutions against Trump, as a "crackhead." Does anyone with even the slightest hint of common sense and restraint say such a thing?
3. He hinted that 80-year-old Joe Biden partakes of cocaine in the White House. So much for bipartisan respect for those on the other side of the political aisle.
4. Trump has told supporters at campaign stops, "I am your revenge." Is he starting to agree with those who see him as some kind of messiah?
As for Donald Watkins, he is a political independent who does not support either Trump or Joe Biden. In fact, he finds both men seriously flawed. So, why does he predict a Trump victory in 2024? Under the headline "I'm Saying It Again: Donald Trump Will Win the Presidency in 2024," Watkins writes:
On August 9, 2022, I predicted that Donald Trump would become the Republican nominee for president in 2024. This prediction is on track to becoming true.
On August 22, 2022, I predicted that Trump would win the 2024 election. After I made this prediction, Trump was indicted on New York state criminal charges and federal criminal charges. Trump may face additional criminal charges in Washington, Atlanta, and New Jersey between now and the election. In my view, these criminal cases will not derail Trump's comeback bid.
On August 2, 2015, I became the first American journalist to publicly predict Trump's 2016 election victory. My prediction was made a mere three weeks after Trump announced his candidacy. This prediction became true in January of 2017.
On March 20, 2020, I predicted Trump's defeat in 2020, which was caused by Trump's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This prediction became true in January of 2021.
For the record, the 2020 election was not stolen from Donald Trump. He lost the race by more than 7 million legally cast votes.
Based upon an incredible display of inner strength and his keen political instincts, and without any meaningful help from his mediocre criminal-defense teams, Donald Trump is poised to pull off the greatest political comeback victory in the history of American presidential politics.
Here is why I predict that Trump will win in 2024.
In essence, Watkins says, members of the Republican Party have become so smitten by Trump that it has marred their better judgment. Again, we know Trump is not up to the challenge of being president, and I suspect he's not even interested in performing the many tasks, big and small, that come with the job. Writes Watkins:
Since his 2020 defeat, Donald Trump has ascended to "deity" status within the Republican Party. The GOP is no longer a political party; it is a personality cult that worships Trump.
During his term in office (January 2017 to January 2021), Trump was able to add three diehard right-wing conservatives -- Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett – to the U.S. Supreme Court. These three appointees gave the GOP a firm six votes on the Court, which now proudly and openly operates as the judicial wing of the Republican Party.
Trump’s Supreme Court has killed the federal right to an abortion, thrashed affirmative action, curbed tribal rights for Native-Americans, invalidated state gun-control legislation, abandoned judicial ethics, voided student loan debt relief for college graduates, okayed intentional discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans, and taken aim at a host of other targets on the GOP’s political "hit list."
In January 2022, GOP members of the U.S. Senate successfully killed legislation that would have restored much needed vitality to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was severely gutted on June 25, 2013, in the Alabama case of Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013).
Trump and his cult followers have also galvanized a movement against non-white migrants seeking to enter the United States at the U.S.-Mexican border, while enthusiastically welcoming immigrants from European countries. During his presidency, Trump resurrected the Dwight Eisenhower's 1954 "Operation Wetback" program at the southern border. Curbing people of color from entering America, via legal or illegal means, is a major driver of support for Trump’s re-election campaign.
Are you comfortable with America being in the grip of a cult? That's where things stand, Watkins states, and he does not see criminal prosecutions hindering Trump:
Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York for “hush money” payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. He is also facing federal criminal charges in Miami over his possession of highly classified national-security and defense documents in his Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump is likely to face additional federal charges for inciting the January 6th insurrection and charges for possessing classified national-security documents at his golf club in New Jersey. Likewise, Trump is expected to be charged later this summer on state voter-fraud charges in Georgia.
According to numerous political polls, none of Trump's criminal cases poses a threat to his viability as a political candidate. He is the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination.
It is highly unlikely that Trump’s federal criminal cases will be tried before the 2024 election. Once Trump becomes president, he is expected to use the full executive powers of his office to quash the federal and state criminal cases. Trump will have a plethora of political and executive weapons in his presidential toolbox to quash all of these cases.
If Trump faces Joe Biden in the 2024 election, Trump will win by a landslide. Biden appears to be increasingly frail, weak, inept, and senile with the passage of time. On most days, Joe Biden looks and acts like a character in The Walking Dead movies and television series.
Meanwhile, Trump’s robust political rallies in “Red States” are turning into rock-star events. Trump's energy level is high at these campaign events.
The postmodern Republican Party has become adept at voter suppression, and that should play to Trump's favor, Watkins writes:
Today, a majority of the 50 states have enacted various forms of voter-suppression laws that enhance Donald Trump’s chances for victory in 2024.
What is more, these new voter-suppression laws are generally protected by Trump's Supreme Court. The lone exception to this rule is the Court's recent decision in Milligan v. Allen (June 8, 2023), a voter-suppression case in which the Alabama legislature used an egregious form of “in-your-face” racial gerrymandering to minimize the number of potential black Congressional districts in the state.
Milligan v. Allen is a symbolic victory, rather than substantive one, because Alabama’s lone Black Democratic Congresswoman routinely receives 96% of her campaign financing from GOP donors. As a result, she regularly tows the GOP party line on all economic-empowerment issues that matter to Republicans. This is why her predominantly black political constituents remain in severe economic distress, even though a Democratic president has occupied the White House for nine of her 12 years in Congress. Barring a political miracle, a second black Congress member from Alabama will likely be cut from the same cloth as the state's current black Congresswoman.
Watkins predicts a Trump victory in 2024, but he also foresees a grim four-year period if Trump returns to power:
I am a longtime political Independent and student of history and political science.
So that we are clear, I do not support Donald Trump or Joe Biden for president. Both men are deeply flawed.
However, I am a realist who always measures the winds of political change in America. My political predictions are based upon my objective measurement of these changes and their impact in the political arena.
Trump’s criminal cases will not prevent his re-election or return to the presidency. He has found a creative pathway to neutralize these impediments without using highly skilled criminal-defense lawyers.
Additionally, neither Joe Biden, nor Kamala Harris, is strong enough to defeat Donald Trump and his political forces in 2024. Because of Biden's and Harris' collective weaknesses as political leaders, women, African-Americans, Native-Americans, LGBTQ Americans, and other historically disadvantaged minority groups have lost more federally protected rights under their watch than they have under any other presidential administration in modern history.
Barring divine intervention from God, Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States.
Trump will go down in history as the 45th and 47th president of the United States.
After he assumes office in January 2025, Trump is going to mete out severe political punishment to: (a) participants in the January 6th Congressional Committee hearings, (b) DOJ criminal-prosecution team members, (c) New York state criminal-prosecution team members, and (d) Georgia criminal-prosecution team members. Trump's ruthlessness in this regard will match that of his presidential role models -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and China President Xi Jinping.
Trump will likely pardon all of the defendants who were convicted of crimes arising from their organization of and participation in the January 6th insurrection.
Finally, the American public has lost confidence in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is the modern-day Republican Party. Trump’s margin of victory over Biden will be the greatest landslide since Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale in 1984.
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