Hope Despite the Dark Predictions for 2024
For many, 2024 is dawning darkly and with dread. The U.S. presidential election in November—still almost a year away—is on everyone’s mind, and between that time and now loom eleven months of political and geopolitical turmoil: Trump’s prosecutions, battles over his status on the ballot, economic volatility, the invasion of our border from the south, tension with China over Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, major questions at the Supreme Court, and our government’s machinations and plotting against its own people, are just the obvious highlights. Halfway through December, X (formerly Twitter) was full of political commentators confidently predicting 2024 will be a catastrophic year. It can feel overwhelming to process these always amorphous predictions of calamity, especially when it feels that we can do so little to change the current trajectory.
None of these people really knows what will happen in 2024, and asserting that it will be volatile is just stating the obvious. The predictions that intimate an Armageddon could materialize, no doubt, but I frankly think our odds are good we will dodge those bullets (through God’s grace). And if we don’t, what can we do to stop them? Nothing. So don’t let it all distract you from meaningful political action or sap your strength.
The truth is, we have been living through an obvious inflection point in history since 2016. From a historical perspective, these years will be part of one lumbering swing of the axis of history. That 2024 will be a huge year is pre-determined. We are *in* the catastrophe now; we are living the crisis so many are warning of. So if you are intimidated by the predictions, don’t be: The crisis is already here.
Even without an Armageddon, I do think this will be a very hard year. All the ongoing problems we face assure us of that, even if we win the election in November, and all sensible people know the election is by no means a done deal. Unhappily, the grassroots did not activate enough in the last three years to secure the vote, and I have grave concerns about whether we will be able to overcome the fraud in the fall. Despite these realities, a lot of very good people have been working very hard to prove the election fraud and secure the vote, and those efforts have borne fruit.
The reality of election fraud has become far more mainstream. Even Tucker Carlson, who would not countenance it just after the 2020 election, highlighted election integrity (or the lack thereof) on his Fox show before he was fired. That alone underscored how much progress had been made to mainstream the conversation.
The grassroots is focusing more and more on fraud, and the drumbeat for hand-counted, paper ballots is only growing. In fact, one political strategist I spoke to said that the growing momentum from the Left to shift states to Ranked Choice Voting is a tacit acknowledgment that the country is moving toward hand-counting. Ranked Choice Voting is the back-up strategy to help scramble and steal elections. We have an enormous amount of work to do, but the Left has not prevailed yet.
It is possible that nuclear war will break out. It is possible the government will manufacture a disaster to suspend the election. Armageddon may materialize. These extreme scenarios are all possible. But our job is not to obsess over the worst-case scenario and get mired in unproductive depression. Our job is to hope for the best and do everything we can within our sphere of influence. People have been claiming “this election will be the last” for multiple election cycles now, but we don’t know at what point this country will pass the point of no return. Left unchecked, we certainly will pass that point one of these days. If you want to avert a republic-ending catastrophe in the future, engage in the daily grind now to promote a healthy republic from the grassroots up.
Instead of sitting at home trying to accurately predict the end of the country, make a New Year resolution to be truly engaged at the grassroots level in 2024. Look up your GOP precinct committeeman or woman and call him or her and volunteer. If the position is vacant, apply to fill it yourself. Keep up with the news (as is your civic duty) and identify a friend or two whom you will work to keep up-to-date on the most important political issues—election integrity, the border crisis, inflation, etc.
I do not know the worst that 2024 will bring, and I don’t know if we will win the 2024 election. What I do know is that I have a young son, so whatever happens this year, short of complete annihilation, I will be fighting* for this country and our liberty before the election, and I will be fighting for this country and our liberty after the election. To me, the very start of a new year is always a hopeful time. This year is no different, despite the storm clouds. My drumbeat since 2020 has been “only we can save ourselves,” and that mantra is still true. Adopt a perspective that is realistic not rosy, but don’t surrender to despair or apathy.
*Metaphorically.
In 2024, I am rebranding The Molly McCann Memo to the simpler Molly’s Memo. After more than a year of writing very little, one goal I have for 2024 is to return to writing more on politics. With that in mind, I will be trying to publish a weekly column here on Substack every Saturday. Molly’s Memo is free, so please share it with friends and family. This year, more than ever, we need to be informed and energized for our country.