Ten Predictions for 2023

Guaranteed to be wrong.

It’s almost 2023, folks. 2022 wasn’t half bad! As part of a new tradition here at Medium, I’m going to end the year with surely terrible predictions for the next year. Please do not go back and look at these in 365 days, I’ll look like an idiot.

1. Joe Biden will run unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Sure: He looks old, there’s no question, though, I gotta say, if I look like that (and am able to do the toughest job on the planet) when I’m 80, I’m going to be feeling plenty good. More to the point: Biden is on an undeniable roll, and while he’ll surely lose some momentum with a Republican Congress, there’s no obvious challenger to him and, frankly, not a lot of people eager to even try to take down a man who not only beat Trump, but has arguably gotten more done in his first two years than President Obama did in his last four?
2. Donald Trump will head into Iowa weakened, but still the frontrunner in the polls. I’m already on record saying that he’s not going to jail, which means he’s just going to keep running for President, whatever “running” even means anymore. He’s certainly going to have challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who arguably shouldn’t run against Trump but almost has to at this point. The Republican establishment wants Trump gone. But they always have. It’s those pesky Republican voters that are the problem. I’m not sure that problem has been fixed.
3. Russia will make a deal. The real question at this point is how much face the rest of the world will allow Vladimir Putin to save. Are we gonna make him eat it? Or will there just be relief to have this get over, and the international community lets him stay in power? It might be the central question of 2023. Here’s betting Putin takes his foot off the gas just enough for everyone to pretend this is all settled now (until he pulls this shit again in five years).
4. Twitter will not be gone, but it will be considerably diminished. The supposed logistics implosion never actually happened; Twitter is still working, as it turns out. But you’re seeing plenty of big names leaving the service, and even those who have stayed on are posting everything almost skeptically, like they don’t really believe in what they’re doing anymore. (This is probably a good thing in the long…