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| By POLITICO MAGAZINE |
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Illustrations by DAQ for POLITICO |
Political prognosticators were so confident 12 months ago. The presidential election, they said, would be boring. Elon Musk would surely lose control of Twitter and sell it off. And hey, you know what would be great for Joe Biden? An early debate!
Presented here for your amusement — and perhaps to remind you to take predictions in This Town with more than one grain of salt — here are the most embarrassingly wrong forecasts from 2024. Read the story.
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“Next few years are going to be a fight between the Fetterman wing of the party and the Murphy wing of the party. One wears sweatshirts and LARPs as working class, the other has Rich Guy hair. But the fact is that the dude with Rich Guy hair gets it, and Captain Carhartt does not.” Can you guess who said this about Democratic Senators John Fetterman and Chris Murphy? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
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The storefront of the closed-down bar Political Pattie’s on U Street in Washington on Dec. 19. The bar advertised itself as a bipartisan bar and was co-owned by a Republican/Democrat couple. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO |
Inside the Death of DC’s Most Hated Bar … After a beloved D.C. gay bar called The Dirty Goose sold to new owners who rebranded it as a bipartisanship-themed bar called Political Pattie’s — complete with an elephant and donkey painted out front and cocktail names like “Filibuster Fuzz” — locals clowned it to death on social media, and it shut down after just 75 days. (Sample post: “I don’t want to get drinks with my gays, gals, and theys only to have to hear a bunch of slobbering sperry-wearing, khaki clad Republicans saying slurs.”) But now, the Democrat/Republican couple behind Political Pattie’s has a new project: A SuperPAC designed to promote “political civility.”
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Been too wrapped up in wrapping presents to figure out what on earth Elon Musk has to do with a looming government shutdown? Not to worry. When your friends bring it up at the holiday party, just fake your way through with these talking points.
- Drop this detail from POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus to sound like a real Congressional insider: “Multiple failures must be getting to Speaker Mike Johnson. With the stopgap bill failing, he looked agitated, waving his arms around and running his hands through his hair as he spoke with fellow GOP lawmakers who opposed the legislation. Yikes.”
- Point out the scrambled politics surrounding the spending bill, with Trump threatening to primary conservative Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who opposes his suggestion to lift or abolish the debt ceiling: “Here’s a sign of the end times: Elizabeth Warren tweeted, ‘I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should terminate the debt limit and never again govern by hostage taking.’”
- Shift the conversation to the president’s glaring absence. “Did you all see that POLITICO piece Thursday night? They talked to more than a half-dozen House Democratic lawmakers who said they hadn’t heard a word from Biden. Seems like Trump and Musk are the real men in charge already.”
- Show off your knowledge of Congressional procedure: “Johnson faces a vote on his Speakership on January 3. Maybe he’ll manage to avoid a shutdown today. But could we already be headed toward another breakdown of a GOP Speakership?”
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Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams speaks as then-President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump look on during a reception in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 13, 2018 in Washington, D.C. | Alex Wong/Getty Images |
Former Surgeon General: Insurers Are ‘In the Crosshairs’ … The enthusiastic public reaction to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson prompted a round of harsh discourse around the state of American health care. So POLITICO’s former health editor, Joanne Kenon, caught up with former Surgeon General Jerome Adams to ask a man who’s served as America’s “top doctor” what to make of the situation. “Insurers absolutely cannot ignore this moment,” he said. “Some actions are going to have to be taken by government, some by insurers, some by providers. But obviously in the crosshairs right now — that’s a terrible way of putting it, but it’s also a literal way of putting it
— are the insurers.”
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Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks during an event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on April 12, 2023 in Washington, D.C. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images |
Trudeau’s Top Lieutenant Calls It Quits … After a decade at the right hand of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland posted a blunt resignation letter on X this week, and rumors began to fly that Trudeau himself could be headed for a hard fall off a tall political cliff. POLITICO Editor-at-Large Matthew Kaminski breaks it down: “He is done — whether in the coming days or by the next election. Freeland is too smart to not know that this chaos is how her move would play out.”
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From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker.
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Who Dissed? answer: It was Atlantic contributor Tyler Austin Harper, posting on X. politicoweekend@email.politico.com
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