How did I know?

Mere days after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, I predicted his next opponent for President in 2020 would be a black woman. I felt so strongly that I bet someone a $250 steak dinner on it. In 2018, I was convinced it would be Kamala Harris, and I almost placed a bet on her at the Bellagio Sports Book in Las Vegas. Not totally understanding how professional betting works, I ultimately passed on making the bet.

Of course, we all know now, in the interest of full disclosure and ultimate humility, I ended up being wrong. But BARELY.

In fact, after Biden was crowned the nominee in 2020, I STILL predicted he'd either bow out before the election, or would most surely pick a black woman as his running mate. And on that, I was right. When Kamala Harris was the first candidate of any gender or race to withdraw from the primary cycle of 2019/2020, I was not convinced she wouldn't be on the ticket in some capacity. Even after all my Democrat friends told me, "Paul, she's out. Nobody likes her," (irony-intended) I still replied, "No, it ain't over. I'm betting Kamala is on the ticket."

Flash forward to 2023. As 2023 was drawing to a close, and it was looking more and more like Joe Biden would run unopposed in the primaries, I again predicted there was no way the Democrats would run Joe Biden in 2024. I told anyone who would listen. My friends and acquaintances have heard me droll on about it for almost a year now... "Not a chance Joe Biden is the Dem nominee in 2024."

I explained again and again: I fully believed the Dems would allow Joe Biden to go thru the primaries unopposed, and then would either be removed beforehand, or would step down during the convention so the party could then choose their nominee without leaving it in the hands of the voters. If I said it once, I said it a hundred times.

Ask anyone who knows me.

It's hard on me being right all the time.

Which begs the question: Why was I right? How did I know all this? How did I know that a black woman would either be the nominee or at least on the ticket in 2020? Especially Kamala Harris -- even after her horrid primary campaign in 2019?

And how did I know the Democrats would do exactly what they've ended up doing with Joe Biden? A full year before they did it?

How did I know all that?

Do I have special prognosticative powers? Am I psychic? Do I know a Washington insider, much less a Democrat insider? Am I someone special who can see and figure out things other people can't?

And why me? Some nobody born and raised in Indiana, now wasting away in Margaritaville? A hopeless Cincinnati Reds fan who can't run a washing machine?

I'm not a political insider. I've never run for office. I don't have any sort of political science degree, or otherwise any other political experience. And no... I'm not a psychic and I don't have any special powers.

Simply put... I'm nobody special. And I didn't see anything anybody else couldn't see if they just paid attention.

And that's what I do: I pay attention. I watch what's going on. I strive to be an informed voter. I watch the news and check a variety of news sources. But I don't blindly follow one over another and swallow hook, line, and sinker everything they tell me. I don't mind saying that after 54 years of life, I've come to know some news outlets are better than others, and end up being more truthful and factual than others, but I'll leave that debate for another time.

I watch what's going on around me. I pay attention to what my leaders -- those I support and those I don't -- tell me. And then I see if they follow thru. I look at the big picture. I don't look at single events. I look at events in context to other events. I watch for trends, practices, paths. I watch to see how one event precedes or follows another, and how they play off each other. I listen to what they say, and then I watch what they do.

See, this isn't a commentary on the policies. Make no mistake... I have strong feelings and opinions about the policies, but the policies are irrelevant in this matter. The question is why can some dopey guy in Bluffton, SC, with no political background tell you what the Democrat party is gonna do a year before they do it?

Sadly... the political arena in general has become very predictable over the past several years. However, during a climate where a non-political, non-insider businessman can come in and completely turn one party on it's ear, and fundamentally change the way Washington works, he simultaneously has made the Democrat party more predictable than ever.

I watched events play out with Barack Obama -- a political outcome that couldn't have been more predictable -- and I watched how they ditched Hillary Clinton in 2008 only to groom her for eight years to set her up for 2016. In that context, the moment Donald Trump rode down the Trump Tower elevator in 2015, I knew he'd win. When everybody else thought it was a joke, I called my son the very next day and told him Donald Trump would be the next President.

I'm not bragging or boasting -- indeed, I'm rather shocked more people haven't been clued in to what's going on. Bigger still -- I'm stunned the Dems and their media minions still can't see how Donald Trump played them all then, and is still playing them today. Perhaps one of these days I'll write a blog explaining how I know these things. But if others would just open their eyes, see the big picture, and pay attention -- and, more importantly, quit ignoring or outright denying the facts before them -- they could see it too.

The lefts hatred for and in turn, fear of Donald Trump is unprecedented. Whether you hate him or love him, you have to admit that what he's been thru in the past eight years has no rival in our presidential history. For four years, they made up every lie they could about Trump. From fake dossiers, to Russian collusion, to inane impeachment allegations, they threw everything at their political opponent that would have otherwise taken down any normal politician. When that didn't work, they created and manipulated a worldwide pandemic to unconstitutionally change election laws to literally steal an election.

In the four years since, when most new administrations simply move on from former presidents, they continued to pursue Trump to a degree never seen in American politics. From falsely prosecuting his supporters, to falsely prosecuting him, to attempting to unconstitutionally remove him from ballots, to -- dare I say it -- a failed assassination attempt, they're desperate in a way we've never seen.

In THIS context, how they're eating their own and the paths they take are evident months, sometimes years ahead of time. In their claims to "preserve democracy," they have, in reality, highjacked democracy. After 8 years, I saw it coming a mile away. I just paid attention.

For your own good, I would suggest you do too.

And you heard it here first... in 2028, the Dems will run a gay man for President.