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January

A tone was set when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin disappeared for several days in early January. He had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Walter Reed Hospital due to complications from cancer surgery. Three days later, the Department of Defense told the Biden White House about it. Meanwhile, a war was going on in the Middle East that began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. The communications mishap seemed to show that neither President Biden nor Secretary Austen were essential to the functioning of our government or the defense of our country.

February

In February Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on President Biden’s improper retention of classified records. Classified documents had been discovered in the offices of the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., inside the garage of the Biden’s home in Wilmington, and in the home itself. Hur recommended against prosecution even though his investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”

This was an administration embarrassment for two reasons. Hur’s report was released during the prosecution of President Donald Trump for retaining documents from his presidency, highlighting once again the sharp contrast in the DOJ’s treatment of Democrats and its treatment of Republicans, particularly Donald J. Trump and those who support him. And secondly, Hur’s description of Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and the challenge of convicting Biden “of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness” reinforced a picture of Biden as so lacking in mental capacity that to inform him of his Defense Secretary’s hospitalization would have been pointless.

March

The House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight discovered that Liz Cheney and the January 6 Committee hid exonerating evidence from the public. Cheney claimed there was no evidence to support Trump’s offer of 10,000 National Guard troops to help at the Capitol on January 6. Except that there was a transcribed interview of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato, who testified under oath that those National Guard troops were offered to D.C. Mayor Bowser, and Bowser turned them down. The January 6 Committee also hid testimony that contradicted Cassidy Hutchinson’s bizarre claim that Trump overpowered a Secret Service agent and grabbed the wheel of his SUV in an attempt to join the protesters at the Capitol.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship. At about 1:25 am on March 26, the MV Dali, a container ship registered in Singapore, lost power and drifted into one of the bridge piers. Six roadwork construction workers were killed. The Port of Baltimore was shut down and remained closed until June. Rebuilding the bridge is expected to cost about $2 billion and could take about four years to complete.

April

On April 8, a total eclipse of the sun was seen from downtown Colebrook, New Hampshire. The mid-afternoon dusk was an eerie sight from the Main Street bridge over the Mohawk River. You might think post-eclipse traffic wouldn’t be much of a problem in the backwoods of northern New Hampshire, but it seemed no matter which way we went, we were creeping along bumper to bumper, and sometimes not even creeping. We left Main Street Colebrook as the sun began to reappear around 3:30 in the afternoon, but that was not soon enough to get us back to our stay in Jackson before 8:30 that evening. It’s normally an hour and a half drive. The good news is we were back in time to catch the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game, in which the UConn Huskies defeated Purdue 75-60. UConn, the Hartford Branch actually, is one of my Alma Maters. I even got to play a semester of basketball there, great fun but nowhere near championship level.

O.J. Simpson died of cancer at the age of 76. After winning the Heisman Trophy, Simpson went on to an illustrious 11-year NFL football career. But in 1995, Simpson was tried for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. He was acquitted of the murders, but in a subsequent civil trial he was found liable for their wrongful deaths. In 2008 Simpson was convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery over a dispute with two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. He served nearly nine years in prison before being paroled in 2017.

May

On May 31, Donald Trump was convicted on 34 charges of falsifying company documents in a historic criminal trial in New York. A stripper with the stage name Stormy Daniels demanded $300,000 from Trump, or she would go public with accusations of an affair. Trump denied that an affair ever happened but agreed to the payment rather than subject his wife Melania to public humiliation. A Non-Disclosure Agreement between Trump and Daniels was drawn up, payment was made and entered into Trump’s books as a legal expense. NDAs are legal and common, but New York D.A. Alvin Bragg charged that by listing the payment as a legal expense rather than a campaign expense, Trump was violating a New York state law. The Federal Election Commission did not consider the payment a campaign expense, but New York’s Soros-backed D.A. and the judge on the case teamed up for a conviction. The Daily Mail reported a six-point approval bump for Donald Trump after he was found guilty.

June

Hunter Biden was convicted on felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Biden, son of the president, lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. President Biden issued a statement shortly after the verdict saying he would accept the outcome and respect the judicial process.

Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, passed away at the age of 93. He broke into the majors in 1951 with the New York Giants. Mays played in the Major Leagues for 23 seasons, starting in New York, moving with the team to San Francisco in 1958, and then back to New York with the Mets in 1972. Over his Major League career, Mays collected 3,293 hits, 1,909 RBI, 660 home runs, and 339 stolen bases, with a lifetime batting average of .301.

President Joe Biden squared off against former President Donald Trump in a debate later described as a train wreck. Biden’s disastrous performance effectively put an end to a three-and-a-half-year coverup of his declining mental and physical capacities.

Significant Supreme Court rulings came down in June. SCOTUS ruled that laws against sleeping on public property do not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” of the homeless, and are therefore not prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The court overruled its 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which held that courts should defer to regulating agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Overturning the Chevron decision could have the very beneficial effect of curbing regulatory overreach.

July

The Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump was entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts with his core constitutional powers, the presumption of immunity on acts within the outer perimeter of official duties, and no immunity for unofficial acts. The decision compelled prosecutors to determine which of Trump’s actions were official or unofficial, it altered the scope of some prosecutions, and delayed cases until after the November 5th election.

At a July 13th campaign rally in Butler, PA, Thomas Matthew Crooks took several shots at Donald Trump with an AR-15. While Crooks succeeded only in clipping Trump’s ear, he killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounded two others who attended the rally. When Trump realized what happened he stood up and urged the crowd to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The attempt on Trump’s life and his response to it virtually assured his re-election. It was Trump’s reaction under fire that inspired Elon Musk to publicly support Trump. Crooks was immediately shot and killed. His body was cremated within 10 days.

On July 21, Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic candidate for president. Biden’s late withdrawal from the race, combined with his endorsement of Harris, made it impossible for the Democrats to choose a stronger candidate. Harris became the new Democratic candidate for president.

August

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were officially nominated as the Democratic Party’s choices for President and Vice President, respectively, at the Democratic National Convention held from August 19 to 22nd in Chicago.

Ryan Wesley Routh was apprehended after attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh left a note that said, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

September

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal taxes on $1.5 million in unreported income.

There was a second U.S. presidential debate, this time between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The debate was hosted by ABC in Philadelphia. It pitted David Muir, anchor of “World News Tonight,” Linsey Davis, anchor of ABC News Live “Prime,” and Kamala Harris against Trump. Most commentators gave the Harris-Muir-Davis team the win.

A devastating category 4 hurricane named Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, causing widespread destruction across 10 states and leading to at least 250 deaths. On September 28th Western North Carolina became a disaster area because of the high winds, heavy rain, and flooding from Helene. An estimated 126,000 homes across the state were damaged or destroyed, and an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 homes were completely destroyed.

October

Hurricane Milton arrives on the shores of Florida as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. As it moved across the state, the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 2 storm, damaging power infrastructure and leaving two million Florida customers without power.

Donald Trump engaged in some ingenious campaign trolling. When Harris’s critics could find no evidence that she ever worked at McDonald’s as a teenager, Trump staged a campaign event at a privately owned McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, making fries and working the drive-up window for about 15 minutes.

When a comedian made a tasteless joke at the Republican National Convention about Puerto Rico’s severe garbage problem (“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”), President Biden spoke out on it, saying that the only garbage he could see is Trump supporters. Some claim that Biden was misunderstood. The next thing you know, Trump shows up at a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, riding in a garbage truck that sported a large American flag and a Trump-Vance campaign flag.

November

On November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, was re-elected to become the 47th President of the United States, winning the popular vote, every battleground state, and the electoral college in a landslide. Fox News called the race for Donald Trump at 1:46 am Eastern Standard Time the next morning. This is the second time in history that a president has been re-elected in non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was the 22nd President of the United States and also the 24th.

Trump completed the selection of his major cabinet, staff, and other important appointments by November 26. Those requiring congressional confirmation almost immediately began their visits to Capital Hill.

December

President Biden pardoned his son Hunter for his conviction on gun charges and his guilty plea for tax evasion. But the pardon extended to all crimes he may have committed from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024. This includes anything that may have happened while he sat on the Burisma Board of Directors. This has the potential to come back to bite Joe. At Hunter’s trial on gun charges, the Laptop from Hell was entered into evidence by the prosecution and validated by FBI testimony. Emails noting the Hunter was to hold “10% for the big guy” were found to be authentic. If Hunter is ever called to testify about anyone else involved in the crimes for which he was pardoned, he may not plead the 5th.

With the help of Elon and X, Americans were able to force Speaker Mike Johnson to keep his promise of no more Continuing Resolution omnibus bills. A 1,547-page bill was rejected.

Western North Carolina remains a disaster area three months after Helene made landfall. There is anecdotal evidence that FEMA assistance has been slow and inefficient in reaching folks impacted by the disaster. At a time when the federal government is providing hotel vouchers and cash for illegal immigrants and sending billions to Ukraine, people in Western North Carolina are sleeping in tents, and the homeless are still in the streets.

2025

As we begin 2025 there is a sense of optimism. The media, trumpeting the inevitability of America’s collapse if Trump won the White House, went largely ignored. We already knew the threat posed by Donald Trump because we had been through his first presidency. Until the Covid-19 crisis hit, we enjoyed years of economic growth, record-low unemployment for minorities, low inflation, and relative peace. Russia, Iran, and Hamas knew better than to act up while Trump was in charge.

The censorship that proliferated during Covid-19 has been somewhat cowed. People are feeling a little easier about saying what they really think. Thanks to Elon Musk and X, there is less worry of being canceled or fired for voicing an unapproved opinion.

From the time Trump rode down the elevator to announce his first run for president, his promise has been to give the country back to the people. We don’t know how successful he will be. But we do know this. The power of the government has been used and abused to stop him.

• His 2016 campaign was illegally spied on by the intelligence agencies.
• The FBI leaked the Steele Dossier as evidence of Trump supposedly colluding with Russia to fix the 2016 presidential election.
• The dossier accused Trump of cavorting with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel.
• There were accusations of a connection between a Trump email server and a Russian bank.
• Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel but his investigation could not establish Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
• Trump was impeached twice and acquitted twice.

Accusations proved to be false, but Trump was under attack throughout his term of office. After Trump left the White House in January of 2021, the FBI executed an armed raid on Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation into Trump’s handling of presidential documents, even though negotiations with the National Archives into their proper disposition were in process at the time.

After Trump’s November 2022 announcement of his intentions to run for president in 2024, criminal indictments began to be filed against him.

• In March 2023 Trump was indicted under New York law for entering payment for a non-disclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels as legal expense rather than campaign expense. The Federal Election Commission did not consider the payment to be campaign expense, but Trump was found guilty anyway. Sentencing was postponed indefinitely after his electoral victory over Kamala Harris.
• In June 2023 Trump was indicted for mishandling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The case has been dismissed.
• In August 2023 Trump was indicted with 18 of his allies for attempts to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia. The prosecutor has been removed over ethics violations, and her office has no authority to continue the case.
• In August 2023 Trump was indicted for attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and incitement in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. This case has been dismissed.
• Many charges against Trump were dropped and cases delayed when the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are entitled to varying degrees of immunity for official acts.

All of this is reason for hope in America. Trump said he will give the country back to the people, and now look at everything that was done to stop him – investigations, impeachments, criminal indictments and assassination attempts. Yet here is Donald Trump. He is not in prison, not dead, not broke, and definitely not broken. He could not be stopped. Donald Trump has won the presidency again to finish the job he started in 2017. Given his track record, my bet is on Trump to Make America Great Again.  And We the People… will help.