As we wrapped up the annus horribilis that was 2019, I predicted the new year would be much better.
I saw a “bright sunshiny” period and concluded in this column that we’d be “alright”.
But even this dyed-in-the-wool optimist who likes to think of himself as a good friend of reality, is finding it difficult so early in the year to remain positive.
US President Donald Trump is no longer just tweeting vile threats and hatred, he’s taken the globe a huge leap backwards.
In the words of his biggest rival in the run-up to what will be the US’s and the world’s biggest moment this year, he has tossed a “dynamite stick into a tinderbox”.
Former vice-president Joe Biden says Trump’s assassination of an Iranian general will have the exact opposite effect of deterring future strikes against the US.
Time will tell how the oil-rich Middle East giant will react. But you don’t need me or the sangoma we interviewed about 2020 to make a prediction (see page 3).
Closer to home, the DA’s Helen Zille is hell-bent on continuing to use Twitter as a weapon. Thankfully, she’s not also a commander-in-chief.
I see a calculated, cunning
and unstoppable method in
Trump’s madness. It’s all about the November elections.
The object of Zille’s Twitter war and the friendly fire campaign that has politically assassinated a string of her former comrades isn’t clear. It’s going to be a long, bumpy road to the DA’s elective congress in May.