Republicans are in for a couple of Capitol Hill shockers in 2018, according to Bill Kristol, who's predicting some monumental changes in Washington for the GOP.
"Paul Ryan will not run for re-election to the House, and in any case Democrats will take the majority in November," Kristol, editor-at-large of the Weekly Standard, said of the House speaker and the GOP's current House stronghold.
Kristol's prediction shores up last week's bombshell Politico report that Ryan "has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker" — although the Wisconsin Republican calls the claim "rank speculation."
The conservative pundit has made no bones about his distaste for the current GOP lineup.
On Sunday Kristol let loose in a tweet that the Republican Party has turned into a "cult of personality worthy of a banana republic."
Many of Kristol's colleagues at The Standard are similarly unimpressed.
Rachael Larimore, The Standard's online managing editor, said: "Republicans will lose the House and the Senate. Every candidate Steve Bannon backs will lose. [President] Donald Trump will blame the establishment," Larimore said.
Standard reporter Andrew Egger said he believes the American political system will face more drama in 2018.
"Our desiccated political institutions will continue to shrivel and decay. Social media giants will continue along the track of banning alt-right voices from their platforms, but the effect will be canceled by a corresponding uptick in breathless media coverage of those same voices," Egger said.
"Donald Trump will declare he accomplished more in his first half-term than any president in history."
Jonathan V. Last, digital editor of The Standard, has one of the more intriguing predictions for the New Year.
"One sitting Democrat in the Senate will switch parties," Last said, although he does not name who.
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