Last year was certainly eventful. It brought spy balloons, Donald Trump’s indictments, the coronation of a king, the fall of a crypto prince, and no shortage of chaos in Washington, from the ousting of Kevin McCarthy to the farcical George Santos scandal. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of two major wars, one in Gaza and one in Ukraine. Plus, ongoing tension between the U.S. and China. On a cheerier note, 2023 was also the year of Barbenheimer, the year it felt like AI really arrived, and the year the 90s were finally cool again.
But, as crazy as last year was, will the next twelve months prove that it was actually just the calm before the storm?
For many of us, 2024 begins with a distinct feeling of dread.
The Middle East grows increasingly unstable, the war in Ukraine is not going Kyiv’s way, and Xi Jinping’s rhetoric gets more bellicose by the day. Here at home, there’s the small matter of the election from hell, in which American voters face the unappetizing prospect of once again having to choose between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
To try and figure out whether things will really be as terrible as we fear, today on Honestly Bari Weiss and Free Press editor Olly Wiseman are calling up some of our favorite experts to get a better sense of what’s coming down the pike.
The great Tyler Cowen looks into the economic crystal ball. Leandra Medine Cohen clues us in on fashion trends in 2024. Our very own Suzy Weiss talks through the cultural year ahead. Linguist John McWhorter looks at language. Doctor and longevity expert Peter Attia tells how to start the year healthy. Eagle-eyed political observers Nate Silver and Frank Luntz try to forecast the election. And historian Niall Ferguson tells us whether we’re right to be having nightmares about World War III.
Some guests cheered us up, others freaked us out. All of them were a pleasure to talk to. Welcome to 2024!
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The irony of listening to three people who comfortably work from home discuss how Federal workers should have to return to the office five days per week is only surpassed by the ridiculousness of one of those people saying something about the “crazy fancy” government office buildings. Seriously, Nellie, I love you, but have you ever BEEN inside a Federal office building? You know who reports to work five days per week at the Department of Labor’s hideous hundred year old eye sore building? Roaches the size of your thumb. And mice. And rats.
Most of us in the Federal workforce were expected to immediately, seamlessly pivot to work from home the minute it suited the political powers that be and the American people. Now we’re expected to immediately, seamlessly pivot back. Not because our work has suffered — there’s no evidence of that whatsoever — because because, once again, it suits the political powers that be (none more so than Bowser, the incompetent mayor of DC). Never mind the fact that we live in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. and are vastly underpaid by industry standards — at the top of the Federal pay scale, with the DC pay adjustment, I make about the same amount that I would have as a starting associate at a law firm when I graduated *in 2009.* Never mind the fact that this choice to force a return to office will push the most qualified among us out of the Federal agencies. Never mind that it will disproportionately impact mothers, who are still expected to do more on childcare and have the flexibility to deal with sick children and preschool closures. Never mind that many of us were already teleworking before Covid, and it was not a political issue then. That’s fine. You all should definitely keep weighing in on this from the comfort of your home offices.
I am taken aback when those on the Left are surprised that the Left and the youth support Hamas and the Houthis. We only need to look at the historical causes that they supported -- the Bolsheviks, Stalin (see the number of Pulitzers the NYT got for covering up his crimes), Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Castro; all killers and anti-Western. No one on the Left remember Jane Fonda posing on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun that was used to shoot at US planes? The Left has always tried to tear down Western values in general and the US specifically. No shock.