In 2018, Trump Makes a Last Stand, Florida Democrats Strike Back, and Derek Jeter Quits

It’s 2018, and Donald Trump is still president of the United States. Let that fester for a minute. But the odds are against the least popular commander-in-chief of all time making it through his second year. As we enter the new year, here are my predictions on Trump and other major stories that will dominate the next 12 months.

National politics. For weeks, the president and his lawyers bragged that the investigation into collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign would end by now. Yet Special Counsel Robert Mueller is just getting started. By spring, Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner will be doing the perp walk for his role in the scandal. The president will face impeachment but will resign when he finds out Mueller is also planning to go after Trump's daughter Ivanka.

Florida politics. In the Sunshine State, Democrats except Sen. Bill Nelson will finally deliver some big wins. Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine will beat ex-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the gubernatorial race. And state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez will claim Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s congressional seat. But Nelson will lose to Rick Scott, Trump’s pal and lame-duck governor, by one point. It won’t matter, though: The Democrats will take back the U.S. Senate in 2018.

NFL protests. Colin Kaepernick will win his grievance against the NFL and the 32 team owners for conspiring to keep him out of the league because he ignited the player protests during the National Anthem. The protests won’t stop when the 2018 season begins, forcing the owners to publicly condemn social injustices against minorities and police officers who protect bad cops.

Local sports. Derek Jeter and his partners will look to sell the Miami Marlins after enduring a full season of public outrage over their decision to sell off all the team's good players for nothing. A majority of season ticketholders will refuse to honor their commitments because they aren’t going to pay Major League Baseball prices to watch a farm team play. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins will move up in the NFL draft to select a franchise quarterback, ending the Ryan Tannehill era. The franchise will win a playoff game for the first time in 18 years. Sports talk-radio host Andy Slater will have the number one show in South Florida and marry a nice woman.

Real-estate market. Condo sales will continue to tank, but the market will still be too expensive for regular Miamians to buy their own homes. And the new apartment buildings with micro-units in Wynwood will fail to attract millennials. All of those New York real-estate tycoons who invested in the neighborhood will likely go bankrupt. Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo will attempt to pass laws to prevent foreigners from buying up all of the city’s poor neighborhoods, such as Allapattah, Little Havana, Brownsville, and Liberty City.

Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.