By almost any measure, 2017 was a bad year.

As a nation, we (with the help of a hostile foreign power) installed a wannabe dictator into the highest office in the land. A man-child with near total disregard for truth and the rule of law. A narcissist with no sense of shame or empathy. A U.S. president who believes the Constitution is merely a set of suggestions.

Two of our most basic and fundamental institutions, the press and judiciary, came under constant attack last year. No, not by some subversive domestic organization but by the president of the United States himself.

2017 saw an America divided, the likes of which not seen since the days of the Vietnam War.

The world became a more dangerous place in 2017.

Thanks to the deliberate abdication by Donald Trump and his regime, the United States is no longer seen as the leader of the free world. There is no longer that steady hand at the helm that other nations relied on. Deepening conflicts are sprouting up everywhere.

As U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it:

“When I took office a year ago, I appealed for 2017 to be a year for peace. Unfortunately, in fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse. … Global anxieties over nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War, and climate change is moving faster than we are. Inequalities are growing, and we see horrific violations of human rights. Nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise.”

Yes, 2017 will be a year to remember… for all the wrong reasons.

Yet, as bad as this past year has been, what lies ahead in 2018 portends to be much worse.

I’m afraid we will look back, fondly, on 2017 as we now view the presidency of George W. Bush … a calamity and a failure, but nothing compared to that of Trump’s wretched rule in 2018.

2018 does hold out one glimmer of hope. No, it’s not the Mueller investigation. The odds of a Republican Congress expelling Trump are slim, no matter what wrongdoing the FBI special counsel may uncover.

This year’s mid-term elections hold the key. They need to be swept by Democrats who will have the power to restore sanity and the rule of law to a government now in distress.

Photo | aljazeera.com