Here is a look back at some of the most egregious blunders of the year.
By Kyle Mantyla
2018 was a year in which right-wing pundits and self-proclaimed “prophets” made a variety of predictions and proclamations that never came true. Here is a look back at some of the most egregious blunders of the year.
The Red Tsunami
Heading into the 2018 midterm elections, Trump-loving pundits filled the airwaves with confidant predictions that America would experience a “red tsunami,” as support for Trump would result in a wave of Republican victories across the nation.
When the promised Republican sweep failed to materialize, these same pundits refused to admit that they had been wrong.
For instance, so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor insisted that the “red tsunami” he had guaranteed would now take place once dozens of Democrats were arrested and forced from office.
Similarly, self-proclaimed “prophetess” Kat Kerr declared that her guarantee of a red tsunami had also been accurate, insisting that lots of the Democrats who had been elected to the House of Representatives were secretly Republican “scouts” sent to infiltrate the party.
Wayne Allyn Root, who spent the weeks prior to the election bragging that he was the only one who “had the BALLS” to predict that “the GOP will hold the House,” now simply refuses to believe that he was wrong:
As for Bill Mitchell, who “100% guaranteed” that Republicans would retain control of the House, he chalked up the loss to the simple fact that the voters are stupid:
Weather Warrior
In addition to being wrong about the election, Kat Kerr also spent a good portion of 2018 “taking authority” over various natural disasters, ranging from Subtropical Storm Alberto and Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano to Hurricane Florence and the California wildfires.
Not once did a storm or disaster obey Kerr’s commands, but that has not weakened her conviction that she is a powerful “weather warrior” who can control the elements with her prayers:
A Warning to North Korea
Self-proclaimed “respected prophet” Cindy Jacobs kicked off 2018 by delivering a word of warning to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that God would remove him from office unless he converted to Christianity.
“He’s not going to allow Kim Jong Un to stay in that position,” Jacobs prophesied. “He is not going to allow compromise to come. Something is going to dramatically happen because his time for being a dictator is over, unless he turns his heart to the Lord.”
At last check, Kim Jong Un has not converted to Christianity and yet remains in power.
The Mass Arrests
For a good portion of 2018, right-wing conspiracy theorists have been promising that President Trump is running a secret investigation into a massive cabal of elite pedophile who will all be rounded up in mass raids that are always just around the corner (The pedophile smear is notably used by many of these theorists to characterize top Democratic leaders.)
Mark Taylor predicted that the arrests would take place in February.
In August, right-wing radio host Dave Janda stated that these arrests would take place once the primary elections were over.
In September, Janda predicted that the fact that Trump had issued a National Preparedness Month proclamation was a sign that the arrests would soon begin.
Then Janda boldly declared that “October is going to be big, really big. Hold on.”
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin asserted that the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh would be the “final nail in the coffin” and that mass arrests would begin at any moment:
The promised arrests have still not taken place.
72 Hours
On July 17, End Times broadcaster Rick Wiles issued a dire warning that leftist activists would attack the White House within 72 hours and drag Trump and his family out on to the lawn, where they would be executed.
“We’re about 72 hours—possibly 72 hours—from a coup,” Wiles warned. “Be prepared that you’re going to turn on the television and see helicopters hovering over the roof of the White House with men clad in black repelling down ropes, entering into the White House. Be prepared for a shootout in the White House as Secret Service agents shoot commandos coming in to arrest President Trump. That is how close we are to a revolution. Be prepared for a mob— a leftist mob—to tear down the gates, the fence at the White House and to go into the White House and to drag him out with his family and decapitate them on the lawn of the White House.”
Needless to say, that did not happen.
The Bible Code
In May, right-wing preacher Lance Wallnau prophesied, based on a passage from the Book of Esther, that by June 6, the nation would see “the unraveling of the entire deep state intrigue” that he believed was at work to take down President Trump.
Wallnau made this claim repeatedly, insisting that there would be “a major breakthrough” and “massive disclosures, a virtual hemorrhaging of information” by June 6 that would utterly destroy Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
“It’s going to happen,” he guaranteed.
It didn’t.
But Wallnau nevertheless insisted that he was not a false prophet because his predicted breakthrough actually had happened, but all the evidence was being suppressed.
“It’s being suppressed because the report is damning evidence on the corruption and the improprieties of the deep state in terms of its engagement against Donald Trump,” he said. “I’m still going to be vindicated in that.”
More than six months have now passed, and Wallnau still has yet to be vindicated.
An Amazing Second Year
Right-wing pastor Rick Joyner declared that 2018 would be the year that Trump “really starts getting traction.”
“I started prophesying that before he took office,” Joyner said. “You wait until year two. It is going to be tremendous.”
Trump’s second year has been disastrous on multiple fronts, as his close associates keep heading off to jail, key staffers keep quitting, the stock market is continuing to fall due to uncertainty about Trump’s policies and stability, and the government is mired in a shutdown entirely of his own making.
Originally published by Right Wing Watch, 12.26.2018, a project of People for the American Way, a program of Open Society Foundations, under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.