Across the world, pundits are wearing out their Keurigs fueling up to write their predictions for 2018. Given my track record at forecasting the future, I don’t dare try that this time. Instead, in this column I’ll offer some events that I am afraid might happen. The building blocks for each of these catastrophes are ready at hand. All it will take is a few bad decisions by critical people and BOOM. Then SPLAT.

I list them not to spur worry. No, it’s so you can join me in praying that none of these things occurs. My next column will list the things that I hope actually happen. So prayer warriors out there can get busy asking God to give them a little nudge. So here’s my 2018 Angst List.

War With North Korea

I wrote earlier this year on the unique danger posed by that evil, unhinged regime. Not only is it acquiring ICBMs that could rain down nuclear death on the western United States. Even without nuclear weapons, the North targets millions of South Korean civilians with old-fashioned but deadly artillery pieces. The first sign of U.S. action against the regime would likely unleash mass death on the citizens of Seoul. Many of those weapons aimed at civilians are hidden among civilians. So any U.S. attack that protected South Koreans would probably have to kill many, many helpless North Koreans. Not thousands but hundreds of thousands. Tragically, such an attack would meet Just War criteria.

It was Christmas 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed — peacefully. That was a miracle. It was also the product of hard human work, on the part of decent men. They included Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, and yes, Mikhail Gorbachev. Many other Communist leaders would have preferred incineration to the end of their utopia. Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro are both on record as welcoming nuclear war, provided it ended “capitalism.” Like Hitler in the bunker, they just wanted to watch the world burn. Kim Jong Un is of their ilk.

The building blocks for each of these catastrophes are ready at hand. All it will take is a few bad decisions by critical people and BOOM. Then SPLAT.

It might seem grimly inevitable that North Korea perish in ashes. But we once thought that about Eastern Europe, too. Instead, we see governments in Poland and Hungary standing up against the EU for Christian civilization. So God is full of surprises. Let’s beg him to shock us here with the magnitude of his mercy.

Surrender on Immigration

Let’s just be blunt about this: We’re running out of time. The rate at which new immigrants wean themselves off big government programs, anti-white identity politics, and political obedience to “community leaders” is much too slow. It’s retarded by the constant influx of more poor, low-skill immigrants into a country with few low-skill jobs and fat welfare benefits.

So as long as 50.1 percent or more of recent immigrants keep voting for Democrats, they pose a danger. The Democratic party is no longer a legitimate, patriotic party that seeks the best interests of all. That might have been true 30 years ago. But as we’ve seen from the campaign of mass sabotage waged by the left since Trump’s election, it no longer is.

Anything that boosts the election chances of Democrats is dangerous to the country. (And to the Church.) On this argument alone, President Trump would be negligent if he fails to act decisively. The only pro-life, pro-religious liberty national party in America is the GOP. Since 1988, it has only won the popular vote in a presidential race once (in 2004). Trump just barely won in the Electoral College.

A crucial reason for this political tectonic shift is immigration. The GOP establishment has had its chance. For 30 years leaders like Paul Ryan have argued that if we were just friendlier to immigrants, if we just cracked down harder on “nativists” inside the party, the “family values” of newcomers would (ahem) trump the attraction of more government programs and ethnic groupthink.

That theory sputtered and failed. It’s time to throw it out, and instead try to keep future Democrats out of the country. A long pause on low-skill immigration would give newcomers time to join the middle class. Not till they start looking at their tax bills instead of the “benefits offered” section of government websites will they even considering voting Republican. For more, see my much-denounced but never-refuted 2011 essay, “Amnesty Equals Abortion.” If he needs it, send it to your pastor or bishop.

So Trump must reject the cheap sentimental appeal of amnesty for “DREAMERS” and DACA beneficiaries. He must back Tom Cotton’s bill repealing “chain migration,” a ludicrous practice that makes every illegal we amnesty into the potential sponsor of dozens of new immigrants. The millions of future Democrats whom DACA and “Dreamer” illegals could invite here in future decades would seal the fate of the Republican party nationally, and turn states like Texas purple then blue. We would never elect another pro-life president again.

Trump must build the wall.

The EU Will Triumph Over Europe’s Voters

This is a more complex threat. The war that the EU’s unelected oligarchs are waging against Europe’s people has many fronts. I could write (and have written) 1200 words about each of them. Here are just a few of the key threats (with informative links) that the EU’s shadowy rulers pose to Europe’s nations and peoples.

• Forcing European countries to accept Muslim immigrants. Led by nations where pseudo-refugee terrorists claim hundreds of lives each year, and recent arrivals live mostly (in some places 90+ percent) on welfare, the EU is threatening costly sanctions against states that said no. States like Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, which spared themselves Muslim colonization. Those countries must be willing to take the hit. Having suffered both Nazi and Soviet occupation, the last thing they need is sharia adherents seizing whole swathes of their cities.
• Stopping countries from enacting and enforcing their own sovereign laws. The EU is threatening Poland with other sanctions for kicking out holdover Communists from its judiciary, and trying to outlaw abortion.
• Bullying Britain into nullifying Brexit. A combination of weak Tory leadership and a massive campaign by elites has put Great Britain’s effort to escape the European Union into a ditch. Just as power brokers in the U.S. have tried every tactic to undo Trump’s election, comparable cronies in Britain are working with the EU’s leading oligarchs to derail the voters’ sovereign decision to LEAVE.

These are not so much things to worry about as to petition Our Lord about. And where you have a voice to speak about. The world is on fire. Grab a bucket, even if all you can fill it with is tears from your prayers.