This is my last column of 2019 and much as I tried to write a feel-good piece, somehow the traditional “Happy New Year” wishes sounded as no more than, well, wishful thinking.

 It would be great if there was any chance of good wishes becoming true, but that will not happen as long as Donald Trump and his band of alt-rightists, crooks, sycophants and greedy millionaires remain in power. And as long as spineless “traditional” Republicans, supposed to know better, go out of their way to declare their abject subservience to their supreme leader.

The dismally low popularity of Trump is proof that less and less people still believe the “Make-America-Great-Again” sorry bunch of gelatinous, genuflecting, racist characters have in mind the well-being of the country or its people. But it doesn’t mean the aging former TV actor could not repeat – perish the thought -- his 2016 performance. It if happened, the country would be saddled with Trump’s racism, coarseness, greed and stupidity for four more years.

Michael Moore, one of the few people in the media who in 2016 predicted Trump would be elected president by winning in the vital swing states of the Midwest, thinks it could happen again.

“I think if the election were held tonight, Trump would win,” Moore told Rolling Stone magazine. “Not in the popular vote. Oh, no. Hillary won by 3 million votes? Whoever the Democratic nominee is, is going to win by 4 or 5 million votes. The gap will be even larger. … The popular vote is going to be huge. But Trump has not lost his base. They’ve gotten bigger, and angrier, and whiter, and madder.” Not exactly a comforting thought to start the year with.

The time for good wishes and warm-and-fuzzy platitudes is over. If we really want the government to change course, we need to send politicians to Washington that represent workers, women, blacks, Latinos, immigrants, LGBT people, that is, the great majority of the people. We need to go out and vote. 

Come November throw the bums out!