The winners and losers of 2024, here they are!

The Beltway consensus is that Americans will look back fondly on 2024. Other than the major war or two, the Biden years were a welcome interlude in Washington from the chaos and tumult of Donald Trump’s hyperactive tweeting.

THE WINNERS:

DONALD TRUMP: After the tumultuous 2016 and 2020 elections, the last thing the country needed was a contested election result. Donald Trump obliged, winning bigly in both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

In the process, he reshaped American politics by attracting a slew of working-class voters to the GOP. The Republicans won by slim margins in the House and Senate, so much of his policy agenda will depend on executive orders and the bully pulpit.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: This time last year, Bibi looked finished. The greatest security lapse in Israel’s history had just occurred, and although Israel was pummeling Hamas, Iran’s other proxies circled menacingly.

But since then, Israel has fared well and Bibi has too. The IDF annihilated its most threatening neighbor, Hezbollah. Iran’s missile and drone waves did little damage, unlike the Israeli response.

Even international pressure, such as the Biden administration’s flirtation with Bibi’s political rivals and the ludicrous International Criminal Court arrest warrants, worked in Netanyahu’s favor, and his corruption trial and recent surgery have barely slowed him.

Israeli politics are notoriously turbulent, and Tehran has not yet run out of expendable (in its view) Arabs to throw at Israel, but Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has gotten back to the top of the polls and the center of Israeli politics.

JAVIER MILEI: People who pattern themselves after comic-book figures rarely succeed in life. But the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Argentine president, who designed his hairdo to remind people of the comic-book character Wolverine, is breaking all the rules.

Decades of Peronist big-government follies turned Argentina into a stagnant, inflation-ridden backwater, and Milei is out to save the day.

Milei came into office with a chainsaw in hand and Milton Friedman quotes at his fingertips, and he has put both to good use.

He fired tens of thousands of bureaucrats and slashed spending, inflation and debt are down, and the economy is now growing.

Milei’s international stature is, too: He is a global conservative icon and was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after the U.S. election.

Argentina’s economy has broken many hearts, and bank accounts, but if Milei can ram more reforms through his often-hostile legislature, he will be a superhero indeed.

THE LOSERS:

IRAN: In early 2024, Iran’s minions were on a roll. Hamas had dealt a heavy blow to Israel on October 7, Hezbollah had rendered much of northern Israel uninhabitable, and the Houthis had practically closed the Red Sea to international shipping. Tehran had grown so confident that it exported extra arms to Russia.

Over the past year, Iran’s empire unraveled. Hamas managed to get most of Gaza destroyed without hurting Israel much more.

Israel then mauled Iran’s regional strategic reserve, Hezbollah, and Turkey polished off Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Israel also destroyed Iran’s most advanced air defenses, showing that the Iranian regime cannot even defend its nuclear and military facilities.

Ozymandias died long before his empire dissolved into dust; Supreme Leader Khamenei can only envy that good fortune.

BARACK OBAMA: Most presidents flee the swamp when their terms end, but former president Obama settled into Kalorama, a tony neighborhood close to the White House. From there, he’s had a ringside seat as his signature initiatives crumbled.

His campaign to appease Iran reshaped the Middle East, and Iran emerged from his presidency with a regional empire and international approval for its nuclear program.

Peace did not come, though, and the Biden team had to reluctantly abandon Obama’s Middle East strategy. Obama also helped push Joe Biden into retirement and lined up some of his best campaign advisers to work for Kamala Harris.

But neither they nor Obama, who accused black men of sexism during the campaign, could make this flawed candidate win.

JAPAN: This has been a tough year for America’s most powerful Asian ally. Japan’s security is entwined with Taiwan’s, and if a crisis comes, Tokyo will rue President Biden’s unwillingness to spend more on defense.

Inflation and scandals toppled Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took advantage of the Ukraine war to cure Japan of its allergy to military spending.

His successor, Shigeru Ishiba, lost the majority in the subsequent election. Ishiba is still prime minister, but his weak position will impair Japan’s response to China’s military buildup and threatening activities.

South Korea’s conservatives, moreover, are imploding from the fallout over the failed martial law decree, so Japan has lost its best friends in Seoul.

Our foreign policy mandarins are no doubt bracing for a tumultuous 2025. Conservatives, however, may have much to look forward to.

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Source: M. WATSON, THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON