Up until this point, I have refrained from speculating much about the 2020 election, for the very good reason that the 2018 election hadn't even happened yet. But now that the midterms are over and done with, it becomes time to look ahead to the future. Today I'm going to dip my toe in the 2020 presidential waters, but not plunge in fully. In other words, this is going to be a neutral article about the process for the next primary election cycle. Consider yourselves duly warned.

The Democratic National Committee has already made some rather large changes to the 2020 nominating process. The biggest of which was successfully (and rather elegantly) stripping all decision-making power from the superdelegates. They can still show up at the nominating convention, and they can still (eventually) cast a vote for the guy or gal who has already won, but that's it -- they no longer will be able to put their collective thumb on the scale. Other big changes have already been made as well, including several states changing from holding caucuses to holding primary elections instead. Caucuses are fun and quaint and all of that, but they just incredibly inconvenient for far too many people. Plus, there's the whole "no secret ballot -- everyone gets to see who you vote for" thing as well. Multiple states have now done away with caucuses and will hold Democratic primary elections instead. This could change the dynamic of the whole race, considering how well Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders did in the caucus states in the old system. Whether this will be a change for the better or not remains to be seen, in other words.

But there's another sticking point that arose in the 2016 election cycle that is going to be incredibly important in the 2020 race, and that is how the candidate debates will be conducted. The last time around, the system was gamed by one particular candidate, which absolutely should not be allowed to happen next time. Democrats should hold as many debates as they think the public will pay attention to, for starters. Limiting the number of debates to favor a particular candidate should be a thing of the past, period.

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The Supreme Court may be about to seriously rein in the practice of state and local governments essentially committing highway robbery. This practice is known as "asset forfeiture," and I've written extensively about it in the past. But a new court challenge could if not end then at least severely curtail the practice at the state and local level.

The background to the case is the history of the explosion of "asset forfeiture" as a direct result of the War On Drugs. A cop can pull you over, or stop a public bus or train, and dig through your belongings. If he or she finds a large amount of cash (or even anything of value, really) then he or she can confiscate it under the claim that it was earned or bought from the proceeds of illegal activity, such as selling drugs. You'll note that no drugs need be found for this to happen -- no arrest need be made, no evidence of any crime is required at all. The cop just walks away with your money or your stuff. As a citizen, your only recourse is to sue to get your stuff or your money back. This is so expensive that few do so, leaving the cops with a bountiful means of boosting their own budgets.

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General Motors just announced several plant closures and over ten thousand layoffs, in a bid to restructure their operations for the future. Americans aren't buying so many sedans any more, so GM is shuttering some plants that make these cars. This includes a plant in Ohio, after President Trump personally promised workers that no factories would be shutting down there. Trump even went further, by personally advising Ohio workers not to sell their houses and move since manufacturing jobs would be such solid future prospects. So the GM announcement came as a rather personal blow to the president.

Trump, being Trump, reacted as he usually does to bad news -- by throwing a petulant tantrum and rage-tweeting dire (but ultimately meaningless) threats. Trump also apparently called up the C.E.O. and tried to talk her into changing her mind. This was noticeably unsuccessful, since that is not how gigantic corporations do business in the real world. Trump, channelling his inner strongman, then began threatening to take away "all subsidies" the federal government gives to GM, in retaliation. This is a paper tiger of a threat, however, since Congress passes tax law and is constitutionally barred from "bills of attainder" that target one individual (or one corporation -- as Mitt Romney would say: "corporations are people, too"). The executive branch can't just unilaterally threaten an American company, and the legislative branch is likewise prohibited from such targeted punishment.

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Another challenge has emerged for Nancy Pelosi to deal with, in her bid to become speaker of the House again. The so-called "Problem Solvers Caucus" (which includes nine Democrats) is demanding changes to the House's rules, and they have drawn a metaphorical line in the sand over three provisions they want to force Pelosi to adopt. In other words, the Problem Solvers are creating problems for Pelosi.

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That headline represents a distinction with a difference, as it could determine the next speaker of the House of Representatives. Is not voting for Nancy Pelosi for the speaker's chair the political equivalent of voting against Nancy Pelosi? Because, politics aside, there is an enormous difference between the two in terms of the rules of the House.

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This was already going to be a sparse week for columns, what with the holiday and all, but I regret to inform you that it's about to get even sparser. There will be no column today, because I have to deal with the auto repair shop (fuel pump is getting replaced), and some desperately-needed site maintenance. There will also be no new columns on Thursday or Friday this week, although I may find the energy to post a re-run (no promises). So tomorrow, look for a new column, but then there won't be another new column until next Monday. I apologize in advance for the bumpy service this week, and wish everyone safe travels and a happy Thanksgiving!

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

It is rare that I leave myself open to being accused of being too Pollyannaish or otherwise sticking my head in the sand, but today I feel there's definitely a risk of this. Because I am not all that concerned about our new Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker -- although I do realize there are plenty of others who are. But I think that while the pushback against his appointment is necessary and should be pursued by Democrats as vigorously as possible, in the end the real fight is going to be over the next actual attorney general, not the acting one we have now.

If the Whitaker appointment had not been controversial -- if it hadn't followed the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions, in other words -- then perhaps I would be more worried about him. If Washington as a whole had taken a ho-hum attitude towards his appointment, then there would probably be lots to worry about. To put this another way: Who knows what he would have gotten up to if he hadn't felt the heat of public opinion?

But so far the pushback has been so strong and so relentless that this is simply no longer an option. For every minute that Whitaker sits in the big chair at the Department of Justice, he is going to be living life under a very powerful microscope. Every single thing he does is going to be critically examined either now or in a very short time, when Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in January. Whitaker now knows this. He is fully aware that his every move will be critically examined by Democrats, whether in real time or in retrospect, before House investigative committees. This should serve to put severe limits on the amount of mischief he even attempts to get up to.

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Most Americans, not being political wonks, have largely moved on from the midterm election results. The mainstream media has also largely been ignoring the still-developing story, for two reasons: (1) they really kind of blew it on Election Night, uniformly coming to the wrong conclusion very early in the evening ("the blue wave is not appearing") and so they're now avoiding having to correct their misinterpretation; and (2) there's a recount in Florida again! Woo hoo! Break out the video clips of that poor myopic cross-eyed guy with the magnifying glass -- that's always fun to run, right?

Sigh.

However, one notable person hasn't exactly been ignoring the still-increasing blue wave. From an extraordinary article (titled: "Five Days Of Fury: Inside Trump's Paris Temper, Election Woes And Staff Upheaval") comes the following behind-the-scenes news from President Trump last weekend:

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You'll have to forgive me for writing yet another column on the midterm elections, but Maine has just made a bit of electoral history, and judging from conversations I've had recently with friends, their new voting system is not yet fully understood by all. Which is a shame, because it certainly is an innovation in the way people cast their votes. The jury's still really out on whether it is a good innovation or not, but it certainly is a different way of doing the business of counting votes.

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We're over a week from Election Day, and the vote-counting still ongoing. Currently, three races are commanding the media's attention, but there are plenty of other interesting things happening out there if you look beyond just Florida and Georgia. Because while the Election Day news for Democrats was good, it has only grown better and better since then -- even if few in the media are still paying attention. Today I thought it'd be worth it to take a look at all the other late election returns, which might be classified not so much as a blue tsunami (crashing ashore quickly) but rather as a sort of blue high tide -- a slow rise over time that eventually hits a high-water mark. Because that's exactly what is happening out there.

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