PPFA’s Most Read Posts of 2023

After subjecting the universe to ten thousand words in three posts across four days about Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, I expected to give you but more importantly me some time off. But then I remember I have an annual New Years Eve tradition of listing the year’s ten most popular posts according to WordPress. I can’t turn my back on tradition!

What I can do, however, is keep tradition short. I vow to keep my last post of 2023 to under a thousand words, or your money back.

Let’s start with a few honorable mentions:

• The Presidential Line of Succession (2022): My fifth most-read post of 2023 was actually written in 2022. An evergreen topic, the American people periodically wonder just how many federal officials would have to be removed from power to get down to someone they actually like.
• America’s Top Five Secretaries of State: My tenth most-read post this year was written all the way back in 2018! Upon Henry Kissinger’s death, however, a bunch of people remembered we have something called a secretary of state and got curious.
• Scenarios for the 2024 Republican Primary, Ranked (February 21): Our final honorable mention is my 11th most-read post of those actually written this year. Posted back when Ron DeSantis still led some polls, I illustrated that in 7 of the 8 most likely scenarios, Trump would nevertheless become the Republican nominee. It does not look like the exception is coming to fruition.

And now… PPFA’s top ten most read posts written in 2023!

#10. Checking in on the “Democratic” “Primary” (September 11): The Democratic Primary has neither been democratic nor a primary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. eventually recognized that and exited stage right for a run as an independent, all of a sudden making himself much more attractive to the likes of PPFA.

#9. Post-Pence Power Rankings (October 29): The exit of the Republican Party’s most recent Vice President transformed the primary from one where Trump was a massive favorite to one where Trump was a massive favorite.

#8. A Constitution Day Defense of the Constitution (September 17): In maybe my favorite post of the year, I unleashed my inner conservativism and defended our old governing document.

#7. FAQs: Trump’s Second Indictment (June 20): In what I’m hoping amounts to at least a little street cred, I never bought into RussiaGate or hush money to porn stars being sufficient to end Trump’s political career. His mishandling of classified documents, on the other hand, strikes me as much more serious. (As does his attempted insurrection.) I think it remains his biggest liability heading into 2024. Unfortunately, that trial’s start date is scheduled for May 20, when he’ll likely have the Republican nomination secured.

#6. Breaking Down Trump’s Ron DeSantis Rant (March 24): I forgot about the DeSantis rant! Epic. It makes me wonder how many insane Trump moments I’ve forgotten. It also makes me sad.

#5. Raise Your Hand If You Want Trump-Biden II (I’ll Wait) (March 14): I’m still waiting.

#4. “Barbenheimer” and a Midsummer Day’s Rant (July 31): We may live in a fracturing nation with a broken border, rising debt, looming climactic problems, loss of trust in every important institution, and two major parties sleepwalking to nominating an over-the-hill relic on the verge of senility to tackle these problems, but at least it’s a nation where Barbie and Oppenheimer open in the same weekend. USA! USA!

#3. Trump and Emerson College Polling, Sitting in a Tree (March 29): Its spot in the top three is a result of a periodic boost in google searches every time an Emerson poll comes out showing Trump doing unusually well and people wanting to look into it. In that post, I defended Emerson’s credibility despite its outlier polls, and it looks like I was right. Emerson’s results never moved to the other polls. The other polls moved to Emerson.

#2. Should Trump Be Ineligible? Analyzing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment (December 27): Whoa! In just four days, this post shot into the top two, and it has a shot to move to #1 before midnight. What explains its success? Certainly not its brevity.

#1. Wait Until You C These Debate Grades (August 24): Remember back at the first debate when people thought debates might matter? That was fun.

Well, that’s it for 2023. See you in 2024! I hear there’s an election.

-PPFA