2018 - Pay attention! Be informed! Act!

I'M SO HAPPY that 2017 is over! Week after week, day after day, it was a barrage of Trumpisms eroding the bastions of truth, civility, tolerance and the foundations of our democracy.

At the end of 2016 the U.S. was the ONLY superpower in the world. A little over a year later, the U.S. is disrespected, laughed at behind its back, and dismissed as a world leader.

Somewhere in the backrooms of the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin is laughing. 

Putin's arch-enemy, the United States, the bright light of democracy is dimming; the city on the hill is crumbling and the power and influence of was once the most respected and envied countries in the world has all but disappeared while Donald Trump is playing golf at Mar-a-Lago.

2018 will be one for the history books for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Right off the bat and the rest of the year, we'll be election heavy as the mid-term polls weed out the wannabes in the primaries to run-off elections in November.

As it was in 2016, there will be strong push for voter registration by AAPI political groups representing both parties and nonpartisan agencies.

A number of first-time Asian/American candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring and we'll be profiling some of them soon. If you know of any, please contact us so we can start doing our research.

Beyond the AAPI community, we need to pay attention to the incumbents who through their votes in Congress sought to overturn the Affordable Care Act and passed one of the worst tax reform measures in history that was heavily weighted in favor of the already rich and corporations, or as Donald Trump would say, "my friends."

RELATED: 2017 -  the year Asian America woke

We'll also be covering the Winter Olympics in South Korea where Asian Americans will be competing for medals in snowboarding, short-track speedskating and ice dance pairs and  both men's and women's individual events.

We'll be watching the awards shows this year with the hope that an Asian American will win one of the acting awards. Hong Chau has been nominated by the Screen Actors and the Golden Globes as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Downsizing. Will her luck continue with the Academy Awards? The last time an Asian American won an acting award was Haing Ngor for his role in The Killing Fields in 1984. That's a 38 years drought!

We're also looking forward to the premiere of the Jon M. Chu-directed Crazy Rich Asians in August, how the critics and audience will react to it. More importantly, will the entertainment industry, famous for its copycat culture, start other Asian-themed projects if the movie is successful at the box office. Will Hollywood decision-makers start to look at the world beyond their black and white perspective?

In May or June, we'll hear from the U.S. Supreme Court on Trump's second-version of his Musllim ban to see if it meets Constitution standards or discriminates against people because of their religion or their nationality. 

The High Court will also look at the legality of gerrymandering that has given the GOP the edge in the last few elections. 

James Garcia Dimaya

The conservative-leaning justices will also rule on Sessions v Dimaya. James Garcia Dimaya. a Filipino immigrant who was deported because the lower courts ruled that his burglaries were acts of violence even though no one was home at the time.

Congress still needs to come up with legislation for the Dreamers and DACA enrolees. 

Republicans also need to support Trump's immigration proposals that would cut legal immigration in half, curtail family reunification and give priority to those immigrants who have special skills needed by the U.S.

The Trump administration will continue to push for its Damned Wall on the U.S. southern border. Unsuccessful in getting Mexico to pay for the wall as he promised during his campaign, Trump is now trying to get American taxpayers for a wall that could cost about $20 billion. Where that money will come from is anybody's guess since taxes will likely be reduced because of Trump's so-called tax reform.

The fear is that the GOP-dominated Congress will pull funds from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to help defray some of the costs.

White supremacists will continue to try to spread their racist agenda and stoke the fear among Trump supporters that people of color will soon take over "their" country, the hidden meaning behind Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again." Expect more attacks against POC, immigrants, mosques and temples because no one in the administration seems to be willing to speak forcibly and convincingly against the white supremacist ideology.

The first big event will be the 2nd Womens' March which will take place Jan. 21, the anniversary of the first march. This year, it will take place in Las Vegas. If you can't make it to Nevada, look for sister marches in cities near you.

The resistance continues.
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