You think 2018 was an exhausting news year? Get ready for 2019.

From a Thai soccer team trapped in a cave to “I like beer!” confirmation-hearing outbursts, catastrophic natural disasters, and Elon Musk doing his thing, it has been. A. Year.

I have bad news. Next year will be crazier.

Here’s why:

1. Let 2020 campaigning begin. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election in April 2015 — 20 months before voters went to the polls. Expect candidates to announce their bids even earlier this cycle (February? March?) because of the wide-open field on the Democratic side. To the extent that there’s any oxygen left in the political news cycle, these people will suck it up. Actually, I take that back, because…
2. Mueller x 100. The slow drip of news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling has provided will metastasize as the newly Democratic-controlled House of Representatives exercises its oversight power on the Executive Branch. Yeah, yeah, presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said she’s going to stymy the most explosive of investigations — impeachment — but that won’t stop a flood of other theatrical congressional hearings from taking place.
3. The portend of GM. With the iconic automobile manufacturer’s announcement this week that it plans to lay off more than 14,000 workers, news outlets will likely be reporting on the spikes and dips of the U.S. economy with breathless anticipation next year. In fact it has already begun: “…the biggest takeaway should be how GM is indirectly predicting an economic slowdown,” Axios’ Dan Primack writes.

Other 2019 news storms are brewing — Silicon Valley’s ongoing reckoning with its place in the world, immigration in the U.S. and abroad, consolidation in the blockchain and crypto space, gender equality, etc. What will we in PR rely on to get other worthy stories some time in the spotlight? The same thing that got us through 2018: relentless creativity.