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2022 is finally limping to a close, dragging a bewildering set of circumstances in its wake. War in Europe. The end of Roe. A red wave that never was. A new Trump campaign, complete with NFTs.

It was also a year of political highs and lows, leaving some people, ideas and movements celebrating their victories while others tasted stinging defeats. So we offer for your amusement (or annoyance, depending on your political priors) 11 sets of paired winners — things like Gen Z, governors with White House ambitions and the spirit of George Marshall — and losers — gerontocrats, billionaires and American institutions among them.

Here’s what soared and stumbled in politics this year.

Read the story.

“Donald Trump can’t start a Twitter war with Miss Universe without shooting himself in the foot.”

Can you guess who said this about then-presidential candidate Trump? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**

Aaaand They’re Off! … Donald Trump’s post-midterm announcement may have kicked things off in earnest, but prospective 2024 candidates started jockeying for position much earlier. You could even say that some of them — cough, cough, Cuomo, cough — lost well before the race even began. Bill Scher has the breakdown on where the would-be presidents stand in the run for the White House.

Forty-three percent … of Republican men prefer beer to wine, compared to 36 percent of Democratic men. Eighteen percent of Republican women prefer beer, along with 21 percent of Democratic women.

Democracy On Trial … Donald Trump’s attempt to use the courts to overturn the 2020 election didn’t pan out for him, but that doesn’t mean Democrats are exactly sanguine about how such a ploy could work in the future — particularly as Republicans have taken a page from Trump’s playbook, challenging the constitutionality of ballot drop boxes and questioning whether election boards could decline to certify results, among other things. Enter the Elias Law Group, a firm founded last year by former Hillary Clinton campaign counsel Mark Elias. Backed by millions of dollars from Democrats, they’re challenging Republicans on election security in the courtroom. Interviews with nine of the firm’s top 15 partners reveal that the attorneys see their mission as making a last stand for democracy, writes Jesús Rodriguez.

‘I’m Very Bad at Dumb Things’ … Light spoiler alert: The new star-packed Knives Out mystery for Daniel Craig’s Southern (?) detective Benoit Blanc does not exactly go easy on the idea of billionaire mystique. In fact, writes Calder McHugh, the whodunit is really about living in the age of Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Ye. Compels me, though.

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**Who Dissed answer: That was one of the groan-worthy zingers Tim Kaine attempted in his vice-presidential debate with Mike Pence in 2016.

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