In the warmth of 'It's a Wonderful Life,' where generosity is a shared civic duty, today's holiday season stands in sharp contrast with the divisive rhetoric that permeates our daily lives. This was poignantly captured in a piece by Amy Lockard in the Fulcrum on Christmas day What ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Warns Us About America Today about the holiday season as a time of goodwill — a reminder that this time of year is meant to soften us, widen our circles of concern, and renew our belief that generosity is not a luxury but a civic necessity.
Amy’s writing resonated with me because it captured something I’ve always felt: that the holidays invite us to imagine our better selves.
It was only a matter of time before the day's news intruded on the serene picture, shattering the warm, festive mood.
During the traditional NORAD Santa‑tracking calls on Christmas Eve, a 10‑year‑old from Oklahoma asked the president about Santa’s journey. Instead of the usual light-hearted reassurance, the President spoke of making sure Santa “wasn’t infiltrated,” warning that the United States couldn’t allow any “bad Santas” into the country. He later added that Santa “loves Oklahoma.”
It was a fleeting exchange — the kind that would usually dissolve into the warm blur of holiday ritual. But it also revealed something deeper about the stories we now tell, even in moments meant to be innocent. Our President's language of suspicion, threat, and infiltration has become so normalized in our political bloodstream that it now spills into conversations with children about Santa Claus.
As if this wasn’t enough, today on social media, our President on Christmas day, he wished us all a Merry Christmas by posting this uplifting message of goodwill to all mankind, “to all, including the Radical Left Scum,” while accusing them of “doing everything possible to destroy our Country.” The exact message is:
“Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement. What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401 (k) s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday a 4.3% GDP, two points better than expected. Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT”
The holiday season I remember wasn’t about assigning blame or scoring points. Unfortunately, the messages from our President speak to the times we live in.
If one chooses to ignore our President, the holiday season message has endured the test of time. The idea that this is a season of goodwill and love toward all mankind shouldn’t be just about the holiday season, but about the fabric of our nation. It is time to see one another as neighbors rather than threats, and to return to the virtues embodied in the Declaration of Independence: that all men are created equal.
Our President instead has chosen to co-opt Christmas with a fear-based political agenda rather than bring us together as a nation. Goodwill to mankind is not a weakness. Compassion is not partisan.
As we move into 2026, amid the turbulence and uncertainty generated by politicians seeking political advantage, let us return to a more united holiday season. A holiday season that recognizes that our nation has real challenges, but understands that meeting these challenges can be achieved with dignity and honor. Not the version that glosses over real challenges, but the one that insists that how we speak to one another matters. What is the path that you will choose in 2026? Will it help us unite and collaborate, or one that divides? Let this be a time for reflection on the narratives we choose to embrace as we shape our shared future as a nation.
This season invites us to change the path of our nation to one rooted in goodwill, shared humanity, and the belief that we are capable of something larger.
That’s not just a holiday message. It’s a democratic one.
David Nevins is the publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.