Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
Thankfully, the 2022 midterm election is now far behind us. I can hear many voters exuding a sigh of relief and shouting – after $17 billion was spent on disinformation, misinformation and the occasional truthful political ad – “Yes, finally, the election is over.”
Normal life – I think – is back and we’re now deep into the holiday season. Let’s ponder how the 2022 holiday season might become better than we’ve experienced heretofore.
First, let’s recognize the word “holiday” means Holy Day. Next, let’s value that holidays are celebrated from both a religious and cultural perspective. Then, we need to acknowledge the holy day is celebrated throughout the world.
If we can agree on these three premises, we just might develop a better appreciation of others and approach the 2022 holiday season from a more holistic and inclusive perspective.
For centuries the holidays celebrated include Bodhi Day (Buddhist), Christmas (Christian), Diwali (Hindu), Eid al-Fitr (Muslim), Hanukkah (Jewish), Kwanzaa (African-American), Lunar New Year (East Asia) and Winter Solstice (Indigenous), to name a few.
Mike Ronsisvalle, a Florida-based psychologist, claims in faith-based traditions the holidays were a time when people were to purposely change their behavior and thereby modify their holiday experience. For some, however, the holiday season will be static and self-centered, only thinking of and gifting to those within their own family.
How might we intentionally change our behavior this holiday season to its fullness?
Returning to Americans spending nearly $17 billion on political candidates, which amounts to $162.84 per voter, a challenge is offered. For every dollar you contributed to a candidate for public office, intentionally give that same amount to a not-for-profit charity, which may be in greater need of financial assistance than a politician’s perpetual reelection coffers.
Didn’t give to a politician or party? Then purposely contact your local food bank and ask if you could spend a few hours volunteering at their agency and/or contribute money ($1 helps provide 10 meals). Don’t forget most post-secondary institutions of higher learning also have food pantries to assist students in need.
Inquire if there are any residents at a long-term care facility or hospital who might like a fruit basket, personal care items, phone call or a 10-minute in-person visit. Your outreach endeavor may assist those who are lonely and isolated during a time that should be joyful.
There are about 600,000 homeless Americans; more than 33,000 are veterans. Impactful Ninja ranked the seven best charities for helping homeless people with the National Alliance to End Homelessness touted as setting the gold standard with a Charity Watch grade of A+.
If you are seeking to help make a positive impact upon kids in need, there are more than 117,000 children waiting to be adopted in America. Impactful Ninja also identified the 10 best charities to support foster care. The top three in terms of overall impact are Foster Care to Success, Together We Rise and Children’s Defense Fund.
My favorite global, nonprofit organization that provides medical services to those affected by war, disaster or disease is International Medical Corps.
Consider contacting your local Kiwanis, Rotary or Lions clubs – all non-sectarian – to seek membership. Their multitude of service projects would give you around-the-year opportunities to assist people and organizations in your community who need assistance.
While spending time with your family this holiday season is important, consider thinking outside the box and intentionally change your behavior by helping others. It may be the start of a new holiday tradition of pursuing the festive season in a more robust, long-term and meaningful perspective.
Happy Holy Days!
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2026. President Donald Trump jolted Republicans during a fiery appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scrapping a housing bill signing ceremony and clashing behind closed doors with a party rebel who challenged him over the Iran war. Trump had been expected to sign the bipartisan housing.
Only Trump doesn’t care about housing
It was August 15, 2024. Then candidate Donald Trump stepped out of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club’s columned clubhouse to a gaggle of reporters. He was flanked by tables of groceries and signs showing the rising cost of food. Also on one of the tables was a dollhouse, meant to represent the equally alarming rise in housing prices.
It was a speech about the economy, the single most important issue of the 2024 election cycle, full of promises that went right to the heart of Americans’ anxieties. While former President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris were contorting themselves to posture a good economy that just needed more time to recover from the pandemic, Trump was preying on voters’ very real fears of unaffordable gas, groceries, and homes. It was obviously a winning message.
In that speech, Trump promised, “We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction. We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.”
As of mid-2023, there had been a housing shortage of nearly four million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. Americans all over the country were either priced out of buying new homes due to low inventory, trapped in their existing homes by sky-high mortgage rates, or facing exorbitant rent hikes thanks to corporate investors buying up rental properties. Americans needed help, and Trump promised it.
Cut to March of 2026, when Trump reportedly told House Speaker Mike Johnson, “No one gives a sh*t about housing.”
That kind of thinking may explain why Trump this week suddenly announced he was canceling a signing ceremony for the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a housing bill co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott that passed the House 358-32 and was approved in the Senate on Monday.
Trump instead demanded Congress pass the SAVE America Act, his controversial election grievance bill that doesn’t have enough Republican support to get passed in the Senate.
It’s just the latest in a line of policy self-owns where Trump has seemingly intentionally made life more difficult for Republicans hoping to keep their majority. Despite midterm elections occurring in the midst of a blistering economy and an unpopular war, they were surely hoping the housing bill would give them something — anything — to brag about when they returned home to their districts.
And very much to the contrary, Americans do give a sh*t about housing. According to a recent survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a whopping 79% say the cost of housing is extremely or very important to them. Eighty-three percent say Congress should take action on the issue — like it just did. Eighty-nine percent say the House and Senate need to work together to pass affordable housing legislation — like they just did. And 63% say they would be more likely to vote for a lawmaker if they helped pass legislation to build more affordable homes and lower housing costs — like they just did.
There aren’t many issues that unite Americans like housing does, and very few bipartisan policy wins Congress can point to, and yet, Trump is holding that bill hostage in order to get his pet project — which doesn’t even have the support of his own party — pushed through.
If you’re trying to make sense of something so nonsensical, as I’m sure many Republican lawmakers are, it’s certainly sad but not actually all that complicated. Trump said what he needed to get reelected and then promptly abandoned his promises in order to pursue his own self-interests, even if those interests are bad for Republicans and bad for voters.
That’s just the kind of guy he is.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.