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 golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.