In the days between Memorial Day—when we as a nation mourn and honor U.S. Military Personnel who died while serving in the Armed Forces—and July 4—when this year we will celebrate 250 years of our Democracy—there will fall, on June 14, a holiday known as Flag Day.
Since 1777, when the Second Continental Congress designated June 14 to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. flag, Flag Day has become a nationally celebrated holiday. But this year it has been overshadowed by a “tremendous” occasion taking place on the same day.
This June 14 is President Trump’s 80th birthday.
Could there possibly be a more fitting tribute to our gold-gilded President than a colossal live UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) on the South Lawn of the White House?
Trump’s massive new ballroom, larger than the rest of the White House complex, will unfortunately encroach a little on the South Lawn’s driveway. Thankfully, the glamorous aesthetics for the ballroom are intact, classic Roman with highly ornate gilded gold finishes. Perfect.
An iconic “claw” octagon cage is now being constructed on the South Lawn, with 5,000 seats around it. For $1.5 million, you can snag a prestigious VIP “package” for the event to avoid being amongst the 85,000 plebeians watching from giant screens at nearby Ellipse Park.
Peaking in the first century BC to the second century AD, gladiatorial games offered their sponsors extravagantly expensive and extremely effective opportunities for self-promotion. As befitting the “ruler” of any great empire, modern-day “gladiators” will “do battle” for the President’s birthday bash.
The main event for these modern gladiators will pit American Justin Gaethje against Spanish Georgian Ilia Topuria. Gladiators in the earliest Roman games were named after the Roman leaders’ enemies. Shall we then dub them “Biden” and “Obama”?
The event’s weigh-in will take place at the Lincoln Memorial. If Abraham Lincoln could “weigh in” on the spectacle, he might comment on the shredding of the Republican Party, as well as express concern about the future of the Republic itself.
In our modern age, where do we find the true warriors? No doubt they would be members of the Armed Forces, likely of the elite Navy SEAL team.
The Navy SEALs constitute less than 1% of the entire U. S. Navy. Only 20-25 percent who qualify to begin make it through the 62-week intensive training and the next 18 months of pre-deployment. There are eight active-duty teams and two reserve teams. The odd-numbered teams are stationed in Coronado, California, the even-numbered in Little Creek, Virginia.
The SEAL Ethos begins: “In times of war or uncertainty, there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer the Nation’s call … to serve the American people and protect their way of life.” The oath continues expressing a SEAL’s personal commitment: “…I do not seek recognition for my actions…but place the welfare and security of others before my own.”
So, where will these real heroes be on June 14th? They will be doing their jobs. They have already demonstrated their resolve; they are willing to join those who made the “ultimate sacrifice” for the greater good of our country.
And where will the birthday boy, also known as their Commander in Chief, be? Committed, as always, to glittering showmanship and garnering public accolades, whooping it up at his birthday bash.
Or possibly, he will be busy declaring wars or, as he calls the Iranian war, “excursions.” Or threatening whole civilizations with mass destruction and issuing wildly contradictory statements. “We won the war.” (March 3) "We must attack." (March 9) "We won the war." (March 13) "We will bomb the hell out of them.” (April 7)
President Trump did not serve in the Armed Forces when he was eligible, but received a total of five military deferments, his fifth a medical deferment for a bone spur. The podiatrist who provided the diagnosis later disclosed he did so as a favor to Trump’s father, who was the doctor’s commercial landlord. (New York Times, Dec., 2018)
Hail to the Chief.
Despite an already enormous debt, Julius Caesar, who also prided himself on his showmanship and unprecedented use of public funds, outfitted 320 pairs of gladiators with silver armor in a show of strength and scale in the closing years of the Roman Republic.
Let us not follow his example. We cannot allow these to be the closing years of our own Republic.
As the President’s birthday party also serves as the “unofficial launch” of the summer-long semiquincentennial celebrations, we have some time to reflect on our country’s upcoming birthday and the direction it will take.
So, from Coronado, California, to Little Creek, Virginia, from “Sea to Shining Sea,” let us remember the true heroes who have come before us and those who are with us now.
Let us commit to preserving “…this worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.” (Churchill)
And let us fly our American flags high and celebrate our democracy, and all it has survived, and all it will continue to.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."
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.