Searby serves as Director of Light4America working to empower people of faith to make January 6 "Faith in Democracy" day.
On January 6, 2021, some of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol wore shirts and hats and carried banners showing that their faith helped motivate them to attack American democracy. One of the first rioters to enter the Senate Chamber carried a Christian flag. Others at the Capitol that day waved Bibles and “Jesus Saves” and "Jesus is my Savior/Trump is my President” banners.
We want to flip the script on January 6. We want to make it a day of unity and peace. I am the Project Director of the Bridge Alliance partner Light4America (L4A). The Franciscan Action Network (FAN) and Light4America, supported by the Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD), are hosting the interfaith "Faith In Democracy'' vigil on Thursday, January 5, 2023 from 6pm - 7pm ET. The power of people of faith as uniters, not dividers, inspires the Light4America motto: “Fight Fire with Light.” All the major religions use light as a metaphor to show understanding, tolerance and peace. Our vigil will show how sacred scripture from many traditions supports these values.
The vigil will have a different tone and tenor from some of the other gatherings DFAD is supporting commemorating the January 6 attacks, with a focus on unity and hope to draw a broad audience spanning different faith traditions and political perspectives. As FAN Executive Director Michele Dunne has said, “As Franciscans, we are called to act as peacemakers and bridge-builders. January 6 continues to divide Americans and create concern about the health of our democracy as well as our ability to resolve political differences without violence.”
Speakers and participants will pray for democracy and peace with music by Hip-artist Anthony “Wordsmith” Parker, a nonprofit leader who sings in the “ Concert for the Human Family ” series of the Episcopal Church. The hybrid event will be held in person on the Mall by the US Capitol and online across the country. Confirmed speakers include: Sr. Carol Zinn, Executive Director of Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR); Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky; Rabbi Stephanie Crawley, Associate at Temple Micah; Rev. Paul Raushenbush, President & CEO Interfaith Alliance; and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director of the Kairos Center and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Together we can carry on the never-ending work of forming our more perfect union in America. People of all faith traditions should feel welcome at our event, including nonbelievers. We hope that this vigil with the support of DFAD and other great partners will not be the last. We see great potential for making January 6 a day of unity and peace in America, not division and violence. A day of healing, not hurt.
To register online: https://www.mobilize.us/jan6hearings/event/546043/ or register live: https://www.mobilize.us/jan6hearings/event/545952/.
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.