Schmidt is a syndicated columnist and editorial board member with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In the midst of the darkness that is our politics and ongoing threats to democracy, I found light while sitting in the Grand Ballroom of The Conrad Hotel in Washington, D.C.
There were two “conservative” conferences taking place in D.C. on the weekend of Feb. 23-25: the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the Principles First 2024 Summit.
I had the pleasure of attending the second one. The three-day grassroots summit was focused on rebuilding principled leadership that serves our country — not partisanship or personality. The summit’s theme was “Conserving America’s Liberal Tradition.”
Listening to the variety of speakers at Principles First, I caught myself looking up at the chandelier. It had a hundred or so cylinders hanging next to each other in a large rectangle. The cylinders were of varied lengths and there were several different shades of glass. Each cylinder had a light in the center – at its core, if you will. Because each glass cylinder was hanging next to another one, their individual lights reflected on each other. This configuration produced an abundance of illumination and was absolutely beautiful.
This chandelier serves as a metaphor for Principles First. Imagine each glass cylinder as an individual and the primary light a principle or set of principles that each person in that room held dear. The reflections of light caused the entire room to glow, extending beyond each individual cylinder. One couldn’t help but be attracted to its radiance.
In 2019, founder Heath Mayo began organizing Americans on the right and center-right who were concerned about the health of American democracy. He started a series of meet-ups around the country and then envisioned bringing together those grassroots leaders from across the country to offer a positive vision for advancing principled conservatism in the United States. That movement grew into what is now known as Principles First.
Mayo describes the idea of principle as anchoring our politics to core values and ensuring that those we elect today wield power tomorrow according to some blueprint larger than themselves. “Principles define who we are, what we believe in, and the type of country we’ll become. That’s why we choose to put them first — before politicians and before party.”
The organization identifies 15 principles as a part of its commitment to holding our government and ourselves to a higher standard:
- Integrity, character and virtue matter.
- Every person has dignity, quality and worth.
- Truth, honesty, rationality and facts are non-negotiable.
- The Constitution and the rule of law are paramount.
- Our government is a limited one with enumerated powers.
- Congress writes laws, the executive executes laws and the courts interpret laws.
- Government closest to the people is most accountable.
- People reach their full potential when they are free.
- Free and functioning markets deliver prosperity.
- Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes.
- Government must responsibly steward resources for the next generation.
- Civic associations, faith communities and families should be the primary engines of our culture – not the state.
- Strong families are the building blocks of society.
- Sovereignty is critical to self-government.
- America's role in the world is unique and important.
The various speakers at the conference touched on one or more of those 15 principles. Each of the speakers also demonstrated that during some point in their careers or in their life, they put “principles first.”
Despite using light as a metaphor, the people in that ballroom were under no illusion that they have a home in this Republican Party. They have been exiled and are now considered RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and are deemed globalists for supporting Ukraine or for pushing back against authoritarianism.
While this small band of scrappy idealists may be a minority within the Republican Party, they hold much power in the broader electorate. These are the voters who determine elections. And the Principles First movement is growing. The fourth summit roughly doubled in size from last year, bringing in over 600 attendees from 45 states.
The goal and hope of the summit is that individuals would leave D.C. with their lights shining a little brighter, go back home to their communities and inspire other individuals to join them, resulting in a focal point of luminescence.
Interestingly enough, the symbol for Principles First is a lighthouse. So if those 15 principles spark something in you, look towards the beacon of integrity.
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.