Bonk is founder and CEO of Business for America, a nonprofit that seeks to mobilize corporate advocacy for democracy reform. Kase is CEO of the League of Women Voters and a board member of the Democracy Initiative, a coalition of 75 progressive groups advocating for democracy reform.
A recent and painful example is what House Democrats dubbed their Delivering for America Act, which would provide a much-needed infusion of $25 billion for the Postal Service and reverse unwise policy changes that have slowed down mail delivery. But this legislation is a bit different from the usual victims of hyperpartisanship in Congress.
The House passed the bill last month with a degree of bipartisan support that's really unusual these days: 26 Republicans, one out of every seven, joined the Democrats. But there is no prospect for a vote in the Republican Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has dismissed the bill as a "partisan stunt."
Private-sector leaders need to make it clear that this kind of business-as-usual gridlock is unacceptable for the health of American businesses and the American economy.
We bring a unique twin perspective to this conversation. One of us is a former executive at an iconic American firm, Apple Inc., and the other helms America's most respected nonpartisan civic education organization, the League of Women Voters. Sometimes, for-profit and not-for-profit actors have different perspectives on public issues. Not this time. Prompt, reliable delivery of our nation's mail during the coronavirus pandemic — and throughout an election season where absentee voting has already started — is in everyone's best interest.
As a leader with a private-sector background, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has the experience to recognize when he's made a mistake — and make it right. So he should put back the dismantled mail sorting machines, authorize overtime when necessary and stop sending empty mail trucks on interstate journeys in the name of "efficiency."
Any enterprise, public or private, must innovate with the times and seek efficient operations. But efficiency for its own sake is not a proper metric for an essential public service. As recognized in federal law, the USPS is "not a business enterprise conducted for profit." Instead, it is driven by its mission to connect Americans in every corner of the country.
Safeguarding our priceless democracy by enabling citizens to vote is an essential component of that mission. So is paving the way for businesses to connect with their customers.
You can't email groceries, pet food, household supplies or the thousands of other things customers are now buying online. No private shipper has the reach and resources for the essential last mile of delivery to every address in the United States.
Universal mail service is also a crucial way for startup entrepreneurs to reach new markets — giving the next pair of Steves or Sheryls or Shrinis, with a new gadget ready to ship from their garage, at least a fighting chance against bigger and more established firms.
In response to the coronavirus, voters are expressing a clear choice for safe, accessible options. In primary after primary this year, record numbers of voters chose to vote by mail. In the last presidential election, some 33 million ballots were cast that way. This time, the number is likely to more than double, to over 80 million.
Data indicates voting by mail does not benefit either political party — but it does benefit all voters. Those who vote from home, or go to a polling place to vote early, reduce their own health risks — and make polling places less crowded and less risky for election workers, volunteers and those who choose to vote in person on Election Day.
Just as businesses must react to consumer demand, every elected official — local, state and federal; Republican, Democrat and independent – must respond to the clear demand from voters for safe ways to participate in our democracy.
No voter should have to choose between their health and safety and exercising their constitutional right to vote. And no business should experience the uncertainty — and loss of sales, revenue and equity — that occurs when a collapse of trust in the electoral process drives political instability and then economic instability.
Public officials need to hear from all of us about what we expect to create a safe and fair election. And we all have a role to play, by making a plan to vote: by mail, at early voting centers, or in-person on Nov 3, just seven weeks away.
We're on track for a historic election, with high levels of participation across race, income, ideology and geography. Together, we'll be facing a stress test for our democracy. Can we protect our civic health and our public health at the same time? We believe the answer is yes, because American voters — unlike their elected representatives in Washington — understand that our politics can and should focus on the public interest, not on partisan infighting.
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.