Attribution: Sheila Sund from Salem, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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By Geoff Carter
This piece will be published on Christmas Day, 2025, so Merry Christmas to everyone. May God bless us, every one—and God knows we need it. Despite enduring one of the most malignant, avaricious, spiteful, and vindictive men to ever hold the office of the presidency this last year, Americans everywhere are remembering what is to be a humane, generous, compassionate, and loving people, and they are proving it every day.
Although many Americans have suffered through pain, hardship, and the fear of not knowing if there will be food on the dinner table or how they’ll be able to afford rent or healthcare, we will display a spirit of giving and compassion and stand up for each other as they did during the ICE raids.
Among its numerous other transgressions, when this administration began its cruel policy of detaining, arresting, and deporting immigrants (some of them U.S. citizens) without cause, our citizens stood up for our newly arrived friends and neighbors, these future Americans.
In Chicago, where President Trump has declared war on immigrants, implementing ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz”, he launched an attack that included a late-night surprise attack on a residential apartment building. Helicopters, armed soldiers, and armored vehicles stormed the site, while film crews documented the operation. All residents of the building, some of them clad only in pajamas, were zip-tied and made to stand outside in the freezing cold.
During this attack, dozens of other citizens were pulled off the street and whisked away in black SUVs. One group of children celebrating Halloween were teargassed by these fearless masked thugs. This would have continued, but the people of Chicago stepped in and said no, not here. They organized to stop ICE’s illegal raids.
The people of Chicago were outraged. And they organized. Whenever anyone saw an ICE crew deploying their thugs, they would blow a whistle, prompting others to respond. And they did, gathering in the streets to stop the illegal arrests and detentions. These people didn’t have to do this. They volunteered to look after their neighbors, to stop them from being kidnapped and arrested without due process.
While this sort of resistance is sparked partly by outrage at the injustice and brutality of the ICE attacks, our citizens are also moved by the plight of their families, whose fathers, mothers, sisters, or uncles have suddenly disappeared from face of the earth, people don’t know whether their loved ones are alive, dead, or imprisoned in a foreign country. It’s natural to feel sympathy and compassion for the oppressed, especially if they are being unjustly persecuted. And Americans despise unfairness. They can sniff it out in a minute.
This is precisely what the Christmas spirit is about. While a six-year-old (or our POTUS–Krampus?) may think the holiday is all about receiving copious amounts of presents and eating sugar cookies all day long, most adults know the season is about being kind, helpful, and compassionate. Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men used to be fairly easy concepts to understand, but it seems as if our leaders in Washington D.C. have little regard for them.
The truth has been buried under copious amounts of lies and slander. Lies and half-truths have become the norm. Self-aggrandization is considered a virtue, not a vice. Corruption is rampant in our nation’s capital. There is little to no sympathy for the underprivileged; in our country; the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting nothing—not even health insurance.
So, as the world changes, so the Christmas spirit must adapt. It is no longer enough to smile and wave at passerby, wish strangers Merry Christmas, and drop some change into the Salvation Army bucket, or to go to Midnight Mass. It is no longer enough to be generous, benevolent, or considerate.
If, in this day and age, being generous must include defying uniformed thugs who are trying to kidnap innocent people, so be it.
If maintaining peace on Earth entails standing in defiance to those forces that would oppress and subjugate the weak and helpless, so be it.
If demanding equal rights and income equity is the new benevolence, so be it.
The American people have already engaged in this struggle. Nearly seven million angry citizens marched in the October No Kings Rally. Seven million. That’s nearly two percent of the population.
Voters have let their senators and congressmen know how angry they are at the POTUS (Krampus) unleashing DOGE on government agencies, destroying humanitarian programs like USAID and severely crippling the National Institute of Health. They vented about DOGE agents taking over the Social Security Office and firing thousands of federal workers. And this was only the beginning.
The administration has also slashed funding for education programs, the national parks system, and other programs, enraging everyday Americans. The murder of Venezuelan citizens murdered for allegedly smuggling drugs—people being executed without cause and without proof have appalled and disgusted the American people. And we have fought back.
This president’s complete contempt for the rule of law, including his destruction of the East Wing of the White House and refusal to release the Epstein files—and his involvement with the world’s most notorious pedophile—have shocked and horrified us. And we have fought back.
Christmastime is here. We can—and should—show kindness and compassion toward those less fortunate than ourselves, but isn’t it also our responsibility to fight the forces of oppression and corruption that cause such massive suffering? Isn’t that part of making the world a better place? Not that I think an army of peasants bearing torches and pitchforks should storm the White House on Christmas Eve, but a resolution to take care of our fellow citizens, to protect them, and the help them is the very definition of the spirit of Christmas.
Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men might mean exemplifying the virtues of peace and brotherhood, which is all well and good, but when our peace is threatened and the virtues of brotherhood are denied us, where can we turn? Should we turn the other cheek and continue being victims? Or is part of spreading goodwill and maintaining peace confronting and fighting evil? Isn’t that why we fought World War II?
I don’t believe in violence, but I do believe in justice, and I do believe in fairness.
And I do believe in Christmas.