Daniel McCarthy: Let the spirit of Christmas heal our wounds after a bruising political year

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year — especially in an election year.

After eleven months of war between Democrats and Republicans, including weeks for the defeated side to mourn the results, Christmas is a season when everyone can rejoice.

For Christians, Jesus’ birth is more important than any political battle.

The Christmas spirit has something for people of every belief and background, however: It’s a time to cherish family and reflect on peace and goodwill toward all.

Our politics, and the world, needs that spirit more than ever.

Letting go of the hatreds built up over a bruising election cycle isn’t easy, and it can feel like betraying a cause you’ve spent months or years fighting for.

But Christmas is a time of truce, and for the sake of peace among nations, it’s a time for hostilities at home to cease.

The New Year kicks off full of peril and promise, from Ukraine to the Middle East.

It won’t be easy, but the incoming administration has a chance to bring an end to years of bloodshed.

Even many of President Trump’s critics concede his first term was an era of comparative tranquility, marked by the success of the Abraham Accords and a new seriousness on the part of NATO allies to meet their obligations for defense spending.

Like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan before him, Trump was able to engage in bold diplomacy because America’s opponents were afraid to underestimate him, and they knew his doctrine wasn’t to avoid conflict at any price but to keep peace through strength.

Today the world is a far more dangerous place than it was when Trump left office, and restoring the peace will require more goodwill at home.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), who is fast becoming the Democratic Party’s conscience, voiced the right spirit Sunday, saying he wasn’t “rooting against” the incoming president. 

“If you’re rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation. And I’m not ever going to be where I want a president to fail,” he said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

“So, country first. I know that’s become maybe like a cliché, but it happens to be true.”

Other progressives have taken Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump much harder than Sen. Fetterman, and they’re in no mood to forget their ill-feeling toward the GOP.

They’ve retreated to Bluesky — the social media site that supplies a leftist alternative to Elon Musk’s X — where they’re constantly reliving and refighting the Nov. 5 election.

Yet that’s an online echo chamber, not the real world: 

Ordinary Americans, even in blue states and cities, put the campaign behind them long before they put up the Christmas decorations.

I’ve seen that for myself in the deep-blue suburbs of Washington, DC, where life outside of politics carries on as normal.

What the excessively online left and the officeholders who share its mentality need is a reminder that politics isn’t everything — the parties they should be thinking about this month are the Christmas kind.

This is the season to overcome the resentments of the past, and not just those of the last year.

Trump has given a sign of goodwill with nominations that cut across partisan lines, including a Kennedy for his Republican cabinet.

RFK Jr. is controversial, to be sure, and so is Trump’s ex-Democratic nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

But these were Democrats who gave Trump a fair hearing, and in turn he’s showing how willing he is to work with those who put aside partisanship to work with him.

He’s made allies out of onetime rivals within the GOP, too, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, now his nominee for secretary of state.

A spirit of generosity served Donald Trump well in building a winning coalition, and it’s the spirit that his nominations reflect, too.

The president-elect’s political foes would do themselves a favor, as well as the country, if they displayed more of the charity — and patriotism — Sen. Fetterman expressed last weekend.

Christmas is the easiest time of the year to set aside old grievances and embrace good cheer instead.

It’s a season of hope and fresh beginnings — two things our politics urgently needs.

There will be policy arguments aplenty in 2025, but the election is over, and the American people rendered an unmistakable verdict.

Peace and goodwill aren’t just presents for Christmas.

They’re the foundations of a successful nation — and a stable, orderly world.

Christmas is the day to remember that anew, not only while the tree is up but as a New Year and new administration dawn.

Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review and editor-at-large of The American Conservative.