The year 2024 has been full of miracles.
Every year has its ups and downs, and this one was no exception, but the high points were so miraculous that they easily outweigh the few low points.
Now, all we need are more miracles in 2025.
Let us begin with the obvious. President-elect Donald Trump’s survival after an assassination attempt on July 13 was an event that defies rational explanation.
We may never know why a gunman was allowed so close to the stage, with a clear shot at the candidate. But somehow Trump turned his head at precisely the moment that a bullet was heading straight for him, and he was only grazed.
Several others were tragically hit, and firefighter Corey Comperatore died. So the event itself was certainly no cause for celebration. But imagine the darkness into which our country, and our world, would have fallen had Trump not survived. None of us will forget the image of him standing up, fist raised.
The election in November was another miracle.
I have long said that “Republicans never win, except by surprise.” As Election Day came closer, it became clearer that Trump had a very strong chance of winning. That he did so was not a surprise — at least outside the mainstream media bubble — but the fact that he won the popular vote was a surprise, as was the goodwill that seems to have greeted that victory, even among some of his former political opponents.
Israel’s victory in its ongoing war remains miraculous.
A year ago, Hamas was still firing rockets at southern Israel, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had even killed three hostages by mistake after they had managed to escape. Over the course of the past year, the IDF crushed Hamas, rescued several hostages, decimated Hezbollah in Lebanon, took apart Iran’s air defenses, and saw the Syrian regime collapse.
As I write this column, Israel is striking back at Houthi rebels in Yemen and contemplating airstrikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the greatest threat to the region. There are still 100 hostages in Gaza, and their return is a major challenge, but Israel is stronger than ever.
I experienced a few personal miracles. In September, my wife and I were blessed with the birth of our fourth child, a son, conceived in the weeks after October 7, 2023. The birth was relatively easy and my little boy is healthy and good-natured.
In August, I published my book, The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days. I also published much of the rest of my life’s work thus far on Audible. I don’t know what creative projects are next, but we shall see.
Yet there is much that still needs to be done in the new year, and we may need many more miracles.
President Trump will not have an easy time controlling inflation, a problem that has historically only been solved with economic pain. Securing the border will also be an extremely difficult task, not to mention the question of what to do with millions of people who have entered the country illegally in the past several years.
There may be opportunities for peacemaking in the Middle East, but there will also be new challenges: the Syrian rebels who ousted the Assad regime, for example, include hard-core Islamic terrorists who are already threatening Christians and other minority groups in the region. Russia and Ukraine are still at war, and China is still a growing threat — not just in the western Pacific, but elsewhere.
More broadly, we have long-term problems — the debt, the declining birthrate, the epidemic of loneliness — that will require sensitive approaches. We have elected a president who prides himself on being a disruptive force; the challenge of rebuilding will be our own.
So as 2025 begins, let us pray for a few more miracles. Someone appears to be listening.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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