In America, it's the winter of discontent

With Christmas and New Year's a few days away, this should be time for a bit of cheer and goodwill toward all. But the dire conditions of the state of this union and its politics in a winter of discontent will require a great deal of good cheer to raise national spirits.

Or, perhaps the consumption of large amounts of spirits is a better way to go.

The House of Representatives has fled Washington, leaving only a few matters of somewhat important unfinished business on the table for the Senate. The aid bill for Ukraine and Israel is one.

Border security remains a bipartisan national disgrace and a gaping wound spurting tens of thousands of immigrants into America every day. The first part of the Continuing Resolution expires on Jan. 19, the second on Feb. 2. If Congress cannot agree on a budget, government will shut down.

Meanwhile, cultural issues continue to pose irreparable political divisions. Free speech is on the chopping block. Presidents of three of America's Ivy League universities were made to look like fools before Congress when none could separate free speech from hate speech or answer where the latter had no place on these campuses.

The Texas Supreme Court found that a woman had no right to terminate a pregnancy that possibly threatened her life and certainly her health. She was forced to go out of state. And two states made it illegal for women to go out of state to terminate pregnancies, even for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That the court was enforcing the law made no difference. This is medieval justice.

A Washington jury awarded $148 million to two plaintiffs for defamation wrought by former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. That figure was absurd. It should have been five or 10 times that number to make an even greater point that this conduct is unacceptable, even though any award of that size is likely to be greatly reduced on appeal.

Polls on America's mood are gloomy and worsening. Despite the good news the administration can report on unemployment, inflation reduction and increases in real income, President Joe Biden's approval rating is 34%. That matches only the subterranean levels of George W. Bush and Trump upon leaving office and the lowest since Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate in 1974.

The war in Ukraine is deadlocked. However, because of its sheer size, momentum is moving toward Russia. Ukraine fatigue is setting in. No matter how much Biden says the United States is in for as long as it takes, we are not. The United States is simply running out of material such as ammunition to resupply Ukraine. So are our allies.

Despite the justification for the offensive "to obliterate" Hamas after the horrendous terror attacks of Oct. 7, international attitudes and opinions have turned dramatically against Israel. Gaza is being leveled. Tens of thousands of Gazans have died, the majority being women and children. Many more will follow.

Beyond Israel's military offensive, starvation, deprivation of power, water and medical treatment are exacerbated by disease. As conditions worsen, and on the current track they must, outbreaks of epidemic proportion are possible. That will only increase international criticism of Israel, especially over the holiday season.

The Houthis' continued launching of missiles and drones in the Red Sea will trigger a response. The Biden administration has not publicly explained its strategy to prevent these strikes and how the United States will retaliate. A "task force" called Prosperity Guardian is being formed. How quickly will it act -- and how effectively -- remain to be seen, given that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have declined to participate.

How we got here is less important than how the country retrieves itself from a very somber set of conditions at home and abroad. Ideally, with an election just over 10 months away, at least one candidate would emerge with some positive ideas for how to right the ship of state. But, on the Republican side, the candidates are torn over whether to condemn or praise Trump and not with offering sound proposals for governing. And Trump is only interested in sowing disruption by his too often use of incendiary language.

Democrats are intent on raising the president's popularity ratings and ending the candidacy of possible opponents. Offering a platform of priorities and policies would be to Biden's advantage. A plan will not be an immediate solution. But it would be a good start.

Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and author of "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Follow him @harlankullman. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.