How About One Dull Day?

From Iran to Mueller to ICE in our airports, I think we've had enough of Trump's reckless actions putting the country on constant edge

(Photo by Ekaterina Goncharova via Getty Images)

In recent weeks, I’ve been longing for boredom. I don’t mean that extreme version—a heavy dose of existential dread or feeling of nothingness—but rather a blissfully dull day when not much of anything happens.

This would be a day when I wake up and don’t feel the instant need to lunge for my phone, check what new horror has beset our world, then sort through how to respond in a somewhat low-key (if I’m lucky) state of anxiety. This would be a day when you, Dear Reader, would not hear from me because I’m relishing that rarest of birds: A quiet day for idle reflection.

“A happy life,” philosopher Bertrand Russell maintained, “must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.” That aligns with the view of Frederick Nietzche, who wrote about “thinkers and all sensitive spirits,” optimistically explaining that “boredom is that disagreeable ‘windless calm’ of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful winds.”

These thinkers may be overstating things. I’d put it more simply: A little boredom when not much happens is a chance to gather one’s thoughts without the constant buzz of anxiety and worldly excitement.

This weekend offered little chance for that, not if you are compelled to pay attention to the threats that face our world from a malignant man clutching the ultimate levers of power. He showed us who he is and the danger he remains, not once but three times.

First, there was news of the death on Friday of the honorable Robert S. Mueller III, who The New York Times summarized in the first sentence of its obituary like this: Mueller “led the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 12 tumultuous years, brought politically explosive indictments as a special counsel examining Russia’s attack on the 2016 presidential election, and then concluded that he could neither absolve nor accuse President Trump of a crime.”

Then came the despicable post from Trump, reinforcing my view and that of many others that he is one of the worst humans to ever walk the Earth: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Add this to the endless list of ways Trump stains the office he holds and abandons the responsibilities of leadership.

Second came his panicky response to his reckless and failing war of choice. His Truth Social post reeked of sweaty desperation, possibly even suggesting that his fear of failure resulting in narcissistic collapse is nigh: “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Unsurprisingly, this alarming, unhinged post did not frighten the Iranian regime into bowing down before the mad king. In fact, they responded defiantly, vowing that if their power plants were struck, the strait would be “completely closed” and they would “irreversibly” destroy vital energy infrastructure in the region used by Israel, the U.S. and its presumed allies, as well as desalination plants needed for water throughout the Middle East. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, also threatened that Iran would attack “financial entities” that buy U.S. Treasury bonds, ominously noting, “We monitor your portfolios.”

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, underscored the defiance. Trump’s “threats and terror” were “only strengthening Iranian unity,” while the “illusion of erasing Iran from the map” showed “desperation against the will of a history-making nation.”

Meanwhile, as the Pentagon was sending more soldiers to the region, raising fears of an escalation with American ground troops, Trump posted that he was considering “winding down” operations. Then, after he threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants, Trump sought to claim victory, posting yesterday, “Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!” This is the kind of deadly confusion that results when there’s no plan and a desperately incompetent Commander-in-Chief who refuses to listen to actual professionals.

Thirdly, rather than negotiate with his “greatest enemy” and address Democrats’ demands for ICE reform and end the major delays in the nation’s airports as hundreds of unpaid TSA agents have quit, Trump posted yesterday that he’s sending in ICE agents to handle airport security to ensure “no more waiting” and “no more games.” Because we all know how ICE agents have been deployed to increase security and safety, not terrorize communities and abuse people. To calm no one’s fear or anxiety, Trump insisted that ICE at our airports would “do security like no one has ever seen before.”

This weekend showed that we can expect more madness this week and beyond. Yes, Republicans should do their patriotic duty now and remove this dangerous man from office by invoking the 25th Amendment or by impeachment and conviction—two sane and legal measures that this GOP-controlled Congress and leadership will not pursue (and which Democrats should demand). My mind drifts to the oft-repeated analogy that we are all passengers in a car being driven by a seriously drunk man.

I still remember that one central feature of good and reliable governance is that the public does not have to spend every day on tenterhooks wondering what new horrors its reckless government would be unleashing next. It’s appalling to realize that millions of Americans voted for this—not just because they were angry about the price of eggs or despised immigrants, but because they were attracted to or even addicted to Trump’s non-stop “entertainment” and wanted to watch him burn it all down.

Which brings me back to my hunger for that quiet, indeed dull day. If there was a time that I longed for more worldly excitement and dreaded too much boredom, Trump has permanently convinced me that I was wrong. In Bertrand Russell’s 1930 book, The Conquest of Happiness, he provided a warning: “At least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear” of boredom, and those who seek non-stop excitement may be responsible for causing “wars, pogroms and persecutions.”

Here’s my closing vow: I will do everything I can to help ensure that there will be dull days ahead. In that blissful period in our future, we will count on having leaders who are committed to honestly performing their duties as public servants and giving Americans occasional reprieve from constant psychodrama. In short, this means having men and women who do their actual jobs and let the rest of us live our lives. That’s not too much to ask—or expect.

Programming Note: I will be hosting a Substack Live tomorrow at 12:30 PM ET with Marc Elias, the renowned elections and voting rights attorney and founder of Democracy Docket. I hope you’ll join us.

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $50 a year or just $5 a month, if you’re not already. This helps sustain and expand the independent journalism of America, America, keep nearly all the content free for everyone and give you full access to the comments sections.