America's Bright and Dark Side, All in a Day

Jamie Stiehm
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:23:26 -0700
Opinion

The seventh of April: Put it down as the most schizophrenic day in United States history.

While the nation waited with bated breath to see if Donald Trump would keep his threat to destroy the ancient Iranian "civilization" by 8 p.m. ET, we also glimpsed the dark side of the moon for the first time in human history.

Let's start with the good news. The voyage to the moon came thanks to Yankee ingenuity, teamwork and inventiveness in building a rocket for four astronauts to take the trip of 250,000 miles. Thank you, Houston, no problem. You showed what America can do, and it sure gave us a lift on Easter.
Updated: Wed Apr 08, 2026

The seventh of April: Put it down as the most schizophrenic day in United States history.

While the nation waited with bated breath to see if Donald Trump would keep his threat to destroy the ancient Iranian "civilization" by 8 p.m. ET, we also glimpsed the dark side of the moon for the first time in human history.

Let's start with the good news. The voyage to the moon came thanks to Yankee ingenuity, teamwork and inventiveness in building a rocket for four astronauts to take the trip of 250,000 miles. Thank you, Houston, no problem. You showed what America can do, and it sure gave us a lift on Easter.

On the other side of the moon, the lunar surface looked like dusty white rock pocked with craters. No big surprise.

Much better yet, we glimpsed a vision of the Earth rise through the window of the Integrity. Under the blue sky membrane, the beauty of the Earth was ... unearthly. Magnificent is our home in the cosmos.

"Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth ... is that it is alive," author and scientist Lewis Thomas wrote. Our precious planet supports vast systems of life with oxygen, water, land and sea. It would be nice to keep it that way.

The Artemis II crew comprises a Black man, a white woman, a Canadian man with a white man as the commander. For Trump and Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon chief who has a habit of firing Black and female Army officers, they make a superb model of diversity. The astronauts witnessed a solar eclipse, which left them breathless with joy, searching for words.

"There's no adjectives. I'm going to need to invent new ones," Reid Wiseman, the commander, said.

Their gravity (pun, sorry) came through on their mission's meaning, conquering a new frontier for future exploration. They expressed the hope that their record is not long-lived, said astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

All in all, a great day and triumph for America. But how could we enjoy it fully when the president was acting like the inmate in chief of an insane asylum?

This was like the Cuban missile crisis when John F. Kennedy was president, only worse. Cooler, brighter heads of government prevailed then.

Aghast at his language toward Iran ("you crazy bastards"), Americans on the ground had to wonder if Trump really would go nuclear over opening the Strait of Hormuz. That is Iran's strategic asset, which the country closed to most international shipping traffic. You can't really blame them. Iran did not start this war.

Two men started it in the dark of night: Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who manages Trump's elephantine ego like a ringmaster. Israel needed this war, which flew in the face of our national interests. Never mind. Let's go, Trump said, without telling Congress or our NATO allies, a flagrant violation of the Constitution and international law. Soon he berated our best friends, like Britain, for not helping to open the Strait.

Trump resembled the boy who cried wolf too many times, insulting friend and foe, leaving him stuck in the Strait.

His zigzag messages over five weeks of war led to the ultimate threat of genocide. Iran is indeed a proud, ancient Persian civilization under a ruthless ruler. The people are not our enemy. To hold over their heads the fear of bombing civilian infrastructure, bridges and power plants is bad enough. That's an illegal military order.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never voiced his opinion, but some thought he felt starting a war with Iran was a terrible idea, The New York Times reported. Iran is a tough adversary — formidable, even.

But obliteration is another order of magnitude, obviously. That gets Trump and tragically absurd Pentagon chief Hegseth a one-way ticket to the Hague as war criminals. Nazi war criminals were hanged at Nuremberg. We would never wash our hands of that blood. At the last minute, a brief ceasefire agreement emerged.

As Artemis II pilot Victor Glover beheld the view of humanity below, he said, "We are all on the same spaceship called Earth."

The best and worst of America: all in a day.