One Man a Hero. One Man a Monster.

America has lost a very good man. It must find a way to control a very bad one.

Robert Mueller, 1944-2026, as a young Marine Corps officer preparing to be a platoon leader during the bloodiest year of combat in Vietnam, 1968. He was wounded in action, received a Purple Heart, and was awarded a Bronze Star with ‘V’ for valor among other decorations. It was the beginning of a long career in public service. (National Archives/Getty Images.)

Robert Mueller died today, at age 81. Decent people around the world mourn his passing. Americans who know about public service recognize him as a stellar example. If the phrase “with privilege, comes responsibility” can apply to any Americans of recent history, the list might start with him.

And today, the person who is now on his 24th golfing trip to Mar-a-Lago of his second term—the actual number, at millions of dollars per trip in public expense, while the world reels from a war he started on a whim, while families he promised to help are struggling with medical expenses and gas prices and tariff increases and everything else—today that same person wrote publicly of Mueller:

Good, I’m glad that he is dead.

This is the most despicable public statement by an American public official in my lifetime.

It needs to be recognized as such.

Any head of state who can say this in public about a countryman, even about a political adversary, is a moral monster. Either he has no ability whatsoever to empathize with others; or he has no sense whatsoever of a leader’s duty; or he has no remaining cognitive ability whatsoever to “filter” what he says. Or all three.

If I thought Trump had ever heard of John Donne, I would remind him of “no man is an island.” If I thought he had ever been seriously in any place of worship, I would remind him that none teaches being “glad” at another person’s death. If I thought he had a soul, I would recommend that he attend to it.

Just while I’m at it, here is how Donne’s most famous passage ends:

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

Whatever your political views, including about “the Mueller report,” respect Robert Mueller’s example of service. And stand up against Trump’s example of depravity.

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‘I have been very lucky. I should spend time paying it back.’

Let us consider, briefly, former FBI director Robert Mueller—before, and apart from, his past two decades in the news.

—He grew up in privilege, son of a DuPont executive. For high school he went to the elite St. Paul’s boarding school in New Hampshire.

—At St. Paul’s he was a renowned athlete: Captain of three teams—soccer, hockey, lacrosse—and winner of the school’s medal as outstanding overall athlete.

—He went to Princeton, where he played varsity lacrosse. A lacrosse teammate one year ahead of him was another notable athlete named David Spencer Hackett.

—At Princeton, Hackett had been in ROTC, and after graduation in 1965, in those early days of the Vietnam war, he was commissioned as a Marine Corps officer. Early in 1967, leading a platoon in Vietnam, he was killed in action. You can read about his life and death here.

—After his own graduation from Princeton in 1966, Mueller spent a year getting a master’s degree. And then he enlisted in the Marine Corps, in part because of his teammate Hackett’s death. As he said years later in an interview, with emphasis added:

I have been very lucky. I always felt I should spend some time paying it back. One of the reasons I went into the Marine Corps was because we lost a very good friend, a Marine in Vietnam, who was a year ahead of me at Princeton. There were a number of us who felt we should follow his example and at least go into the service. And it flows from there.

—Before Vietnam, he trained at Army Ranger school and Army Jump school. In Vietnam he led combat platoons through the carnage of 1968; he was wounded; he received numerous decorations. Decades later he told my friend Garrett Graff that among his achievements, he was “most proud the Marine Corps deemed me worthy of leading other Marines.” Combat bravery is far from the only mark of civic courage. But Mueller displayed both kinds. You can think of examples a generation older than Mueller: The first George Bush, who was an 18-year-old combat aviator during World War II. William Webster, Mueller’s predecessor at the FBI, who served in the Navy during both World War II and the Korean war.

—Mueller left the military to go to law school. He spent the decades that followed mainly in public service, including 12 years as director of the FBI. He was appointed by a Republican president (GWB), and re-appointed by a Democrat (Obama).

And this is kind of person the country’s current “leader” says he is “glad” has died.

I don’t know when I have ever felt more disgusted by an elected leader than right now.

I’ve disagreed with people, often. But this is beneath contempt.

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What can any of us do?

A national leader, who celebrates any prominent citizen’s death, is not fit to lead.

Of course we know this already about the morally empty vessel who at this moment is lolling or dining in Florida, while others serve and suffer and die.

But what can anyone do?

—One week from today, the next “No Kings” mass protest will occur. The preceding one, last October, was the biggest one-day demonstration in the nation’s history. And that was before the ICE murders in Minnesota, the war-on-a-whim in Iran, the surge in gas prices, the “glad he’s dead” post.
Next Saturday’s should be bigger. Find out more about it here.

—Call and write the White House and leave messages of outrage about this vile expression from a serving president. The address as always is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC 20500. The main phone number is the same one I remember: 202-456-1414. They now have a comment line, 202-456-1111. Flood them with outrage.

—Call and write your Senators and Representative, especially if they are Republican. You can look them up on their websites. But the main Capitol switchboard number, as always, is 202-224-3121. They notice when people call and write.

—Insist that those who presume to hold the same positions Robert Mueller once did, notably including Kash Patel at the FBI, issue statements of sorrow and sympathy at Robert Mueller’s death, and apologies for their leader’s offensive message. Reporters: Make Kash Patel answer, “Are you also ‘glad’ that Robert Mueller has died?” Citizens: The FBI’s main phone number is 202- 324-3000.

—Make every single Republican office holder, at every single press availability, answer the same question. Do they agree that the country should be “glad” to have lost a man like Robert Mueller? Don’t let them try to eel their way out, with evasions like Mike Johnson’s trademark “I haven’t seen that yet” or “no comment.” It’s a simple question: “The president says he is glad Mr. Mueller is dead. Do you agree?”

They stand up to this moral monster now. Or they stand with him. It’s a bright line.

—Also for reporters: If I were running your news organization, I’d avoid honorifics like “Mr. President” or even “Sir” in association with this abysmal moral example. He has forfeited his right to all terms of respect. It’s a favor to call him even “Mr. Trump.”

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My personal note.

I had no official or personal dealings with Robert Mueller during his long career. I never interviewed him or went to hear him testify.

Bizarrely, I shared physical space with him on two occasions, both from local life in DC. Once was in the waiting room for colonoscopies at a medical center several years ago. (Apparently we both were fine.) The other was at DCA airport’s then-notorious “Gate 35X,” which was like a rundown bus station for regional airline flights. I did not approach or speak with him either time.

These both were in periods when Mueller’s face was almost nightly on the TV news, and he could expect to be recognized. But he carried himself as just another citizen. Once he sat reading a newspaper. The other time, reading a hardcover book. He did not look around to check whether people noticed him. He comported himself as a normal, decent man—aware of his good luck, and the responsibilities that placed on him.

Let us remember him as an exemplary American. And learn from him rather than the monster who now controls the airwaves.