Ready for the Rollercoaster Again? America’s Strange Relationship with Calm

We Escaped the Storm, Only to Find Ourselves Missing the Thunder

The Trump years felt like a constant barrage of surprises and shocks. Every morning began with a new tweet, 280-characters, often divisive, that would define the news day programming, a message that could shake markets, stun diplomats, or fire up supporters. Press briefings were unpredictable, with new controversies emerging faster than the dust from the last could even settle. America, long known for its steady leadership, now felt like a reality show that never took a commercial break. For his supporters, this was energizing; for everyone else, exhausting.

By the end, so many Americans were just spent. Many were looking for something that resembled normal life again, where government worked quietly in the background and people could focus on their own lives. Boredom didn’t just sound nice—it sounded necessary. What people wanted from Biden wasn’t charisma or spectacle; it was a return to basic governance, to experience and competence.

Of course, this desire for stability and predictability didn’t resonate with everyone. Seventy-four million Americans cast their vote for Donald Trump in 2020, perhaps still valuing his disruptive approach, his willingness to shake up the status quo, or simply his direct, often unfiltered connection with the public.

None of our foreign allies shared this desire. Our allies often looked on, bewildered or even exasperated, as American foreign policy took unexpected turns. In Trump’s hands, diplomacy took on a surreal quality: saluting a North Korean general, exchanging ‘love letters’ with Kim Jong Un, and standing next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki with a tone that left allies—and even some within his own administration—bewildered. International relations became as unpredictable as reality TV, marked by dramatic gestures that left other nations on edge. There were occasional grains of truth—his concerns about disproportionate U.S. contributions to NATO, for example, weren’t unfounded. Yet, the delivery often overshadowed the message.

True to his word, Biden has delivered a presidency that runs largely behind the scenes. In place of daily controversies, his administration has focused on the work of governing—often without fanfare or sweeping declarations. Gone are the impulsive confrontations and Twitter battles that kept diplomats on edge. While the Biden administration isn’t without its share of foreign policy disruptions, from external pressures to political critics, it operates with a steadiness that marks a return to more traditional diplomacy.

We asked for calm. We wanted predictability. And fundamentally, the Biden administration delivered exactly that—a presidency without the rollercoaster ride. Yet now, as those tumultuous years fade in memory, a hunger for drama, for disruption, seems to gnaw at our political psyche.

It’s in our political DNA to crave change. After four years of volatility, many Americans sought the stability that Biden promised. And yet, just a few years later, that same quiet has some of us looking back, almost nostalgically, at the noise we left behind.

Perhaps we’re wired to miss the excitement, to want something that feels alive, even if it comes with a dose of chaos. Boredom, it turns out, may be more uncomfortable for many than the instability we once fled.

For many of those voters that swung from Trump to Biden in 2020, the Biden presidency delivered exactly what they thought they wanted—a return to normalcy. So now here we are, and many of these voters seem poised to trade calm for chaos. As memory fades, perhaps it has begun to feel too quiet. Perhaps stability has a short shelf life. Like thrill-seekers stuck on the merry-go-round, we’re eyeing the rollercoaster once again, unable to resist the allure of the rush—even if we know the twists and turns may leave us green around the gills.