What did Donald Trump do today?

He actually had to come into work on a weekend.

Trump is doing something tonight he almost never does: spending a weekend night in the White House. He had been spending the weekend in Maryland, but the rapidly deteriorating situation in Saudi Arabia apparently forced him to make the possibly unprecedented decision to cut short the usual three-day getaway trip he takes virtually every weekend. At least, that is the speculation: as of midnight on Sunday, the White House had not given reporters any comment on the reason for the change in plans.

The government of Saudi Arabia is reporting that Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at its capital, Riyadh. The Houthis say they also attacked oil production facilities in Yanbu. Black smoke and fire were seen coming from Riyadh's main airport.

 

This comes just a week after devastating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's biggest oil pipeline, and the seizure of key islands in the Red Sea that would allow for Saudi oil shipments to be cut off just as Iran itself has made the Persian Gulf into a chokepoint.

Those earlier attacks took place while Trump was enjoying a round of golf even further from the White House than Maryland, as a spectator at the Irish Open tournament. When he was asked about that attack, Trump proclaimed the situation "fine and dandy." He also promised that the Houthis had secretly told him they didn't want a fight with the United States, and that Saudi Arabia had nothing to worry about because "it's going to be very good."

Why does this matter?

• The presidency is a full-time job and nobody who can barely stay awake through a four-day workweek is fit for office. 

• The more reason you give your nation's enemies reason to think you're weak and deluded, the more advantage they'll take of it.