A History Lesson - John Samuel Tieman (original) (raw)
Axar.az presents an article “A History Lesson” by John Samuel Tieman.
I'm a historian. While it isn't a historical question, I often wonder what scholars in the future will say of our time. Is Donald Trump the worst president ever? Will the republic survive him? It's an impossible exercise, of course. Did Emperor Honorius even care what future historians would write when the Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome on 24 August 410 AD? Still, I do imagine Honorius.
In a recent survey, nearly 200 scholars rated all the presidents, from George Washington to Joe Biden, on a scale of 0 to 100. Abraham Lincoln was first, Franklin Roosevelt second, and George Washington third. The rest of the top ten were Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, Barack Obama, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and John F. Kennedy. Joe Biden did pretty good with a #14. Donald Trump was an unequivocal last place. The truth is that I didn't need 200 scholars to tell me this.
It's hard to give a list of all the reasons why I think that Trump is the worst president in our history. But given the election this year, a little review is more than warranted.
Pres. Trump failed to effectively respond to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having some of the best scientists advising him, he regularly gave out misinformation that likely killed people. He downplayed the importance of wearing masks or getting vaccinated.
He flouted ethics and violated political norms.
According to the “Washington Post”, he lied a total of 30,573 times during his four years in office.
He irresponsibly cut taxes for the wealthy.
He regularly spurned expert advice, including advice given to him by intelligence agencies.
He ran for office on four promises that he regularly repeated. 1) Lock her up. 2) Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. 3) Repeal and replace Obamacare. 4) Drain the swamp. He accomplished none of these things.
He did promise, when running, to install as many conservative judges as he could. In this he was successful. Whether that's a good thing or not is another question. The Supremo Court, with the help of justices appointed by Pres. Trump, repealed “Roe v. Wade”.
Following what is widely regarded as the most accurate election in U. S. history, Donald Trump refused to accept his defeat. To keep himself in office, he fomented insurrection.
While in office, Pres. Trump executed 13 inmates. He called for the execution of drug traffickers. During this most recent campaign, “Rolling Stone” reports that the ex-president told close associates that he wants to bring back firing squads, hangings, and “possibly even the guillotine” should he return to the White House. He also “discussed group executions.”
President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018. He blamed rain in which “the helicopter couldn’t fly”. He said the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. None of this was true. Trump feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain. He also did not believe it important to honor the American war dead. In a conversation with senior staff, the former president said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation, former Pres. Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines, who died at Belleau Wood, as “suckers”. His disdain for military veterans was a consistent feature of his presidency. His remarks about John McCain and other prisoners of war come to mind.
President Trump has shown admiration for, and even friendship with, autocrats and dictators, from Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong Un to Viktor Orbán.
It's difficult to measure Donald Trump on this historic scale. His disregard for democracy, for the republic, and for the norms of governance are simply unprecedented. There is no president to which a historian can compare Donald Trump. People speak of comparing him to Richard Nixon. I disagree. August the 9th,1974. The most powerful man in America was forced to resign. But in the hours after Pres. Nixon left office, our capital was quiet, calm, more sad than angry.
| Date 2024.11.04 / 09:52 | Author Axar.az | | | ----------------------- | -------------- | |
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