Democrats, who is worse: W. Bush or Trump?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Trump is pure and utter recency bias, and he was too incompetent to really do that much damage that wasn't already there.

I this last "that wasn't already there" part is going to end up doing a lot of work here.

The pre-Trump GOP was a monster but the post-Trump GOP is an existential threat. Trump has singlehandedly weeded out any checks to his (and likely any halfway-decent successor's) power, and he isn't being shy about using it to tear down institutional power that will make 2017 - 2021 seem like a rehearsal dinner.

And this is solely stuff on institutions and principle - haven't even touched corruption or policy yet.

Bush killed a lot more people

Trump was better on the Middle East and that’s about it.

Bush for the world. Edge to Bush still.

Think it's worth drawing out the difference between Bush/Trump the men and Bush/Trump the administrations.

Bush was a weakling who got dragged into war by ideologues he didn't have the ability to overrule or stand up to. Trump was a mad man who got held back by people (sometimes only barely) less constrained than him.

Imagine Trump's temperament, ignorance, and lack of interest in any serious strategy being uninhibited or actively encouraged in the same way that Bush was.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Trump is a clown who should be in federal prison. Bush, however, is a malevolent and sadistic war criminal who should be tried before the Hague for crimes against humanity. Sorry, but I can't tell the people of Iraq that the horror they've lived through for the past 20 years somehow pales in comparison to mean tweets and reckless inarticulate bloviating.

It's foolish to think that Trump wouldn't have gone B to the W if 9/11 happened while he was in office - I'm sure he would have tried to literally go nuclear and it's only a question of who would be present to stop him.

Any comparison of the two that doesn't account for the fact that Bush was enabled by a once-in-a-century event that no other President in living memory has faced is going to be of limited use.