After he leaves office, will there be a George W. Bush-style rehabilitation of Donald Trump?

[dw93]

If we get President Tom Cotton or President Mike Pompeo in 2024 or 2028, sure. If not, no.

You forgot Hawley.

But Tom Cotton would definitely be W's hawkishness and Trump's racism combined. He's is the ultimate intersectionalist.

Hawley would have the potential to do that, too. I would compare him to Huckabee. He would be more right wing populist than some sort of super fusionist like Cotton promises to be.

I just don't see how either of them would win if Trump wins in 2020. If that's the case, they will basically have to run against fatigue with the absence of Trump's charisma.

I forgot Don Jr. to for that matter.

[Tiger08]

There is absolutely no way Trump will be rehabilitated. Will be viewed like Nixon

[dw93]

There is absolutely no way Trump will be rehabilitated. Will be viewed like Nixon

Nixon was somewhat rehabilitated.

[brucejoel99]

There is absolutely no way Trump will be rehabilitated. Will be viewed like Nixon

Nixon was somewhat rehabilitated.

Yeah, IIRC Clinton closely consulted with him on how to navigate relations with Russia in the post-Cold War era.

[MassTerp94]

Trump is unlikely to live long enough for that. Seriously, that is not a joke. He is 74 and obese. I would be surprised if he is still alive in 2030.

[QAnonKelly]

Trump is unlikely to live long enough for that. Seriously, that is not a joke. He is 74 and obese. I would be surprised if he is still alive in 2030.

Yeah, I don’t think he’s very long for the world at this point. He’s obviously not in the best of health and has the most stressful job in the world that he hates doing.

[LabourJersey]

Am I the only one who thinks there's no chance at all that he'll be rehabilitated.

George W.'s approvals increased for a few reasons. Sure, some centrists and liberals think he was a "decent man" compared to Trump, but that's just one of the reasons. The bigger part is that he's removed himself almost totally from electoral politics, and when he emerged publicly it was in the company of other former Presidents at things like the African American History Museum opening or his father's funeral. And all of those times he made vague appeals for civility and respecting immigrants and so forth.

Trump is never going to be accepted by the other ex-Presidents. He's never going to shut up on electoral politics. And he's certainly never going to call for more civil politics and for respecting immigrants (or any other broadly popular viewpoint). Also, I think most people are going to view the period in history that is 2017 to 2021 as definitely worse than 2001 to 2009. No one is going to be nostalgic for this time period the way that some people are for, say, the early 2000s.

[Person Man]

Am I the only one who thinks there's no chance at all that he'll be rehabilitated.

George W.'s approvals increased for a few reasons. Sure, some centrists and liberals think he was a "decent man" compared to Trump, but that's just one of the reasons. The bigger part is that he's removed himself almost totally from electoral politics, and when he emerged publicly it was in the company of other former Presidents at things like the African American History Museum opening or his father's funeral. And all of those times he made vague appeals for civility and respecting immigrants and so forth.

Trump is never going to be accepted by the other ex-Presidents. He's never going to shut up on electoral politics. And he's certainly never going to call for more civil politics and for respecting immigrants (or any other broadly popular viewpoint). Also, I think most people are going to view the period in history that is 2017 to 2021 as definitely worse than 2001 to 2009. No one is going to be nostalgic for this time period the way that some people are for, say, the early 2000s.

I think that when he was leaving office, he was already trying to improve his legacy. This became clear to me when he started talking about how someone could still accept a theistic evolution.

[LabourJersey]

Am I the only one who thinks there's no chance at all that he'll be rehabilitated.

George W.'s approvals increased for a few reasons. Sure, some centrists and liberals think he was a "decent man" compared to Trump, but that's just one of the reasons. The bigger part is that he's removed himself almost totally from electoral politics, and when he emerged publicly it was in the company of other former Presidents at things like the African American History Museum opening or his father's funeral. And all of those times he made vague appeals for civility and respecting immigrants and so forth.

Trump is never going to be accepted by the other ex-Presidents. He's never going to shut up on electoral politics. And he's certainly never going to call for more civil politics and for respecting immigrants (or any other broadly popular viewpoint). Also, I think most people are going to view the period in history that is 2017 to 2021 as definitely worse than 2001 to 2009. No one is going to be nostalgic for this time period the way that some people are for, say, the early 2000s.

I think that when he was leaving office, he was already trying to improve his legacy. This became clear to me when he started talking about how someone could still accept a theistic evolution.

Yeah, I'd agree that he was trying to improve his image early in his retirement. So his rehabilitation has been really a 10-11 year project by now.

I don't Trump having the patience or tolerance to pull that off

[Politics Fan]

No besides the potential criminal investigations that are likely to follow Trump it's hard to see anyone really seeing Trump in a better light down the road. With Bush you at least could point to his handling of 9/11 as a positive to somewhat mitigate the damage Iraq did to him. Plus many Democrats appreciate his more moderate immigration views and gravitated towards him somewhat when the GOP basically abandoned him. I can't see any of that happening to Trump. 

[Person Man]

No besides the potential criminal investigations that are likely to follow Trump it's hard to see anyone really seeing Trump in a better light down the road. With Bush you at least could point to his handling of 9/11 as a positive to somewhat mitigate the damage Iraq did to him. Plus many Democrats appreciate his more moderate immigration views and gravitated towards him somewhat when the GOP basically abandoned him. I can't see any of that happening to Trump. 

Do you think Trump will be abandoned in his second term? I can see Trump continue to dominate things if the GOP completely bucks the trends and is still strong downballot. In fact, I can see a primary brawl between Jr and Pence in 2024 if this happens that revolves clearly around Trump being the kingmaker and eventual puppet master. If the GOP suffers a 6 year itch, I think they kick him.

Obama, Clinton, and Reagan rode off into the sunset because despite destroying the party downballot, the country was in good shape during their lame duck years.

[Samof94]

No. The Covid-19 stuff will also hurt him in hindsight. Even when the crisis is over and normal life can resume including international travel, he’ll be remembered horribly.