GeneralMacArthur
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« on: November 07, 2020, 12:19:23 AM » |
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Buchanan's handling of the slavery issue is pretty analogous to Trump's handling of COVID-19.
Buchanan refused to acknowledge the reality of the problem, refused to accept the grave and impending threat facing the nation. He refused to take the decisive action needed to offset the crisis. Similarly, Trump refuses to acknowledge the reality of COVID, refuses to accept the threat it poses to the nation, refuses to take the decisive action required.
Buchanan stocked his administration with pro-slavery southerners and sympathized with their cause. He allowed secessionist, pro-slavery organizations like the Knights of the Golden Circle and other filibusters to operate without impediment under his watch. Similarly, Trump has surrounded himself with hack frauds like Dr. Atlas who take direct action to make the pandemic worse, endorses similar figures in the media and internet, and tells non-stop lies to the press and the American people about the pandemic.
Buchanan was an arrogant, belligerent prick whose sympathy for southern secessionists and pro-slavery causes was unassailable. He refused to believe that he was wrong and refused to take any action that might imply that he was wrong. Trump, similarly, is an arrogant, belligerent prick who buys into these idiotic and self-serving conspiracy theories about the pandemic, repeats them in public, and can not be convinced by evidence or reason.
You can make the argument that both men were treasonous, in that they betrayed their oaths of office by not only failing to protect the nation in a time of crisis, but actively working to undermine it.
The thing is, Buchanan places at the bottom of historical rankings for these actions alone. The rest of his presidency was unsuccessful but uneventful and unmemorable. Trump's COVID response is just one of the many, many terrible things he will be remembered for. It's not even the worst facet of his legacy -- Trump's assault on American democracy will be viewed as far worse by history (as will the Republican Party's disgraceful participation in that assault).
Furthermore, Trump's malicious mishandling of COVID-19 was far more malignant and involved than Buchanan's mishandling of slavery. It seems like not a day has gone by in the last eight months that Trump hasn't done something outrageous or harmful to try to get more people killed and exacerbate the crisis.
Trump's COVID-19 crisis has killed 230,000 Americans so far. 365,000 Americans died in the civil war (as did 290,000 confederate traitors, but they deserved to die and their deaths are a good thing). The only question left is if Trump's crisis will lead to more dead Americans than Buchanan's.
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