POLL: Is Trump the worst president the United States has ever had?

[GP270watch]

 The worst in the last 75 years for sure. He surpassed GWB's awful 8 years and is more corrupt and nowhere near as competent at governing/legislation than Nixon.

[Diabolical Materialism]

Worst at being the President yes. I still maintain that GWB did the most damage to both the United States and the world at large for 21st century presidents.

[HillGoose]

yeah, until the 6th it was still Buchanan but now Trump has outdone even him.

[Benjamin Frank]

He needs to be confirmed as, not only the worst, but as a rogue President, by going to jail.

Of course, he is innocent until proven guilty, and all those nice sounding words.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

He needs to be confirmed as, not only the worst, but as a rogue President, by going to jail.

I remember when Obama was first inaugurated someone on cracked.com joked about him being a "rogue President" because of the initial wording flub with the oath of office. How little we all knew.

[BlueSwan]

Without even the slightest ounce of doubt, yes. And this has been apparent for a very long time. The events of the last two months have just solidified it further.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

For years I've been arguing against those who said Trump was the worst president in history by pointing out that James Buchanan quietly supported efforts to arm rebel militants seeking to overthrow the U. S. government in his final days in office.

Well ...

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Worst at being the President yes. I still maintain that GWB did the most damage to both the United States and the world at large for 21st century presidents.

[Santander]

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

[Crumpets]

Are we including Jefferson Davis in this list or...?

[7,052,770]

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

[TheReckoning]

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

Andrew Jackson was a great president.

If you weren’t Native American, that is.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Are we including Jefferson Davis in this list or...?

Declaring yourself "president" of an insurrection doesn't get you a seat at the table with Lincoln and FDR.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

Jackson was very bad, but to his credit he did firmly oppose threats of insurrection against the United States in 1833, which is more than you can say for Buchanan or Trump.

[Crumpets]

Are we including Jefferson Davis in this list or...?

Declaring yourself "president" of an insurrection doesn't get you a seat at the table with Lincoln and FDR.

That's kind of my point. Trump is kind of in his own category now. Maybe not Jeff Davis levels, but at the very least, no matter how bad Buchanan, Nixon, and Bush 43 were, they at least tried to fill the role of President and not "head of the armed rebellion."

[SWE]

Yes and I'm not even sure it's close now.

Feels weird that just four days ago I would be passionately arguing that Bush, Buchanan etc were just as bad. Not anymore.

Bush was better than Trump by a mile. Not that that’s saying much, but nonetheless true.

The only positive thing I can still say about Trump is he didn't start any new wars. Bush, while he did not hate America like Trump, ordered thousands of soldiers to their death for absolutely no good reason.

For me, the difference is that while neither of them were good presidents (although both did make an at least decent choice here or there) I think Bush thought he was doing the right thing. In other words, I think he truly acted in what he thought were in the bests interests for America.

The same can’t be said for Trump, which is why I currently rank him as 2nd worse behind Buchanan.

If Bush's sense of morality is twisted enough for him to actually believe he was doing the right thing then that honestly just makes him a more despicable figure

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

Andrew Jackson was a great president.

If you weren’t Native American, that is.

Or black, or poor

[Progressive Pessimist]

Yes. I always knew he was going to be and I was confident in that after Charlottesville, especially, but I was willing to hear out those who said that Buchanan, Bush, Johnson, Pierce, etc. was worse. Not anymore. No other President was as corrupt, temperamentally unfit, and unqualified as Trump was and he has intentionally damned our country into long-term political turmoil.

[Alben Barkley]

I was already arguing he was, and every day since the election he’s strengthened my case more and more.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Yes and I'm not even sure it's close now.

Feels weird that just four days ago I would be passionately arguing that Bush, Buchanan etc were just as bad. Not anymore.

Bush was better than Trump by a mile. Not that that’s saying much, but nonetheless true.

The only positive thing I can still say about Trump is he didn't start any new wars. Bush, while he did not hate America like Trump, ordered thousands of soldiers to their death for absolutely no good reason.

For me, the difference is that while neither of them were good presidents (although both did make an at least decent choice here or there) I think Bush thought he was doing the right thing. In other words, I think he truly acted in what he thought were in the bests interests for America.

The same can’t be said for Trump, which is why I currently rank him as 2nd worse behind Buchanan.

If Bush's sense of morality is twisted enough for him to actually believe he was doing the right thing then that honestly just makes him a more despicable figure

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

Andrew Jackson was a great president.

If you weren’t Native American, that is.

Or black, or poor

Well if you were a poor white man, Jackson represented the victory of universal suffrage for white men and the opening of western lands and anti-inflationary policy was pretty sweet for yeoman subsistence farmers that made up allot of the early 18th century lower class.

Jackson was complicated.

[Pick Up the Phone]

Sure. Looking forward to the next APSA Presidential Expert Poll. They already had him at 44/44 last time. Siena was more generous (42/44 with Buchanan and A. Johnson being worse).

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yes. He's at rock bottom.

Stupid, Ineffective and incompetent. Terrible personal decisions and actions as President, even before this week. Personally took his party from control of House, Senate and Presidency to having lost all three four years later. Widespread and blatant corruption, including nepotism and personal profit. Near zero positive achievements. Terrible head of state, wretched personal habits, worse use of the bully pulpit ever. Unending assaults on the pillars of state. Hundreds of thousands of Americans dead, in large part specifically because of his leadership. And he topped it all off with two months of whining, abdication of his duties, and an actual god-damned coup attempt.  And his legacy will be just as bad as not worse.

While he is not an absolute zero on every possible metric, the totality of the Trump Presidency is far, far below even his worst, weakest or short-term predecessors. Students of history in the distant future will either point at Trump as the lowest a republic can go and survive, or label him as the destroyer of the United States of America.

[TheReckoning]

Yes and I'm not even sure it's close now.

Feels weird that just four days ago I would be passionately arguing that Bush, Buchanan etc were just as bad. Not anymore.

Bush was better than Trump by a mile. Not that that’s saying much, but nonetheless true.

The only positive thing I can still say about Trump is he didn't start any new wars. Bush, while he did not hate America like Trump, ordered thousands of soldiers to their death for absolutely no good reason.

For me, the difference is that while neither of them were good presidents (although both did make an at least decent choice here or there) I think Bush thought he was doing the right thing. In other words, I think he truly acted in what he thought were in the bests interests for America.

The same can’t be said for Trump, which is why I currently rank him as 2nd worse behind Buchanan.

If Bush's sense of morality is twisted enough for him to actually believe he was doing the right thing then that honestly just makes him a more despicable figure

He is the worst American president of the last 100 years. All you have to do is look at the last 12 months.

Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of all time.

Even the revisionist liberal historians of today don't rank Jackson anywhere near the bottom. There have been some seriously bad Presidents in US history, and having political disagreements with Jackson don't put him in that company.

Depends on the criteria. Nullifying a Supreme Court decision is going to count a lot against him in some rankers' eyes, even if you ignore that the reason he did it was to commit genocide.

Andrew Jackson was a great president.

If you weren’t Native American, that is.

Or black, or poor

Jackson was no worse for blacks than most antebellum presidents, and Jackson was one of the the most pro-working class presidents of the Early United States.

And as for Bush’s morality: you really believe Trumps morality is any better?

Bush loved this country, and he made Americans feel safe after 9/11, despite the terrible mistake he made with Iraq,

[AnOdyssey]

Yes, Donald Trump is the worst President in U.S history. I used to think George W. Bush, James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce and Warren Harding were far worse for different reasons, but no. 2020 and the events of Wednesday far cement Trump as the worst. Thousands of Americans are dead on his watch, incited a riot despite talking how he is of law and order. Not too mention all the other terrible stuff people mentioned in this thread.

If anything, I thought he had to go when he couldn't even condemn the Unite the Right rally back in 2017. Not even the aforementioned terrible Presidents + Nixon are not even that bad as Trump. I see people say Trump is the worst Republican President since Herbert Hoover. At least Hoover attempted to ease the depression that was happening, and gracefully conceded defeat in '32. Kind of feel Herbert Hoover was a victim of circumstances, and had an admirable upbringing before Presidency.

[Badger]

"Don't forget James Buchanan single-handedly started the Civil War!"

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

For years I've been arguing against those who said Trump was the worst president in history by pointing out that James Buchanan quietly supported efforts to arm rebel militants seeking to overthrow the U. S. government in his final days in office.

Well ...

Yea, it would be hard to top that. Trump though, found a way.