Who Will Be Considered the Worst President of all time in 20 years?

[Pink Panther]

I wonder who will earn the distinction as the worst president in 20 years? Personally, I don't think it will be Trump, or Obama, or anyone recent. People tend to overanalyze recent events much more than past events, which is understandable, since it's what they know and experienced. But personally, I believe it will either be Buchanan or Wilson, depending if Wilson's influence will wane by then, or it will still cause questionable actions by the U.S. But what are your thoughts?

[DabbingSanta]

I expect because of recency bias, Trump will be the top answer among the general public for many years to come, even if Buchanan and several others were worse.  The recency bias also plays a roll in presidents like Reagan and Obama being considered the "best".  A lot of the time, people don't really think about presidencies that have occurred before their lifetimes when answering these questions.  It's all up to personal interpretation and life experiences.

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

No serious person thinks of Wilson as an all-time worst President. Like Jackson, he had extremely high highs and extremely low lows.

[Agonized-Statism]

The millennial-dominated world of 2041, for sure, will consider that Trump, especially since Democrats will be referencing the storming of the capitol in attack ads for years to come. Once we get past the recency bias that might change.

[Vosem]

Because of recency bias, either the incumbent, his opposite-party predecessor, or maybe that person's opposite-party predecessor. (Ie, if you poll Americans now, they will probably mostly answer Trump or Obama for "worst President ever", but this is just because Biden hasn't been in office long enough).

[dw93]

Trump by Democrats unless the next Republican elected between 2024 and 2040 proves to be worse (which is a possibility). For who Republicans would consider the worst, it'll be the next Democratic President unless Biden oversees a COVIDesque disaster in his term. Biden doesn't seem to incite as much anger among Republicans as Obama did even at this point in 2009, and I think they'll view Obama more favorably with time as I think the Next Democratic President will actually at least attempt to govern as a true leftist, for better and for worse.

[TheReckoning]

People tend to overlook recent events much more than past events

This is hilariously false.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

All the Prez have been mediocre even Biden as we transition out of a manufacturing sector to a Cyber sector, every Prez say the same thing, bring back jobs and won't institute a Govt guarentee job the private sector needs to competete with Govt for jobs

[MABA 2020]

Trump and whoever the next Republican is, DeSantis?

[Maik Otter]

"Mount Shamemore"?

Choosing the 4 most destructive acting, US Union Presidents and making a sculpture
at the 4 States Boarder
between UT, NV, AZ, NM
in a Red Indians reservate?

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"Mount Alamo" ?
Choosing the 4 most known Texas´ Gouverneurs/Presidents at the Alamo?

[Samof94]

"Mount Shamemore"?

Choosing the 4 most destructive acting, US Union Presidents and making a sculpture
at the 4 States Boarder
between UT, NV, AZ, NM
in a Red Indians reservate?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mount Alamo" ?
Choosing the 4 most known Texas´ Gouverneurs/Presidents at the Alamo?

Tyler, Buchanan, A.Johnson , Trump
 Hoover had redeeming qualities and was more like Jimmy Carter. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time

[Skill and Chance]

Still Buchanan unless God forbid Civil War 2.0 happens!

[RINO Tom]

“Worst President” must imply some type of true failure in agenda beyond ideological disagreements.  You might not like Trump’s tax cuts, for example, but he did achieve them to many people’s applause.  Buchanan was inept and disastrous in preventing the country from going to war with itself, and his worst haters could reasonably argue that he ushered it along faster.  I’m no fan of Trump, but I don’t think he’s worse than Buchanan.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

“Worst President” must imply some type of true failure in agenda beyond ideological disagreements.  You might not like Trump’s tax cuts, for example, but he did achieve them to many people’s applause.  Buchanan was inept and disastrous in preventing the country from going to war with itself, and his worst haters could reasonably argue that he ushered it along faster.  I’m no fan of Trump, but I don’t think he’s worse than Buchanan.

I don't think that assessment of Trump really holds up after 1/6, but that is a discussion for the IP board. I agree with your last point, however. Buchanan's reputation for ineptitude is only partially accurate and really a symptom of an outdated historiography of the 1850s, imo: one that emphasized the tragedy of the nation dividing against itself and downplayed the extent to which rising sectional tensions were the result of deliberate inflammatory actions by the Southern planter classes who in many cases wanted to bring about the dissolution of the Union. Stories of Buchanan wandering through the White House moaning "I am the last president of the United States" and his seeming inaction in the face of secession were repeated over and over again, while his proactive efforts to strengthen the position of the Slave Power (Dred Scott, Lecompton, Harper's Ferry, and turning a blind eye to the activities of Southern firebrands in his cabinet during the secession crisis) were mostly omitted from popular histories of the Civil War period (try finding any of that in Ken Burns' documentary, for example). Buchanan's claim to being the worst president ever lies more with his willing participation in a reckless conspiracy to increase the political power of a shrinking minority of the country which ultimately caused a civil war, not his supposed inability to prevent a conflict he wasn't that interested in preventing. All in all, pretty bad!

[Orser67]

I tend to agree with the recency bias comments. I think there's a good chance that Trump will come to be considered the worst president at some point in the next three decades or so, but as we continue to gain historical perspective Buchanan and Johnson will re-establish themselves as clearly being in a lower tier than Trump. As bad as Trump's presidency was, ultimately I don't think it was at the same level of negative impact as the guy who was president when the South seceded, or as the guy whose presidency may have doomed Reconstruction before it really got started.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Trump 2 times impeached Prez and will be forever remembered as the 3rd Prez after Taft and Hoover to lose the H and lose Reelection and tied to Nixon and Russia and break in of the DNC

WI, MI, and PA arent gonna let Trump come near the Prez again, he mounted an Insurrectionists, and they know that in 2016, Gary Johnson was a 3rd party spoiler

[NewYorkExpress]

Trump, then Buchanan.

Everyone else is way behind, as no matter what they may have done, they did not literally commit treason.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Trump, then Buchanan.

Everyone else is way behind, as no matter what they may have done, they did not literally commit treason.

There is one president who literally committed treason, and his name is neither Trump nor Buchanan. That would be John Tyler (granted, he had long left the White House by then).