How will Trump be portrayed in history textbooks?

[Alben Barkley]

I honestly wish I had a time machine so I could go to the future and see how this whole era is described in future textbooks.

What do you think?

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Probably in a pretty negative light, but the specifics are hard to say because the story of Trump isn't over yet. It seems pretty likely that he'll run again, and there's accordingly a decent chance that he becomes POTUS again. So a lot of it would depend on that.

[Orwell]

It'll be open to interpretation, I can't think of really any modern President who is portrayed entirely negatively in just normal History textbooks other than like Buchanan and it's not like he's portrayed that badly.

[kcguy]

I can see resemblances to Huey Long.

[Enduro]

I think this era will be described as being as tumultuous as the 60s and 70s with Trump being our Nixon figure, and Biden being somewhere between LBJ and Jimmy Carter.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think this era will be described as being as tumultuous as the 60s and 70s with Trump being our Nixon figure, and Biden being somewhere between LBJ and Jimmy Carter.

A Nixon melded with a Goldwater. The former's lack of scruples and the latter's wrecking of the establishment.

[DaleCooper]

If Democrats keep the White House in 2024 (especially if Biden is reelected) then I could see this whole mess as being thought of as part of the Obama era, with the Trump presidency being the four years that the Tea Party took control of the executive branch.

[LBJer]

As the biggest villain in American history--certainly the most amoral and dangerous person ever to serve as president. 

[Agonized-Statism]

MAGA will blur into the political radicalism characteristic of the times, probably mentioned alongside the Tea Party and whatever DeSantis does if he ends up in Washington as a precursor to the inevitable out-and-out eco-fascist movement that will go mainstream as climate change advances. I doubt Trump himself will be forgotten, he's just so weird.

[Vosem]

I don't even think we have a clear answer to how the Carter/Reagan era will be portrayed in history books; everything since Watergate still feels like the 'present' in a very strange sense. (Moreover, the story of Trump may very well not be over, and the story of what happens with his movement is certainly not over). Come back in like 2070 at the earliest -- given the aging of society, quite possibly later.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The signal interest of the period to future generations will probably be Obama as the first non-white President, and perhaps to a lesser extent Hillary Clinton as the first non-male major party Presidential nominee. Whether deserved or not, Trump will probably be typecast as a white male backlash to those firsts and a diversifying United States in general. And since the United States is likely to be more diverse in race and gender in the future, Trump will probably be viewed extremely negatively.

[Vice President Christian Man]

I can see resemblances to Huey Long.

No I think that would go to Bernie Sanders

[Vice President Christian Man]

Likely a Nixon type of figure, once seen as a rising star within his party but collapses. Or maybe a Grover Cleveland type if he manages to win both the nomination and election in 2024. Either way I doubt he'll be the Reagan 2.0 he was shaping to be prior to his handling of defeat.

[Fuzzy Bear]

He will be portrayed terribly at first, possibly the worst President by some.  As time goes by, I believe that Trump will rise in stature, although I don't know how much he will rise.

[Meclazine for Israel]

If he gets re-elected in 2024, it's possible Donald Trump will become a religious figure.

The 2nd Coming of Trump.



A Trump signed bible sells for $40,000 online.

Atlas users get a significant discount.

[sting in the rafters]

I imagine a significant amount will focus on his Twitter use as a mechanism to bypass traditional media and communicate directly with his supporters, doubly so if Twitter goes under.

[pikachu]

Future generations are never going to understand how weird it is that Donald Trump of all people became the man that American politics revolved around for a decade (or longer I guess). I’m not even sure if the youngest posters on this forum really appreciate it.

[MarkD]

As the biggest villain in American history--certainly the most amoral and dangerous person ever to serve as president. 

^^^
The most arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic, divisive, deceitful, and deluded person to ever serve as President.

[LBJer]

As time goes by, I believe that Trump will rise in stature

And why exactly?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Depends on what happened to the R party it's Doomed if we get Voting Rights or DC STATEHOOD

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

Future generations are never going to understand how weird it is that Donald Trump of all people became the man that American politics revolved around for a decade (or longer I guess). I’m not even sure if the youngest posters on this forum really appreciate it.

This is probably the best satire of Don Giovanni's administration I've seen from an international observer during his tenure. Really illustrates how well he personifies certain aspects of the US national psyche.

[Skill and Chance]

I don't even think we have a clear answer to how the Carter/Reagan era will be portrayed in history books; everything since Watergate the internet becoming mainstream still feels like the 'present' in a very strange sense. (Moreover, the story of Trump may very well not be over, and the story of what happens with his movement is certainly not over). Come back in like 2070 at the earliest -- given the aging of society, quite possibly later.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Depends on what happened to the R party it's Doomed if we get Voting Rights or DC STATEHOOD

The Republican Party is in deep trouble, sure. They face a large, very hostile younger generation that sees them as culturally alien and blames them for a lot of their economic misery. They are increasingly isolated to one region of the country and even in that region, they are progressively losing more ground as the demographics....

Oh wait, sorry that's the 1930s I was talking about, wrong thread.

More seriously, part of the reason why I would love to see independent redistricting, public funding of elections and an increase in the House of Representatives, is that it would force Republicans to be better candidates at the house level and thus create a stronger bench for statewide elections. I have long argued that the current dynamic turns GOP House members into brain dead lemmings who are spoon fed talking points and then you wonder why they get destroyed in primaries for Senate by loons and extremists who then themselves get demolished in the general elections.

The addition of two seats from DC would not doom the GOP, it would just have to adapt to be able to flip seats in PA, WI and MI. Parties adapt to fit the path of least resistance to power, which is usually by absorbing whoever the ruling party intentionally or unintentionally leaves for dead alongside the road, which restores the equilibrium. Rockefeller Republicans was the GOP adapting on a broad scale to survive in a region shifting leftward socially and increasingly dominated by labor unions. If the present dynamic is not working the question is not whether the party adapts, but how many unnecessary losses does it take before it does so.

[Angel of Death]

Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.

[Bojack Horseman]

I continue to remain convinced that Trump is the next Reagan in terms of history whitewashing and elevation to right wing deity status. While the GOP wants to move on from him for the moment due to electoral losses, once he's dead or out of politics permanently places like West Virginia will erect statues and name roads after him for the same reason that Confederate monuments still exist.