Yesterday a question was posted in a diary, "Has Donald Trump done worse things as President than George Bush?"
Over 87% of the votes were in the affirmative and it made me wonder why. George W Bush is a war criminal. He launched an illegal pre-emptive invasion of Iraq based on lies. The result was conservatively estimated to be hundreds of thousands of deaths. Trump has taken some horrendous actions, but nothing nearly as bad as Bush's atrocity, which in addition to the deaths, created millions of refugees and destabilized the area for generations.
I had a short discussion with another DK member and he mentioned a discussion at another site that compared Bush and Trump. As I read the comments it occurred to me that part of the problem was separating the personalities from the actual impact of their presidencies.
I recall that part of Bush’s so-called appeal was that he was a guy with whom one might share a beer. But then Trump was a guy with whom some might share a round of golf. Now I enjoy a good beer (after all Michigan is home to the best microbreweries in the nation) but I definitely would never sit down with Bush. I haven’t the necessary maturity to enjoy golf, but even if I diever hit the links with Trump.
In general Trump is much less likable than Bush, or nearly any one else for that matter, but what about the actual impact of his presidency?
I thought of the presidents in my lifetime: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and Trump. Whose presidency had the most negative impact on the country and the world? Based on that standard, this is my list the four worst presidents of my lifetime.
Fourth worst: Donald Trump
Separating kids from their parents and placing them in "detention centers", insulting allies and befriending tyrants and dictators, and belittling science are just a few issues associated with our current occupant of the White House. The worst impact of Trump IMO is his open embrace of racism, bigotry and intolerance. Everyone here is well aware of Trump’s malevolence. He is only in his second year and could easily move down my list; and that may also be another reason why so many consider him the worst of recent presidents. The others listed below have no opportunity to inflict further damage whereas Trump has seemingly endless potential for malfeasance, corruption and immorality.
Third worst: Richard Nixon
Like Trump, this man's damaging actions began during his election campaign. His team attempted to sabotage the peace talks by secretly meeting with the South Vietnamese government and attepting to dissuade then from agreeing to any peace accord, inferring that they would get a better deal with Nixon. We know how that turned out. Six more years of war with millions more in casualties. In addition, Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia led to the rise of the murderous Khmer Rouge.
Nixon and his war criminal buddy, Henry Kissinger, oversaw the violent removal of Salvador Allende in Chile and the installation of the brutal Pinochet dictatorship.
The Nixon administration supported violent suppression of dissent with Jackson State, Kent State, and the murder of Fred Hampton as very obvious examples.
Those who lived through those times will not forget Haldleman, Erlichman, Liddy, Colson, the enemies list, the dirty tricks and the quest for the imperial presidency. This quest may been successful had Nixon and his team not been so obsessed with the acquisition of power. As it was, the bungling of a "third rate burglary" led to the revelations of the insidious nature of Nixon's presidency.
Second worst: George W Bush
As mentioned above the criminal invasion of Iraq with is horrifying and lasting impact would move Bush toward the bottom of any list of US presidents regardless of the time frame. Then there is the normalization of torture and Guantanamo. There is the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war that is in direct violation of international law, and which incidentally has not been repudiated.
There is the stolen election of 2000. There is the carelessness that led the underestimation of the terror threat prior to 9-11. Despite his statement against Islamophobia in the wake of 9-11, he did little to stem the anti-Muslim hatred, and in fact one could contend that his War on Terror rhetoric actual encouraged the hatred.
His administration sponsored the PATRIOT Act, the MCA and in general attacked free expression and civil liberties as part of his so-called War on Terror.
Bush’s callous reaction to Katrina ranks second only to Trump's reaction to natural disasters. As Governor of Texas, he mocked Karla Faye Tucker before her execution. That and his near orgasmic anticipation of Shock and Awe are IMO true indicators of Bush’s character.
Of course there is also the greatest economic collapse since the depression, ttax cut for the wealthy, Rod Paige and NCLB ... the list goes on and on.
The Worst: Ronald Reagan
I list Reagan as the worst because his policies have had the most lasting impact. In my opinion there have been only two Presidents in the last one-hundred years who significantly changed the underlying philosophy of the role of government. The first was FDR and the other was Ronald Reagan. His economic policies have resulted in a nearly forty year assault on the middle and working classes of this country, the impoverization of millions, and the obscene enrichment of the wealthiest.
From FDR until Reagan, government was viewed by the majority of citizens as part of the solution. Reagan was able to convince the US that government was part of the problem and that the answer was the "magic of the marketplace".
His effectiveness in changing the paradigm was demonstrated when Bill Clinton and the DLC Democrats in essence ratified Reaganiism and his idea of looking primarily to the private sector for solutions.
Reagan openly attacked unions and the movement has never recovered. Many states, including Michigan, are now "Right to Work” (a disingenuous term if there ever was one) states.
Reagan's racism may not have been as overt as Trump's but it was very open. He started his campaign near Philadelphia, Mississippi with a speech supporting "states rights". His rhetoric continually used coded phrases such as "welfare queens". Everyone knew what he meant.
The Reagan administration published A Nation at Risk and, though very poorly written, it was the opening salvo in the assault on public education, an assault which has too often been a bi-partisan effort.
Reagan was responsible for over a quarter million deaths with his dirty wars in Central America. He referred to the Contras as the "moral equivalent of our founding fathers" and helped finance his terrorism with drug money and arms sales to Iran. The impact of his murderous policies on Central America was devastating. His administration supported the brutal ARENA party of Roberto D'Aubuisson whose henchmen murdered Oscar Romero, four Catholic nuns and tens of thousands of others. Between 10-20% of Salvadorans became refugees. MS13 had its genesis in the aftermath of this dirty war.
Reagan was most responsible for escalating the the War on Drugs, which has led to what Michelle Alexander refers to as the new Jim Crow. In addition, the War on Drugs negatively impacted several countries of Latin America.
Being anti-science didn’t start with the Trump administration. Who can forget James Watt, the fundamentalist anti-environmentalist who was Reagan’s Secretary of Interior and who apparently believed that, in view of impending second coming, there was little need for protecting the environment or conserving natural resources.
There is of course more to Reagan’s appalling legacy. He may have not been a towering intellect, but his folksy style endeared him to his supporters and disarmed his opponents and enabled him and his administration to effectively implement their agenda.
It is a sad commentary on our recent history when, despite the heinous nature of the Trump presidency, I can make a legitimate argument that within my lifetime three presidential administrations were actually worse.
What are your thoughts? How would you rank the worst presidents over the last 71 years? Would you place a different President, other than the four I mentioned, in the bottom four?
Comments, both concurring and dissenting, are welcome.
Monday, Nov 19, 2018 · 1:10:18 AM +00:00 · slatsg
Update: DisNoir and EdSF pointed out that I forgot to mention one of Reagan’s greatest crimes: ignoring the AIDS crisis. In EdSF’s words:
Over 20,000 people died of AIDS before Reagan addressed it in May of 1987 and even then he offered less assistance than had been provided for Legionnaire’s Disease. Most of those deaths were of gay men and the late start prevented effective treatment from emerging until 1996, treatment which should have been available at least by 1991 (and I’m being generous). All the deaths in the U.S. between 1991- 1996 (at least 167,000) can be attributed to Reagan’s inaction.
Ed finished his comment by writing, "Gay men of my devastated generation do not need to be asked who the worst President was."
I apologize for the oversight. As I stated to Ed, my own brother died of AIDS in 1986, during the Reagan administration.