Looking for some of the more aged members of SW to weigh in: Has another president in your lifetime generated so much division or worldwide ridicule?
Obviously we always consider the events of our own lifetimes to be the most important or different than those that came before. Whether you support him or revile him, Trump has been the focal point of a division in his country approaching civil war. Or so it seems.
You older folks who have seen a few presidents come and go, has it ever been like this?
Of the 11 presidents I can recall, there has never been one as incompetent and deliberately divisive as Trump. It isn't even close.
Nixon was bad, and his policies on Vietnam were divisive, but he still had significant support right up until the day he resigned in disgrace. Reagan was showing signs of his Alzheimer's while he was president, but although many disagreed with his policies, he still tried to be the president for all the people. Trump is the first president to deliberately divide the nation into those that adore him and voted for him, and those that do not. He works to punish those who do not give him the adoration his mental illness requires, and reward those who worship him as Savior. He does nothing to unite the country and everything to benefit himself.
Globally, Reagan and Bush 43 were reviled for their foreign policy. I recall being on a business trip in Portugal during his first term and being asked repeatedly why he (Reagan) was doing what he was doing. I could tell from the demeanor of the questioners that they reviled him. Bush's foreign policy, including starting two wars of convenience, was so destructive that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 largely for not being Bush.
When Trump is finally, and mercifully, gone, historians will rank him at the very bottom of all our presidents, and colleges and universities around the world will study his presidency and the huge negative impact he had on the US and on the world. People will take college courses that take at least an entire semester to complete. His complete and utter surrender to the coronavirus which will ultimately kill more than half a million Americans, including deliberately spreading it in the weeks leading up to the election, will be particularly harshly judged, and rightly so.
Reagan being ridiculed was mostly because he was clearly suffering from the onset of dementia. (Although his 'Star Wars' policy was also the cause of much mirth.)
G.W. was a figure of fun largely because of his 'misspeaks' and his obvious incompetence. What saved him from utter opprobrium was the fact that he was clearly seen as a puppet of more sinister characters from the right-wing ; the neo-cons which comprised such figures as Cheney , Rumsfeld , wolfowitz , Perle and Bremner , and too stupid to realise he was being used by all of them.
In comparison , Trump is in a league of his own. Big League , if you will. Never before has someone so irredeemably stupid and so unfit and unqualified for public office , managed to become POTUS. I still have to pinch myself to be reminded that this cretin is somehow the most powerful man in the world. What this aberration should do , once it's over , is ensure that never again can a populist of his ilk ever be considered a viable candidate for high office.
Of course for that to happen you would have to assume that the Republican Party will learn a lesson from the trouncing that they are about to receive at the ballot box. But when has that ever changed anything for them before ? They have become a minority party who now game the system to achieve power.
So don't be surprised if we soon see support for 'Tucker Carlson 2024' , or even , god forbid , the man himself once again or even his idiot son.
I totally agree with that characterization of Dubbya. He was a bit of a joke but kind of a babe in the woods it seemed. Trump is just a narcissist with sociopathic tendencies and his only talent is in demagoguery.
I would really like to think that it's going to be a little like 'The Emperor's New Clothes' in which, a few years from now, people will look back and say 'Just what [i]were[/i] we thinking?'
Not an American, I'm a Brit.....and we have a similar problem over here, but I wouldn't say that Boris is evil...far from it...I just think he's a bit out of his depth...but at [i]least[/i] he is trying...
I have not seen a bigger failure in the office of the Presidency this bad. That being said, Bush 43 was, in my opinion, the precursor to the current 45.
I was born during the Johnson administration just before the '68 Presidential election. Barely remember Ford, Carter, and Reagan was when I became aware of politics, because as a teenage girl in the 80's, I saw my father lose everything...Reagan was not the 'god' people make him out to be. Bush 41, I remember how he said "Read my lips, No new taxes" I was single and living on my own, he hit us hard.
This guy, tRump* he is not stable at all. This administration has caused more chaos and death, lies and deception than I have ever witnessed. He has a 'cult' like following, he knows it and uses it to his advantage. I have seen nothing like this before. And my mother followed Jim Jones! (Not to Guyana, of course!)
It’s hard to pinpoint but probably Reagan. There was his war on drugs that was a disguised harassment of black snd poor, snd he allowed banks to run all over the public, 38 percent interest rates became the norm overnight. Still he was not nearly as horrible as Trump. @helenS
I have seen 11. We have never had an 'Affluenza Teen' as president before. "It was only a small loan of $1 million dollars", "Everyone is being mean and unfair to me." ETC.
I've never seen a president in my lifetime as corrupt, inept, divisive, and evil as Donald J. Trump. Most act presidential, but not Trump, he's a disgrace to all Americans and to the world.
@helenS Thank you for your kind words. We aren't perfect here in America, but most of us care about our country and other countries as well. We believe in justice for all. But with Trump he wants to be a dictator, instead he's a traitor to everything that America stands for. Hopefully he will be defeated in another week, and a new president will try to gain our prestige again and unite us again.
@JeanAnna I really do not know what might happen if Mr. Trump will be re-elected. Unlikely but not entirely impossible. It's a terrible perspective. Good luck to all of you good people! 🌷
@helenS Thank you. We will lose our democracy if he is reelected. I love my country and I hate what he's done to it. Mocking this virus when thousands of people are dying every day, and he does nothing about it.
Until Trump was elected, George W. Bush was the president I was most skeptical about. But apart from Trump, most presidents have at least tried to do a good job and improve the lives of the American people. Which is unfortunately not the case with the current president.
But a politician can never do everything right, so he should at least make an effort not to spread more hatred, injustice and separation among the population.
@Pikachu Yes, and yet so many still want to work with him. Why? How can they support his way of governing and approve his way of treating people who do not suit him?
@Pikachu LOL haahaaaa....And some just love to have power over others. It's the same evil that has been a problem ever since people started envying and fighting each other for whatever. I wonder when this madness will finally stop.
None have come as close on a global scale although the US was very divided during the Vietnam war when Nixon was in charge but Watergate changed all that.
It's something to do with time, not "the time" but time, maybe an era of stupidity because in the UK we have boris, who actually said, "you can't rule out that under the veneer of a blithering idiot there lies a blithering idiot" when talking about himself so maybe once each country has elected its blithering idiot things will be..... Different?
As one of the "aged" people, I've seen this growing through several presidents and I've learned that there are always, at least, two sides to create unrest. Trump on occasion is rough and speaks his mind rather than being a polished politician who has others do his/her dirty work. The division in the nation is the result of "the resistance" (instead of being the loyal opposition) seeking to drive a president from office and the determination of that president not to be driven from office.
Just because our media (not exactly the most impartial bunch) says the rest of the world ridicules the US doesn't mean it is true. Some nations have bought into despising the US while others haven't.
I think one of the main problems about Trump "speaking his mind" is that it doesn't matter to him whether it's true or not.
[quote]Just because our media (not exactly the most impartial bunch) says the rest of the world ridicules the US doesn't mean it is true[/quote]
Well certainly the entire world doesn't. But do you remember that time when he was speaking at the UN, forgot he wasn't at one of his rallies and the world laughed at him to his face?
But you are quite correct that it takes two to tango. Trump isn't working in a vacuum.
@sunrisehawk The highly educated genius with a limited vocabulary has never had to accept responsibility for his words and actions, his lies and his use of "Guilty by accusation without proof" tactics to create chaos and division. His enablers "What he meant was", "Alternative Facts" and the majority of the GOP senators did/do his 'dirty work' for him. His phone call wasn't 'perfect' just because he said it was.
Absolutely. By and large your fellow citizen is not your enemy.
I have to disagree with that idea though when it comes to politicians. Sure, they're not snatching power against people's will but once they do have power they're NOT just like the guy punching his time card next to you. They have a real responsibility to the people who give them that power. I think most politicians are fairly interchangeable in that regard. Sure. most of them will have maintaining their position as a primary focus but to that end they'll do good for the people.
....Trump is not like that. Or maybe most of them are like Trump and Trump is just too much of an entitled megalomaniac to know how to play the game. At any rate, he really seems to be [i]hurting[/i] his citizens in a way that should not be glossed over. In that sense i think it's important to recognize better/worse presidents. Maybe next time a demagogue with severe narcissism runs for office then people won't think "There's a different kind of politician, let's give him a chance".
