Is Donald Trump the worst president in U.S. history?
Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley certainly thinks so.
Speaking in an interview with C-SPAN on Monday, Brinkley slammed President Trump for being a “bully,” and lamented on his immigration policies (didn’t his predecessor deport a record number of Americans?).
“Donald Trump represents kind of a dark underbelly of America,” he said. “He will say it’s all about national homeland security, but there’s been a cruelty about the way he’s dealt with the immigration issue that I find unforgivable. The whole thing just became just a giant metaphor, the wall, for anti-immigration and an anti-Mexican sentiment.”
Brinkley also noted that Trump is “dividing” the American people through his lies and conflation.
“He’s a bully. He misuses cyber in a way to divide us. What is there to want your children to learn from?” he said. “That there are no rules, break them all … dangle a foot over the line of what’s moral and immoral?”
So, is Trump the worst president in U.S. history?
First, he is entering just his second year in the Oval Office, which certainly makes it premature to compared Trump to 44 other chief executives.
Second, most presidential historians are statists, leftists, and generally believe in big government. It is hard to take their analysis as impartial and objective.
Third, has Brinkley forgotten about the disasters of George W. Bush, Herbert Hoover, FDR, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Woodrow Wilson? These were truly awful presidents, everything from launching senseless wars to expanding the welfare state.
Fourth, Brinkley obviously loves the state and doesn’t oppose intervention. He just wants his own guy to lead Washington to start wars and meddle in our lives. If he advocated a reduction in the size of government and the decrease in the concentration of power, then maybe he could be taken seriously.
There are many policies that Trump does that negatively impacts liberty, but then there are a few things that he should be commended for: corporate tax cuts, gender bathrooms, ending funding for foreign abortions, and taking on the press.
To call Trump the worst president in the nation’s young history is immature and ridiculous. It is as intellectually bankrupt as those who say Trump is LITERALLY HITLER. Should he launch more useless wars, expand the surveillance state, establish internment camps, initiate a basic income guarantee, and impose even more trade tariffs, then perhaps this view will change in a couple of years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZFERBFR-sg
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