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Ok, but for one thing I only put that in there to provide the perspective from which I was hating on the article, and for another I agree that that’s typical an
by spanhandler 6y ago
Ok, but for one thing I only put that in there to provide the perspective from which I was hating on the article, and for another I agree that that’s typical and my point is that I don’t think we’re dealing with a Carter or a Reagan or even a Nixon, in terms of historical judgement, but, like, a Buchanan or a Johnson (and no, not LBJ)
[edit] to illustrate: it’s 2080 and you’re a politically-motivated hack historian making a worst ten Presidents list. Do you list 10 political enemies? No. You make 5-8 uncontroversial safe picks, and 2-5 are your political enemies. My contention is that, due to his effectiveness in and execution of the office, Trump is likely to eventually land on a lot of those lists due to being in the “safe pick”, legitimacy-lending category, not the political one. Meanwhile, yes, he’ll be on those plenty for political reasons for the next decade or three.
- burfog 6y agoNot that he was great, but the vilification of Nixon is disproportionate. It's clear where historians would place him relative to Obama, but Nixon didn't weaponize the intelligence agencies (state assets) against a political opponent. Doctoring evidence to present to a FISA court in order to spy on a political campaign is far more corrupt than anything Nixon was ever accused of. Despite that, you're quite correct about how historians will rank presidents. Mainly that tells us about historians, but inverting the ratings is almost correct.