Depending on how the next four years go I’m on the fence between Bush Jr. and Trump but I’d like to hear from you

Edit:

Top 10 suggestions so far (unordered):

  • Andrew Jackson
  • Andrew Johnson
  • George W. Bush Jr
  • Ronald Reagan
  • Richard Nixon
  • James K. Polk
  • Woodrow Wilson
  • James Buchanan
  • Franklin Pierce
  • Donald J. Trump
  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    47
    ·
    5 days ago

    It’s tempting to pick someone recent, but the real answer is probably Andrew Jackson. He successfully engineered a genocide, trampled the Constitution and human rights, and was actively hostile to limits on Presidential power.

    • P_P@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      We’ll see if 47 surpasses him. He’s set up to do so. It’s going to be wild to see what happens when Trump order troops to fire into crowds of American citizens.

      • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

        We always seem to get this crazy hyperbole that Trump is going to be some competent fascist that’s going to perform some great coup that will end the US, but in reality it always seems the real damage he does is the evil bureaucracy that erodes rights and liberties while exacerbating things in foreign policy.

        Jan 6th was very flashy, but comparatively speaking, nothing really happened.

        • Ledivin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 days ago

          I’m not afraid of Trump’s competence. I’m afraid of Trump’s cult of personality and the competent people that are now handling him. We didn’t elect Trump, we elected Project 2025.

          • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            5 days ago

            Handling is a somewhat strong word here though. For better and worse, he’s very impulsive and egotistically sensitive. His last administration left a huge wake of people that haven’t been rehired and likely won’t be.

            Even if we assume his new lackeys care enough about the Heritage Foundation to attempt to implement their plan, I’d be amazed if they could corral his attention long enough to get him to sign anything in.

      • The Cuuuuube@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 days ago

        Christ. most of them.

        George Washington got to be in charge of a country that enshrined chattel slavery in its constitution for 20 years. Thomas Jefferson provided military aid to France’s efforts to quash a slave revolt in Haiti. Andrew Jackson personally orchestrated a genocide against the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw (all of whom were aligned with american interests). Zachary Taylor put a bounty on bison, in an effort to starve the native Americans of the great plains. Abraham Lincoln allowed his western military expeditions to do basically whatever to the native Americans. Andrew Johnson started the process of letting confederate leadership be who directed reconstruction rather than being punished for it.

        And here we reach Ulysses S Grant. one of America’s favorite punching bag presidents because he got scammed rather frequently, but when you dig into why he was prone to getting scammed, it’s because he thought it was America’s duty to use its economic power to help the lowest people in society. it’s hard to be mad at a guy who was trying so hard to help people that sometimes he let someone con him into thinking they deserved help.

        i can keep going on how a ton of our historical presidents have sucked. i’m still personally willing to say the top 3 are Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, and Donald trump

        • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 days ago

          Just wondering if you had a few other overseen examples off the top of your head since you seem knowledgeable on this.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        Pretty much all of them actively participated in various genocides and massacres, either directly like native genocide or Philippines or all the aerial massacres of XX and XXI century (even the one who was president for a month), or indirectly like even the “most peaceful president” Carter supported the massacres in Indonesia.