Have we had presidents this bad in our history? I ask, because....

[LAS14]

.... I remember zoning out when we hit the latter half of the 19th century in highschool. My impression was lots of corruption and a serious lack of intelligence. Has it been this bad before?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. A bunch of historians just decided Trump is the very worst,

dethroning James Buchanan.

[bluestarone]

2. my opinion

he's the worst one in my 70 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE

[Zoonart]

26. NOT EVEN CLOSE! N/T

[lpbk2713]

3. There is bad/incompetent and there is bad/criminally culpable.

I think Trump is both.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I have had that question too.

Sometimes MSNBC asks presidential historians their opinion but they have never come out and said he is the worst ever, just that he is worse than... "so and so", or the worst since ... "fill in a date".

[hatrack]

5. Well, I'll say this for James Buchanan . . .

At least when he was busily sending rifles and ammunition to forts and arsenals in states on the verge of seceding from the Union, he was supplying Americans the means to try and destroy the United States, as opposed to Russians.

[Little Star]

6. This 71 year old can't name a worse president....

In fact I would go so far as to say that I can't think of one who was this ignorant and this unscrupulous.

[LanternWaste]

7. I'll go with Harding as the most corrupt-- in both quality and quantity of corruption.

I'll go with Harding as the most corrupt-- in both quality and quantity of corruption. Trump is just an idiot (but I'll give you this... I do think Trump is the most sub-literate, unintelligent person to have ever held the office, a position he will probably hold for many, many years)

Bear in mind, Harding is the guy who had his mistress confined to an early 20th century mental asylum during his campaign simply because he was afraid she'd spill the beans. He gets worse from there.

'The Ohio Gang: The World of Warren G. Harding by Charlie Mee' is a great primer and a fun weekend read.

[LisaM]

9. Yes, Harding always springs to mind.

Unfortunately, if no one studies the Teapot Dome scandal, the chances of things like that happening again zoom up into stratospheric range.

[Sneederbunk]

11. Corrupt yes, but not a corrupt jerk.

[Zoonart]

27. Not a traitor.

(fixed it)

[uponit7771]

16. Harding was sullied because he was hired the wrong people while Benedict Donald ...

... can be impeached for the emoluments violations clause to this day according to the constitution.

[napi21]

8. Not in my lifetime and I'm 75. NMot a good enough student of history to know much

about Presidents prior to FDR.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. NO.

Trump is the first president to go into office with bad intentions. That's my take and I'm sticking to it.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Not in my lifetime of 70 years.

[Archae]

13. Nixon was so corrupt he stunk on ice.

Even long before he was president.

And he cut and ran.

[pnwmom]

14. Never. Never, ever. n/t

[Gothmog]

15. For this thread

Link to tweet

[kairos12]

17. Drumpt will top the list when he gets us into war.

[LAS14]

18. So it looks like Harding and Buchanan are contenders. Any others?

Thanks to all. Very interesting and educational.

[kurtcagle]

19. A Few

Andrew Johnson did everything he could to discourage change in the South after Lincoln's death, and was one vote shy of being impeached. Andrew Jackson was incredibly racist. Tyler was hated by his own party. There have been a number of good presidents, but while I think Trump may very well be among the five worst, the competition at the bottom is pretty fierce too.

[Takket]

20. nope. drumpf is the worst

nixon was awful but not even he would ever go so far as to sell out his country for a foreign power.

[spanone]

21. never. otherwise laws would have been written on how to dispose of him...Immediately

surely not in my lifetime....born during truman presidency

[ChoppinBroccoli]

22. I Never Thought I'd Ever See A President Worse Than W In My Lifetime

But then Trump came along. He makes W look downright Statesmanlike.

By the way, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Herbert Hoover yet.

[LAS14]

24. Was there anything especially bad about Hoover except that he had the...

...bad luck to preside over the depression?

[Jspur]

23. I have

heard Andrew Jackson was a terrible rotten human being. I have read that he was openly racist and supported the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. He was also a strong supporter of slavery. He even killed a man once in a duel. According to historians he was known to be a verbally abusive person. Ironically Trump claims to be a huge fan of Jackson.

[zipplewrath]

28. And probably close to Trump incompetence

That's really the hard part about Trump. He is incompetent in just about every way imaginable. Jackson probably comes that close because he didn't really seem to understand the consequences of much of what he did. But at least in terms of combat, in his day, he was fairly competent at that. With Trump, I'd challenge anyone to explain what he is good at AT ALL? Really. I mean, the guy apparently can't play golf and cheats his way around. He's been married 3 times. Innumerable bankruptcies. He's managed to fritter away his fathers initial gift to the point where he's lucky he still has money at all.

[FSogol]

25. Yes, Reagan. Compare the # of indictments and convictions. Reagan was just a less crude verision of

Trumpy.

Filled the executive office with corrupt profiteers? Check.
Made deals with our countries enemies? Check.
Racist? Check.
Removed important regulations? Check.
Increased national debt? Check.
Talked complete nonsense? Check.