Presidential ranking- Trump given 3rd worst

[packman]

He only beat out Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) and James Buchanan (1857-1861)




https://www2.cbsnews.com/presidents-ranked-worst-best/17?ftag=ACQ-10-10aec1i&utm_source=GDN&utm_campaign=14895500124&utm_content=551346532451&utm_medium=crooksandliars.com&utm_term=126586048725&utm_subid=%2Fnews

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

1. And they both frame the Civil War.

I hope that's not a harbinger.


Though I doubt it highly.

[Aristus]

2. Wow, is that a ridiculous rating!

Andrew Johnson showed up drunk for his swearing in.

Trump did far worse: He showed up!...

[piddyprints]

4. I live near Greeneville, TN.

EVERYTHING here is named Andrew Johnson, from the road to the motels to the banks.

The people here are extremely proud to live in his birthplace, which also is a tourist spot.

We have no choice but to drive on the road, but I refuse to do business with anything bearing that name.

Still, I have to agree with you that TFG showing up was pretty bad. I wish he'd crawl back under his rock.

[unc70]

13. Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, NC

I agree that Greeneville is very proud of him.

[piddyprints]

24. Right.

My mistake. It's Davy Crockett who was born near here. AJ lived here and, I believe, was buried here. I haven't been to the place, even though we've lived outside of town for a while and drive through Greeneville frequently. Just not motivated.

[colsohlibgal]

5. Agree

Trump is without match as the worst person to hold that Office....of course if we did what other democracies do, as in the candidate with the most votes win, this abomination would never have occupied the White House. Oh and Al Gore would have been the President Elect in 2000.

What a different situation we’d be in now.

Only in America.

[marybourg]

3. But #1 worst in post-presidency catagory.

[GeoWilliam750]

33. John Tyler joined the confederacy

Hard to top that one, although I am sure that tfg would like to give it a shot

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. TFG has set a record for the most corrupt administration in history

History will not be kind to this asshole

[lastlib]

7. Fake poll--he probably paid for it to boost his ranking.....

No question in my mind he's #1 worst.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. Andrew Johnson is the only one I'd consider worse.

I should brush up on the Buchanan period, but I'm sure his poor rating is related to the subsequent Civil War.

Andrew Johnson was a bigot and an idiot, I know that much. Much like Trump.

[wnylib]

19. But as far as I.know, neither of them

were traitors acting as an agent for a foreign adversary.

And I'm absolutely certain that neither of them led an insurrectionist coup attempt to stay in power.

No way that TFG is anything but THE worst, bar none.

[Poiuyt]

30. This

[Buckeye_Democrat]

31. Good point!

I consider the Confederate South to be traitors too, but they didn't try to outright overthrow our Federal government until after the Civil War started.

So yes, that makes Trump worse!

[dsc]

40. Johnson most certainly was a traitor helping a foreign enemy

He all but single handedly reversed our victory in the Civil War.

[wnylib]

42. True, Andrew Johnson

was a despicable person and president. He did not support the South during the war, but definitely did support them afterward. He was racist as hell, a trait that Trump shares with him. But Johnson did not organize a physical assault on the Capitol. He did not attempt a coup in order to stay in office when his term was over.

So I would rank Johnson one level above Trump, with Trump as 44 and Johnson as 43.

[smirkymonkey]

45. +1000

He is the worst because of the things you mentioned and also because he is the most corrupt, disgusting, vile person on the entire planet. Not one redeeming quality. I am sure if we tried we could could come up with at least a few positives on the other two.

[stopdiggin]

9. He'll eventually overtake the remaining two -(nt)-

[cojoel]

10. This is an important quote to set context:

From the entry on Trump:

In the Siena survey, Trump received the lowest rank — 44th out of 44 — in the categories of integrity, intelligence, and overall ability.

I certainly agree with those.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

12. Me too.

My interpretation is that Trump was incompetent enough to be the worst-rated in different circumstances.

[wnylib]

22. 44th in patriotism, too.

Can't be patriotic to your own country when you act as an agent for a hostile country while occupying the WH.

[mrsadm]

25. Absolutely right on.

[Celerity]

11. Incredibly sloppy journalism. I stop reading after the 2nd sentence about Andrew Johnson, a Democrat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson

Johnson was a Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, coming to office as the Civil War concluded. He favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union without protection for the former slaves. This led to conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1868. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote.

[bif]

14. Wow! He's even a loser at being the worst!

Who knew?

[Joinfortmill]

21. ROFL

[moondust]

15. TFG is the worst.

For one thing, the other two did not have the means to create a culture of Bullshit and Big Lies on a global scale. We don't know yet how much lasting damage that will end up doing even beyond the thousands of pandemic deaths and health problems that can be attributed to his self-serving moral bankruptcy.

[GoCubsGo]

16. For now, anyway.

Give it another year or so. The more that comes out, and it will, the more he's going to make those other two look like FDR, or at least Teddy.

[lark]

17. Which just goes to show they far underestimate the existential threat he is to the USA!

He is dead last in my book, by a country mile.

[Boomerproud]

18. I disagree about Ike being #6

I think the public was so exhausted from the Great Depression and WWII that we turned inward and nothing progressed. It was a very inert time.

[Poiuyt]

28. But the US did progress under Eisenhower

He conceived the federal interstate highway program. That turned out to be pretty significant. Civil rights, two states joined the union, etc.

I think he was deserving of #6.

[Joinfortmill]

20. He'll soon drop to the bottom.

[monkeyman1]

23. who ever rated 3rd need's to be drug - tested ??????????? asap !

[Bleacher Creature]

26. Nope, he's the worst. And Reagan's not 13th.

[keithbvadu2]

27. Dubya thanks God every day for Dotard.

Dubya thanks God every day for Dotard.

[Poiuyt]

29. The article states that this survey is done during the second year of the first term

of a new president. I think we are still in the first year.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. Article dated April 2021. And when you go to the Siena website, they only have the 2018 survey.

https://scri.siena.edu/us-presidents-study/

And there's the problem - this is the results of the 2018 study. You know, before he was impeached for the first time. Before he screwed up the pandemic response. And before he tried to mount a coup to overturn a valid election. And got impeached a second time for that.

Here's their spreadsheet, dated 2018: https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Presidents-2018-Rank-by-Category.pdf

"Released on 2/13/2019". So with the various crappy things he did up to, say, December 2018, at most. While that includes the awful personal attributes, it doesn't have most of the really bad outcomes.

[Poiuyt]

44. Thanks!

[Azathoth]

32. Historians have to stop with the Buchanan obsession

Yes, the guy was an ineffectual Southern-sympathizer who unsuccessfully tried to appease the would-be secessionists.

But here's the thing:

He himself wasn't a secessionist, much of the odious stuff he did was rationalized as attempts to appease the slave states and avert secession, and the Civil War was going to happen regardless of whatever moral posturing he could have made. He got run over by history, and he his failures are retroactively magnified by way of comparison to the towering legacy and character of his successor.

Trump originated an insurrectionist ideology and attempted to inspirr an actul insurrection, complete with the assassination of his own vice president.

What he did was *far* worse than anything Buchanan did.

[WarGamer]

35. Just for discussion sakes...

How does bearing responsibility for over a million deaths because of an illegal war, the birth of ISIS and utter destabilization of the Middle East compare?

[Azathoth]

46. Eh, you can make the same argument about LBJ and Nixon

It all boils down to whether or not you agree with what they were trying to achieve. Dubya *did* get rid of Saddam Hussein, and after two decades of tragedy, Iraq today probably is a better place to live than it would be under psychopaths like Uday and Qusay.

The thing for historians is the damage a president did *to America*, particularly with regard to the Civil War, which translates into strong antipathy for anyone perceived on the wrong side of that conflict. Buchanan's appeasement, especially stuff like pushing for the Dred Scott decision, is conflated with allowing the Civil War to happen. And the story with Johnson and Reconstruction and the Radical Republicans is similar.

As bad as Dubya was, I don't think anyone can reasonably argue that his goal was to break up the United States or overturn our system of government or lead one half in bloody warfare against the other. But then, it's also hard to argue that either Johnson or Buchanan wanted those things either.

Trump, alone among the presidents, sought to create an insurrectionist ideology and then inspire an actual insurrection against his own country. Hell, even the Confederates only wanted to break from the Union and leave. Trump wanted a full coup against the Union itself.

[WarGamer]

34. Naming Shrub in the 33rd spot is disgusting.

[Stuart G]

37. Not only..Worst...but also the.."The Most Insensitive Man to ever be President"...That says it All

[Brainfodder]

38. Reagan at 13 though has me consider this list total crap?

[Polybius]

41. As bad as he was, he was successful

He got a huge amount of his agenda passed despite having a Democratic House his entire term, and was very charismatic. I think that's partially how they rank Presidents.

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. Ranking dates from 2018 - overtaken by subsequent events, just a little (nt)

[GoodRaisin]

43. Last in intelligence.

It’s true of course. The same as saying first in stupidity. The stupid president. A dubious honor.

If there was a category for laziest he’d win that too.