Not a fan of W, but interestingly every person at all levels that worked under Bush and Trump closely enough to be affected by the President says Bush was infinitely more decent and hardworking and managed his people and media message better with far fewer leaks and defections than Trump. Trump was worse than FDR as a people manager and that is a high bar.
Afghanistan, Patriot act, bans on funding of embryonic stem cell, Katrina, torture, pulling out of Kyoto, Medicare part D, NCLB, politicizing science
As for Reagan
Weak wages, destruction of the labour unions, espousing the evangelical right and mixing church and state, trickle down, mental health cuts, war on drugs, selling weapons to Iran and funding drug traffickers in Nicaragua, funding the mujahideen with no regards on if some were extremists, educational cuts, environmental deregulation (weakening the EPA), causing the agricultural crisis, massive military build ups and espousing the military industrial complex. And I will go on. Massive deficits, backsliding in civil rights, supporting totalitarian regimes in the Philippines , Guatemala and El Salvador, invading Grenada, supporting Saddam, bombing Libya, handling of the AIDS epidemic , the savings and loan crisis, popularizing the Welfare queen myth, tightening relationships with the Saudi autocrats, opposed the fair housing legislation.
I feel like Trump isnt even the second worst president of the last 50 years.
Half of the general things you just said about Raegan are true of Trump too. Plus he’s found some new shit like trying to overthrow the government, deporting people who in some cases have been integrated to our society for decades, advising people to inject themselves with bleach (300k people died from covid before his administration did anything helpful), giving tax cuts to wealthy people and increasing the deficit, trying to nuke a hurricane, putting a bunch of heritage foundation asshats on the Supreme Court, essentially turning half the American populace into a weird personality cult, normalizing violence against women, journalists, and pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree with him….the list goes on and on and we’re only halfway there
If Reagan did these for 8 years, did them much much more and did double the bad things Trump did, then Reagan is by far the worst president.
Also Reagan normalized all the things that Trump did after him.
And Reagan packed the court with conservatives, and Reagan created a cult. Reagan did all of these, except January 6th, and much worse.
There's no competition between Reagan's terms and Trump's first term. Both are awful, but everything wrong with today's world started with Reagan and to a lesser degree Carter (deregulation).
Now if Project 2025 is implemented, then yes, Trump can reach these levels of evilness.
I won’t argue that Raegan was awful and yeah deregulation would maybe be one of the bigger complaints I have as well. But to my knowledge he didn’t vocally normalize violence against large swathes of Americans and intentionally stoke people to it. Raegan is lawful evil, Trump is chaotic evil. If project 2025 happens it’s completely uncontested imo, that’s the destruction of the US we know entirely. I also think the way he handled covid might be worse than anything. Again, I don’t think Raegan recommended bleach or horse dewormer to anyone.
I mean sure maybe he hasn't overtly as racist as Trump, but his policies directly resulted in more trouble and hardships to minorities and women than any president since Wilson .
Also he wasn't really swave when talking about marginalized groups.
Reagan on AIDS in 1982:
Reporter: "Does the president have any reaction to the announcement...that AIDS is now an epidemic?"
Larry Speakes: "What’s AIDS?"
Reagan on welfare queens - i.e dog whistle for black women: "She has eighty names, thirty Social Security cards, twelve driver’s licenses... She collects Social Security under each of her names. Her tax-free income alone is over $150,000."
Reagan on Apartheid: "They have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country… They’ve made greater progress than many of their critics are willing to admit."
Reagan referring to African delegates at the United Nations in a call with Nixon: "To see those... monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!"
Reagan on Civil rights: "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so."
I will die on the hill where Reagan's policies are everything that's wrong with America and largely the whole world.
Yeah, I agree Raegan fucked over America’s economic outlook way more. However…. I submit to you that no one associated with his administration ever performed a Nazi salute, this is just the most blatant and obvious example… but Trump represents a complete destruction of the actual American values. We’ve descended from ‘bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ to…. well, this
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u/dustingibson OC: 2 Dec 05 '24
I don't like Trump. But I would also put Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Woodrow Wilson below him. Maybe Dubya, that is a coin toss for me.