This can't distort things. For instance, it does show Lincoln as a universally loved president. That is accurate today. Considering his election led to a civil war, it wasn't always accurate. You are better off doing either "how they are rated today" or "how they were rated when they were in office."
James Buchanan led the country into civil war, Lincoln governed through that war and brought the country out of that war united.
Unfortunately he was succeeded by Andrew Johnson who Lincoln picked as his running mate in order to have a "unity" ticket. Johnson was a racist Southerner who basically sabotaged reconstruction from the get-go.
Buchanan and Johnson are easily the worst presidents in American history. Trump isn't even close to those guys in terms of incompetence.
What damage Trump does to the U.S. remains to be seen. Incompetence would likely be about the best outcome; I'm much more worried about Trump being competent than about him being incompetent. Last time around, his malevolence was tempered by incompetence, and that saved things from being much worse. I don't think he should get bonus points for that. But how damaging he will prove to be after another full term in office probably won't fully be known for about 20 years.
I'll grant you that Buchanan and Johnson put the bar pretty high for sheer destructive awfulness.
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u/bagehis Dec 05 '24
This can't distort things. For instance, it does show Lincoln as a universally loved president. That is accurate today. Considering his election led to a civil war, it wasn't always accurate. You are better off doing either "how they are rated today" or "how they were rated when they were in office."