Survey of 154 scholars places 45th president behind even ‘historically calamitous chief executives’ linked to civil war

Survey of 154 scholars places 45th president behind even ‘historically calamitous chief executives’ linked to civil war

Donald Trump finished 45th and rock bottom of a list ranking US presidents by greatness, trailing even “historically calamitous chief executives” who failed to stop the civil war or botched its aftermath.

Worse for the likely Republican nominee this year, his probable opponent, Joe Biden, debuted at No 14.

“Biden’s most important achievements may be that he rescued the presidency from Trump, resumed a more traditional style of presidential leadership and is gearing up to keep the office out of his predecessor’s hands this fall,” Justin Vaughn and Brandon Rottinghaus, the political scientists behind the survey, wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

    • OpenStars@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      I assume you mean Biden in which case no, it means 14th best. (Edit: and apparently you aren’t the only one to think this, sorry if people were making fun of you - I would hope Lemmy would be more welcoming than this)

      The aim, the authors said, “was to create a ranking of presidential greatness"

      Ironically Ulysses S Grant “whose administration generated significant corruption but whose attempts to enforce post-civil war Reconstruction in southern states, including fighting the Ku Klux Klan, have helped fuel reconsideration” moved up from 26 to 17. i.e. the authors seem to be taking into consideration not just what happened but how the President responded to it?

      Likewise James Buchanan was higher than Trump, probably bc failing to stop a civil war isn’t as bad as actually leading a coup attempt where police officers were literally murdered in violence.

      Though Biden is only 2 steps ahead of Reagan and there’s also notably “George HW Bush (No 19), who led the nation’s last decisive military victory, the Gulf war of 1991.” It seems incongruous bc even the liberal media is not reporting much on anything that Biden actually does manage to accomplish - they sell stories that generate profits, and boring blah blah successes don’t generate engagement, like Trump does.

    • OpenStars@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      FYI, the person who made fun of you got their comment removed by a mod. I hope this helps restore a tiny bit of faith in how Lemmy makes social media work.:-)