Skeptic Bob
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2014
- Messages
- 16,626
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- Location
- Texas
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian - Left
I'm going to vehemently disagree with you Bob, for quite a few reasons.
Thus far Trump's "accomplishments" are limited to rolling back Obama's EOs and pulling out of the Paris Accord and the Iran Nuclear deal. Pulling out of something isn't an accomplishment, although it would have been an accomplishment if his father had pulled out the night he was conceived.
Trump is President in the era where everything he says, does, and Tweets is captured for anyone's interpretation down the road. We don't have Franklin Pierce or Benjamin Harrison on video. We can only judge their Presidencies based on what can be proven via legislation and true victories (like winning a war or successfully growing the country). Their personalities and words are only available to us in very limited, VERY limited, quantities, and mostly then only in official records.
All Presidents who appeared on television or on the "internet" in any way shape and form can be viewed as the people that they were. That really didn't start until FDR and since then, and going forward, the personality of the person will also be taken into account.
Trump's antics are amusing today to his loyal fans, but in generations to come, they will be viewed as ignorant and clownish.
I don't waist time exchanging posts with Cult members who refuse to admit the empty headed, unhinged Nutjob isn't racist, divisive, running a family cabal or has contempt for our Democratic allies and an affinity with murdering despots. I respond to opinions from posters I know live in reality. I agree with you more often than not, but you're way off base here.
Anyone who has taken an American history class in high school, knows how corrupt the Grant administration was. Don makes him look like an amateur right now, how will he be looked at after all the investigations are concluded? His stupid quotes, "I have a big brain", might not be remembered, but all his well documented hate filled Tweets that are becoming more desperate every day, will be. If president Grant is remembered, so will Don.
As I pointed out months ago, the mainstream press is now reporting on his recent threats. He's warned us not to anger all his "strong" friends, the police, firemen, gun owners and the military. Implying that if America isn't loyal enough, he'll incite them to start an insurrection. You'll be hearing more about this in the coming months. Add in his Russian connections and all his close associates being tried or pleading guilty and his place in infamy will be ensured.
The responsibility of holding the most powerful position in the world quickly ages presidents and gives them grey hair. Except Don. Historians have documented how the pressures of the office has a sobering effect on every president. It matures them as they grow 'into the office'. Except Don. Given that and after watching him over the last two years, can't we acknowledge that lacking deal making skills, he'll never promote or pass any policies, let alone one that'll improve our country?
It's true that he won't be remembered for his policies, but his term and it's effect on America will be documented and passionately debated for as long as America exists. Nothing burgers are quickly forgotten, sh_t burgers go down in history...
As Jon Chait points out, "...The frightening surreality of what has happened to the United States has only begun to sink in.”
You both make fine points and it wouldn't surprise me if you turn out to be right on this and I am wrong. As of now I am just not convinced he is going to make that big of a mark in the long run. Yeah, he has appointed a good number of judges and justices but those appointments aren't any more radical than what a normal Republican president would appoint. We always put a disproportionate amount of importance on the present when anticipating how it will be viewed in the context of history. That is why almost every poll asking people to rate the presidents from worst to best almost always lists the most recent presidents at the time of the poll as among the worst and best. But maybe this is one of those times when present views of the President will line up with future views. I DO think his presidency will be mentioned a lot in pol-sci classes when they discuss our system of checks and balances, as that has certainly been put to the test.