Ranking presidents ultimately isn’t about personalities it’s about stewardship of democratic institutions. By that standard, history has been remarkably consistent. Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt extraordinary strain.What sets Donald Trump apart is not mere norm breaking, but the systematic erosion of the oath bound limits of presidential power. Historians tend to forgive policy failure, they do not forgive assaults on the constitutional architecture itself. On that score, even Richard Nixon now looks constrained by comparison he ultimately recognized the system he violated and resigned under it.
The comparison to wartime inevitability is apt. In 1943 the outcome was clear, but the cost was still ahead. Democratic backsliding often works the same way the danger is visible long before accountability arrives. Future historians will likely converge on the same three failures you identify constitutional violation, weaponization of government power, and corruption because those are the offenses that most reliably define eras of decline.The hopeful note is institutional recovery. After Watergate, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter didn’t restore trust through spectacle, but through guardrails reasserting the independence of the Justice Department and reinforcing norms that lasted decades. Democracies survive not by denying trauma, but by learning from it.
Internationally, too, damage can be repaired. Alliances are built less on sentiment than shared interest, and the authoritarian worldview associated with leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping has repeatedly proven brittle over time. History suggests cooperation outlasts strongman theatrics.If this era earns a label, it won’t be because of electoral margins or transient outrage, but because names become shorthand. Just as McCarthyism eclipsed Joseph McCarthy himself, Trumpism will likely outlive Trump briefly, before being archived as a cautionary chapter rather than a governing philosophy. The republic has survived worse moments, but never without first paying attention.
The worst thing Trump has done, aside from the corruption, incompetence, and personal vengeance, is turning the national dialogue into a fifth-grade level schoolyard fight. He's sure to be remembered by future generations, not for his imagined accomplishments but for his grotesque self-regard.
Interesting that your opening photo show Trump in the driver's seat when the only thing he knows how to drive is a golf cart. (btw, aren't they electric vehicles?)
Oh, and I wouldn't worry that impeaching and convicting Trump ASAP would give Vance a "leg up" for 2028. He is despised, and will NEVER win MAGA over. The issue becomes choosing a Speaker of the House that is actually worthy of assuming the presidency (Jeffries is NOT!) as soon as the impeachment throne has JD's butt in it - - Vance has racked up his own list of offenses...
Add his attacks on medical research to the list of issues it will take decades to undo. Lives lost because of research he stifled or halted can never be undone.
You meant Louis XIV of France of course. Louis IV may however be more appropriate for he was a vain and weak man also known as 'Louis from Overseas' (he died in the 10th century and had been in England before acceding to the throne). His father was known as Louis the Simple.
I don’t think the ballroom will be built. Construction on something so massive will take a while. Bureaucracy is slow. Whatever is in the ground will need to be removed. I’m worried about him tearing down the Kennedy Center. The arch needs to be torn down too.
I find it so unbelievably sad the state we are in. An acquainted of mine who is a furniture repair "doctor" and who happens to be polish by background with an accent - and by the way is a charming man -- was stopped by a policeman because he "wiggled" over the white line in the road. The policeman proceeded to ask him to get out of the car and then asked him who he was, was he a citizen, how long had he been here. It was scary. What have we become?
I just want to say that I agree with Steve Schmidt and others who want to destroy anything when trump is gone, that he built! I know our national debt is out of sight already, and we won't be able to afford any luxuries for quite awhile, but I don't want one thing left in our country that that %^&* built! We could probably recoup some of our many losses by stripping all the shitty gold that he has thrown all over the oval office, but then again, it might all be cheap brass anyway!
Great idea, the 2028 post-election day impeachment! JD Vance should be swallowed into the rings of hell along with the wretched, fat-assed, pussy-grabbing, copper-faced, incompetent, rat-brained, lizard king Trump!
High school American History classes will benefit from studying myriad compelling and heartbreaking lessons from the Trump era. This grim period highlights the need to study and learn from our collective mistakes.
I amend your comments with one small addition to TRump's catalogue of crimes:
He has, like a vampire coming out of his coffin, resurrected the Hitlerite tendency to spew lies with such bluster and bombast that people, who know his utterances are lies, accept them as gospel truth.
For example, when Hitler charged across the Polish border, he had an excuse: He said Poland had launched an attack on Germany. (He put concentration camp inmates in Polish uniforms and placed them on the Polish-German border; this was his "evidence" that Poland has initiated hostilities.). Every sane person knew he was lying as little Poland, who still had soldiers on horseback, would never have dared to attack Germany. But somehow Hitler's supporters were vile enough to believe him.
Simillarly, Trump and company know that Good and Pretti were not terrorists, but they have such warped and grotesque minds that they lie as easily and frequently as other men breathe.
Ranking presidents ultimately isn’t about personalities it’s about stewardship of democratic institutions. By that standard, history has been remarkably consistent. Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt extraordinary strain.What sets Donald Trump apart is not mere norm breaking, but the systematic erosion of the oath bound limits of presidential power. Historians tend to forgive policy failure, they do not forgive assaults on the constitutional architecture itself. On that score, even Richard Nixon now looks constrained by comparison he ultimately recognized the system he violated and resigned under it.
The comparison to wartime inevitability is apt. In 1943 the outcome was clear, but the cost was still ahead. Democratic backsliding often works the same way the danger is visible long before accountability arrives. Future historians will likely converge on the same three failures you identify constitutional violation, weaponization of government power, and corruption because those are the offenses that most reliably define eras of decline.The hopeful note is institutional recovery. After Watergate, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter didn’t restore trust through spectacle, but through guardrails reasserting the independence of the Justice Department and reinforcing norms that lasted decades. Democracies survive not by denying trauma, but by learning from it.
Internationally, too, damage can be repaired. Alliances are built less on sentiment than shared interest, and the authoritarian worldview associated with leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping has repeatedly proven brittle over time. History suggests cooperation outlasts strongman theatrics.If this era earns a label, it won’t be because of electoral margins or transient outrage, but because names become shorthand. Just as McCarthyism eclipsed Joseph McCarthy himself, Trumpism will likely outlive Trump briefly, before being archived as a cautionary chapter rather than a governing philosophy. The republic has survived worse moments, but never without first paying attention.
The worst thing Trump has done, aside from the corruption, incompetence, and personal vengeance, is turning the national dialogue into a fifth-grade level schoolyard fight. He's sure to be remembered by future generations, not for his imagined accomplishments but for his grotesque self-regard.
Interesting that your opening photo show Trump in the driver's seat when the only thing he knows how to drive is a golf cart. (btw, aren't they electric vehicles?)
Oh, and I wouldn't worry that impeaching and convicting Trump ASAP would give Vance a "leg up" for 2028. He is despised, and will NEVER win MAGA over. The issue becomes choosing a Speaker of the House that is actually worthy of assuming the presidency (Jeffries is NOT!) as soon as the impeachment throne has JD's butt in it - - Vance has racked up his own list of offenses...
Add his attacks on medical research to the list of issues it will take decades to undo. Lives lost because of research he stifled or halted can never be undone.
Louis XIV also said “Apres Moi, Le Deluge.” Keep in mind that Trump is capable of ANYTHING.
https://bsky.app/profile/photoonist.bsky.social/post/3mepa7oscos2i
That was Louis XV, the king who came in between Louis XIV and Louis XVI.
Oops. Yup. Also said by Trump I
You meant Louis XIV of France of course. Louis IV may however be more appropriate for he was a vain and weak man also known as 'Louis from Overseas' (he died in the 10th century and had been in England before acceding to the throne). His father was known as Louis the Simple.
I very much hope you are correct.
I don’t think the ballroom will be built. Construction on something so massive will take a while. Bureaucracy is slow. Whatever is in the ground will need to be removed. I’m worried about him tearing down the Kennedy Center. The arch needs to be torn down too.
I find it so unbelievably sad the state we are in. An acquainted of mine who is a furniture repair "doctor" and who happens to be polish by background with an accent - and by the way is a charming man -- was stopped by a policeman because he "wiggled" over the white line in the road. The policeman proceeded to ask him to get out of the car and then asked him who he was, was he a citizen, how long had he been here. It was scary. What have we become?
Love your optimism. Please keep it coming.
I just want to say that I agree with Steve Schmidt and others who want to destroy anything when trump is gone, that he built! I know our national debt is out of sight already, and we won't be able to afford any luxuries for quite awhile, but I don't want one thing left in our country that that %^&* built! We could probably recoup some of our many losses by stripping all the shitty gold that he has thrown all over the oval office, but then again, it might all be cheap brass anyway!
If he succeeds in getting that arch built news organizations can televise it being blown up. And we can throw watch parties.
Great idea, the 2028 post-election day impeachment! JD Vance should be swallowed into the rings of hell along with the wretched, fat-assed, pussy-grabbing, copper-faced, incompetent, rat-brained, lizard king Trump!
Trump should become the eighth “dirty” word not allowed on TV.
I was thinking homeless shelter, or soup kitchen
High school American History classes will benefit from studying myriad compelling and heartbreaking lessons from the Trump era. This grim period highlights the need to study and learn from our collective mistakes.
Agree.
I amend your comments with one small addition to TRump's catalogue of crimes:
He has, like a vampire coming out of his coffin, resurrected the Hitlerite tendency to spew lies with such bluster and bombast that people, who know his utterances are lies, accept them as gospel truth.
For example, when Hitler charged across the Polish border, he had an excuse: He said Poland had launched an attack on Germany. (He put concentration camp inmates in Polish uniforms and placed them on the Polish-German border; this was his "evidence" that Poland has initiated hostilities.). Every sane person knew he was lying as little Poland, who still had soldiers on horseback, would never have dared to attack Germany. But somehow Hitler's supporters were vile enough to believe him.
Simillarly, Trump and company know that Good and Pretti were not terrorists, but they have such warped and grotesque minds that they lie as easily and frequently as other men breathe.