Trump is certainly going down in history as the worst American president ever-- worse than Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson... worse than Biden or any other institutional mediocrity on the horizon. Trump will be the worst forever because anything worse than him signals national disintegration... or incineration. That said, I was confused by the Salon list of the 10 stupidest things Trump did while he was occupying the White House. None of them make my top 10 list.
Amanda Marcotte got off to a good start before the list: "Trump was terrible in so many ways that it's hard to catalog them all: His sociopathic lack of regard for others. His towering narcissism. His utter ease with lying. His cruelty and sadism. The glee he took in cheating and stomping on anything good and decent. His misogyny and racism. His love of encouraging violence, only equaled by his personal cowardice. But of all the repulsive character traits in a man so wholly lacking in any redeemable qualities, perhaps the most perplexing to his opponents was Trump's incredible stupidity. On one hand, it was maddening that a man so painfully dumb, a man who clearly could barely read-- even on those rare occasions when he deigned to wear glasses-- still had the low cunning necessary to take over the Republican Party and then the White House. On the other hand, it was the one aspect of Trump's personality that kept hope alive. Surely a man so stupid, his opponents believed, will one day blunder so badly he can't be saved, even by his most powerful sycophants."
Maybe the first one on her list would make the grade: "that time Trump suggested injecting cleaners into people's lungs to cure them of the coronavirus." That was pretty bad but hardly any of his followers did it-- maybe a dozen who got sick enough to be hospitalized.
I want to make a distinction between wishing Trump supporters become infected with COVID-19, which I never do, and wishing Trump supporters follow this kind of suicidal advice and die, which I always do. Think of the American gene pool without any Trump supporters! Imagine how much more livable Florida would certainly become! But when you wish they catch COVID, you're making a grave error. COVID carriers, especially Republican COVID carriers (who resist wearing masks), infect not just other Trumpists, but normal people too-- the postman, a grocery store clerk, perhaps a friend, colleague of even family member who wasn't conned by Trump. On the other hand, if they drink bleach and die, win-win.
Anyway, my list might start not with the bleach incident but with his overall mishandling of the pandemic right from the first time anyone ever mentioned it to him. I am confident in saying that even the most mediocre presidents in our lifetimes-- the two Bushs, Reagan and Clinton-- would have done a much better job, better enough so that the U.S. would not be standing out as the country that handled the pandemic the worst. Right now, pandemic-wise, this is what the U.S. in number 1 in:
• most cases- 19,433,847
• most new cases daily- 160,604 (Saturday)
• most deaths- 339,921
• most new deaths daily- 1,408 (Saturday)
• most active cases- 7,683,425
• most serious/critical cases- 28,577
The only thing that could be considered worse than his mishandling of the pandemic, would be his mishandling of immigration-- stealing children from parents, locking children in cages, racism against Hispanics, bigotry against Muslims... It can't just be blamed on White House Nazi Stephen Miller, who was enthusiastically coming up with polices and tactics to implement Trump's own agenda. Both should be on trial for their lives for this. (I volunteer to be a juror.)
It's hard not to include his denial of climate change as a contender for number 1, since the policies that came out of it are likely to do the most damage to the most people as time goes on. His environmental policies in general should send him to the gallows.
Also up at the top of the list: undercutting American democracy-- from soliciting aid from foreigners to the campaign of lies about the entire premise of elections.
And all that lying! That infuses every other category but it should be its own as well.
The fact that he's a grifter and, worse, common criminal, stealing and enabling his family to steal has to be pretty high up on any list. He has degraded the office of the presidency more than every other bad president combined. He has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and I hope law suits after he's gone with try to clawback every cent he's stolen or taken in bribes.
I wonder if any president transferred as much wealth from the bottom 90% of the economic barrel to the top one percent. we've had other regressive presidents in the past--basically every modern day Republican-- but anyone with policies as virulently against the interests of the working class then Trump's-- from his tax and regulation agenda to his moves against unions?
What do you think is the worst thing he's done since he decided to run for president? Do you forgive him? Do you hope he dies a horrible death?