3mo ago

Trump’s second term will be the worst presidential term ever

www.theguardian.com

Trump’s second term will be the worst presidential term ever | Steven Greenhouse

Tragically, the president’s second term is already more lawless and more authoritarian than any in US history

In his first 100 days back in office, Donald Trump has made a strong case that his second term will be by far the worst presidential term in US history.

So many of his flood-the-zone actions have been head-spinning and stomach-turning. His administration seems to be powered by ignorance and incoherence, spleen and sycophancy.

Both he and his right-hand man, Elon Musk, with their resentment-fueled desire to disrupt everything, seem intent on pulverizing the foundations of our government, our democracy, our alliances as well as any notions of truth.

35 comments

Oh come on now, you're not even going to give his third term a chance? I got $10 says it's worse.
- Sure we had second breakfast, but what about elevenes. Lunch. Tea, dinner. Supper?
  
  I don't think they know about third term Pip
- $10 is what one egg will cost by the end of this.
  
  Probably half by then.
- How old do you expect bigmacdonald to get?
  
  Well his doctor did say he could possibly live to be 200.
  "I told the President that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years he might live to be 200 years old"
  https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/16/politics/dr-ronny-jackson-donald-trump-clean-bill-of-health/index.html
- What about his 4th?
  
  Low energy!
- I’m curious about his 4th term if he lives that long. At that point he’ll be wearing a crown on his head. I can see it. Hell dress like British royalty.
- Can I borrow $10 for 3 years and 9 months?
  
  Sure, but it'll only have the buying power of $3 today...
- Yup i came here to say this, the treasonist traitor wants a 3rd term.....
We need to DEPORT The Guardian for Publishing this!
-Americans who FERVENTLY DEFEND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTERS because of the Constitution!
Might also be the last presidential term ever.
- Nah. He'll die.
James Buchanan has set the bare extraordinarily high. To date, Trump still hasn't even topped Hoover.
This isn't in any way a defense of Trump, but modern Americans have this idea in their heads that every President in history was somewhere on spectrum of Bill Clinton and George Bush. The bitter truth is that the pre-FDR presidencies were so much fucking worse. Trump is right in line with your Andrew Johnsons and Zachary Taylors and Warren G. Hardings and Benjamin Harrisons. He is not exceptional in his awfulness. He is a reversion to the historical mean.
- There's a difference between the three presidents.
  Hoover was sadly trapped into an economic and political thinking that wasn't suited for the Great Depression. He tried to help the country, but the help was largely ineffectual or harmful. FDR's administration approached the Great Depression from a radically different point of view.
  Buchanan was laughably incompetent, which was the style of the time for presidents before Lincoln. Buchanan didn't respond to active rebellion because he didn't think he could.
  Trump is actively malicious. He is allowing for the gutting of civilian government under his watch while trying to shift taxation to a system he can control to bypass Congress. Not even Andrew Jackson was that brazen.
  
  Hoover was sadly trapped into an economic and political thinking that wasn’t suited for the Great Depression.
  Hoover was a fascist to his bones and an egotistical maniac. He unleashed the military on strikers and labor organizers including the Bonus Army, imposed some of the most draconian immigration regulations of the era, and aided the Axis Powers in rebuilding and rearming with the help of his friends in the Bush family.
  Far from trying to help, Hoover's immediate legacy was a rapid consolidation of wealth into the hands of Republican allied industries and agricultural magnets. The vicious economic squeeze ultimately lead to a surge of unemployment and a collapse in Republican popular support, humiliating Hoover in the midst of his demand for greater private philanthropy.
  But this was in pursuit of corporate oligopoly. The efforts failed because the lumpen proles could no longer tolerate their collective immiseration. Not because Hoover lacked ambition.
  Buchanan was laughably incompetent, which was the style of the time for presidents before Lincoln. Buchanan didn’t respond to active rebellion because he didn’t think he could.
  Buchanan cultivated a Democratic Party of insurrection and normalized the bloody suppression of abolitionists. He did respond the active rebellion. John Brown's rebellion. And Harriet Tubman's rebellion.
  But, like the Southern secessionists who would follow him, he underestimated the passion and the sincerity of their revolutionary convictions.
Honestly, it is almost impressive how quickly Trump speedrunned the self-destruction of the United States. I think there will be a Hearts of Iron category for deleting one's own nation from existence.
Will? If he died 2 weeks ago and had been puppeted along by a nazi AI piloting a T100 in his flabby skinsuit, it would still be a contender for the worst presidential term ever, and we haven't even cleared 100 days.
- He has dementia! So let's elect a guy with even MORE dementia!
worse than the 3rd?
"Is already "
Already is
Did the guardian hire captain obvious or is this freelance work he's doing?
As will be his third
Yeah, but Gaza! Lol
- But forcing people to vote for your preference (genocide) is not democracy. With a more representative electoral system, people could be free to vote outside the two party system without a spoiler effect.
  Since how we vote is controlled at the state level, democrats in blue states have made a policy choice to keep these people unrepresented by their optionsin the voting booth. Why are you putting blame for the actions (and the consequences) of the Democratic party's choices onto people with no representation in government?
  Can you just go back and read your comment again? You casually bring up how a large portion of the electorate is unrepresented and how it's a funny joke? No wonder trump won. Do you really think you're in the right by denying people the right to vote how they want. Do honestly think that's what democracy should be?
  Trump didn't kill democracy, it was long dead in this country. And people like you cheered it on the entire time.
  Gross.
  
  I love the electoral college. They should get one vote like I should get one vote and you reading should get one vote. The let me vote for you system has given us Trump twice!!!
And it might still be the term that won't end.
Those who voted for Harris knew this early into his first regime. Those who voted against her (not voting is still voting) are the fucking ghouls who should get the grand prize of a all expenses paid ticket to El Salvador’ CECOT resort for their well-earned permanent residence.

35 comments