Donald Trump and Trumpism: Is he the worst thing to Ever Happen to the United States?

Yes!

I mostly agree.

And I live dreading the inevitable whitewash of revisionist history--fueled by his followers and by the media, complicit in his rise to power--that "he wasn't that bad, that he did some good things, that those of us on the left took his failings too seriously."

A peer recently asked me in all seriousness if I believed Trump was as bad as Nixon and Watergate. As bad as? WTF.

He should have been aborted.

Yeah but the reality is, if the racism and anger and anti-intellectualism didn't already exist, he wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective as he was/is. He and his cohorts tapped into something that had been simmering and was begging to be manipulated.

R4 That is very true, however, it has nothing to do with over 400,000 Americans dying of Covid. He directly, specifically, (and I believe), intentionally let it get out of control. It wouldn't have happened with anyone else as POTUS. Not GW Bush, not Hillary, not Ted Cruz. Even Mike Pence would have done the right thing and followed the science.

[quote]A peer recently asked me in all seriousness if I believed Trump was as bad as Nixon and Watergate.

PS: I wish I'd thought to point out to him that US deaths in Vietnam (Nixon was at least partially responsible for our presence there) are estimated around 58,000.

We have now lost 484,000 Americans to coronavirus, most of them under Trump's watch. It's a war, alright.

No. He's not the disease. He's only a symptom.

[quote] It wouldn't have happened with anyone else as POTUS. Not GW Bush, not Hillary, not Ted Cruz. Even Mike Pence would have done the right thing and followed the science.

If HRC had issued a federal mandate on masks and social distancing, the red state loons would still have been up in arms over their "violated Constitutional rights" even more than they were. You still would have had GQP governors refusing to comply. Who knows what would have happened in the 2020 election if it were HRC and Trump, Round 2. Even if the death toll were half as bad as it is now, Trump would be on social media tweeting about how HRC had killed a quarter of a million people.

Despite killing hundreds of thousands of people, 74 millions Americans still voted for four more years of Trump. All explanations for that are grotesque.

r7 wins.

Donald tRump is the worst president in the history of the United States. It will be difficult, but not impossible, for someone to eclipse him.

But, is he, as an individual, worse than the Civil War? Probably not, considering that the basis for the Civil War was the six million white people who lived in the South in 1861 (and not counting the additional three million enslaved people), fought a war to maintain their ability to own as chattel, other human beings. While the war officially ended, and the armed conflict ceased in 1865, we have never stopped living with its devastating effects. It still infects American life.

So, while Cheatolini is dreadful, awful, horrible, and despicable, and over 400,000 are dead on his watch, he’s probably not worse than the Civil War.

Jesus Christ, he’s gone. Get over it.

Slavery. Legal slavery was the worst thing to happen to the United States.

The worst thing to happen to the US was slavery, which predates the US. With the exception of the horrific treatment of the Native American peoples, nearly every other thing wrong about the US stems from this one odious fact, Trump's presidency included.

I think Nixon, Reagan and Bush Jr. were far more insidious than Trump, especially Reagan, who had an avuncular presence that covered up a lot of the damage done. But the Trump administration was the stupidest and most nakedly destructive to the Unites States itself and Trump as a person is possibly the most thoroughly evil and stupid man to hold a major public office in this country.

Far, far worse as a real threat to this nation than 9/11. No question about it.

He has demonstrated that billionaires can get away with murder and treason, and he has set an example for those who follow.

He has established domestic terrorism that will not yield.

He has served the interests of Russia and he has inspired white supremacists and autocrats across the globe.

After 9/11, much of the world mourned with us.

Now, the world despises or pities us.

Worst of all, he is a cancer. He is a damaged, rotten man with a rotten mind. He's solely self-serving and self-interested, just one human being among 337 million of us. And he has all 337 million of us thinking about him incessantly. Talking about him incessantly. He has broken down social norms, expectations of decency and productivity the way cancers break down bodies.

R12, he will be gone when he is dead. Not before.

He needs to be killed as soon as possible. He will continue to inspire these insane right wing followers. He knows he can do it easily, simply by saying what they want to hear. He is still dangerous and needs to be stopped by any means.

[quote] He directly, specifically, (and I believe), intentionally let it get out of control.

He is the worst, 2nd to the civil war. He let Covid get out of control because he's like Hitler--- He knew that the minorities suffered the most from Covid and I seriously believe that he diabolically wanted this to continue as a form of genocide. He is diabolical.

He was sicker from Covid than he let on. Damn it. But since he doesn't like to wear masks, there's still hope for Covid.

No, Roy Cohn is. You can draw a line between McCarthy, Nixon, and Trump through him.

The European migration was the worst.

I never thought I could despise another human being as much as I despise Donald Trump. Every time I see his selfish, stupid, narcissistic, emotionally infantile, bloated face and listen to him manipulate his idiot follower because he such a man-baby and needs constant fawning over him, I want to kick his teeth down his throat. That so much horrific damage has been done for the sake of such an undeserving pile of orange rat sh*t absolutely boggles my mind.

74 million morons projected all these qualities and expectations onto this buffoonish nothing of a man and turned him into their messiah. Everything they believe about tRUMP is a lie and they're too stupid to see it. It's plainly obvious to the rest of us. And mark my words, I've said it my whole life, only RACISM can get white people to behave this disgustingly. Racism overrides their common sense, their ability to be logical, their ability to control themselves, their capacity to be reasoned with, it takes control of them and directs their every thought and action. There has never been a comprehensive study done on the effects of racism on WHITE people. Lots of books on how it affects Black people, but, because white people don't think there's anything wrong with them, no one has ever put them under the microscope to look critically at their psychology. Well, you saw the consequences on January 6th in Washington.

It's a tie between hm and Mitch McConnell because Moscow Mitch could have contained him.

The American Civil War

750,000 Total number of deaths from the Civil War

2.5 Approximate percentage of the American population that died during the Civil War

7,000,000 Number of Americans lost if 2.5% of the American population died in a war today

2,100,000 Number of Northerners mobilized to fight for the Union army

880,000 Number of Southerners mobilized to fight for the Confederacy

2 out of 3 Number of Civil War deaths that occurred from disease rather than battle

1 in 5 Average death rate for all Civil War soldiers

60,000 Surgeries that resulted in amputation

As a very old republican (now ex-rethug), I watched it happen. Trump got elected because of who was stupid enough to vote for him. The deplorables are the problem. They provide the votes to elect Republicans while their president fucks them over.

Ronnie started it by bringing them into the republican party. Each president elected after Ronnie, has helped the rich take over while feeding deplorables BS. The deplorables are lied to so that they will provide the votes.

The Orange Shit Ass was the logical conclusion.

Not the worst since, you know, all that other stuff, but it's gotta be in the bottom five percent.

We'll see.

no, the slavery was, is and probably will always be.

I worry that tRump will inspire others who are equally evil but not as inept. Someone like Ted Cruz will learn from the big orange turd’s mistakes.

Turning Jesus into a right wing monster. The Moral Majority & The Christian Coalition.

Yes.

r12 he isn't even close to gone. He has already announced that he is going on the road to hold rallies. it is never ending until someone finally arrests him

No, it is not the worst thing. Far from it. In the span of time Trumpism will be but a blip in the history of America. It will be over relatively fast. it may exist in some form or another as long as the fat fool is alive, but once he's dead it will dissolve rapidly. Frankly, I believe it is more likely to dissolve during his lifetime, especially if he's indicted and convicted criminally for his crimes. Or it will reduce to a tiny fraction of true morons who have little to nothing going for themselves.

I don't think that a 'more intelligent' Trump (Cruz or whoever) would be worse, because they wouldn't be Trump if they were more intelligent. A president with a functioning brain/advisors could get everything they wanted without the stupidity and malice of Trump. Downside, they would probably get re-elected like Reagan and Bush Jr.

Can anyone really define "Trumpism?" No clear meaning for that word ever comes to the fore. Nor can it ever. The man himself is chaotic, impulsive, incoherent, and as fickle as the wind. How can any cohesive political philosophy arise from his fractured psyche?

He simply a narcissist who took opportunistic advantage of what was already there. Some of it is related to this country's history, especially around slavery, the abolition of slavery, the Civil War, and the policies of Reconstruction. Some of it is just human nature.

As a species, we are a mixed bag, at best. Being tribal and hating people outside of our personal group is what we do best. Trump just ran with it.

Love this... The "New" Republican Party

Italy had the black shirts, Germany the brown shirts, America the red hats.

He's history from the 1920s and 30s coming back to life, and we know what that started.

We hear about violence begetting violence, but I believe if Trump and family were taken out permanently, the world would be a safer place.

[quote]Jesus Christ, he’s gone. Get over it.

Trumpism is very much with us.

How does one get over something that is a part of the body politic?

Joe Biden is a winner - Trump is a jackass.

My opinion is that Trump is at least worse the incident of Pearl Harbor, or 9/11/01.

He's not the worst thing to happen to the U.S. because he's merely a symptom of the kind of stupidity, cultism and bigotry that lead to things like the Civil War that you also listed.

For a very long time, possibly since the country was founded, we've had this constant problem with about 30% of Americans being easily swayed by lies and conspiracies, greed, massive bigotry and cultivated ignorance. I don't know what to do about it, especially since I frequently see it happening in other countries like Australia, UK, Italy and France, too.

Remember, prior to him being elected, Canada had Rob Ford (and his brother), France had Le Pen, UK had Farage and Brexit, and a rise in far-right extremism in Australia, plus the associated fascist propaganda that went with all that in those countries and more.

I think the more correct question would be to ask if the current rise of post-9/11 fascism is one of the worst things to happen to our country (and others) and the answer would be yes, absolutely.

You've got to be kidding R38. Trump and Trumpism is rapidly devolving into a clown show. Within a year (if not sooner) it and those who were taken in by it will be remembered as nothing but jokes. People are still awed by Pearl Harbor and especially 911.

Do you not know how to make a poll, OP?

I would say Keri Russell's short haircut on "Felicity" was the worst thing that ever happened to the United States.

But then the Civil War, and then the Depression, and then Trump.

Bump