A survey of historians and presidential experts ranks President Biden in 14th place all-time, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan. Former President Donald Trump came in last.
If Reagan is in the top half, how am I supposed to take the list seriously? Or are you telling me ~28 presidents were actually worse?
Reagan did a lot of awful, criminal things, but when Gorbachev brought Glasnost to the table, Reagan did not fuck that up and ushered in the end of the Soviet Union.
Reagan was loved by the country at the time and was extremely effective at implementing his agenda.
All of it is monstrous to me as well, but to compare him to Trump, who didn’t even try to implement much of an agenda and literally had ZERO party platform for his second term… it makes a little more sense in that context.
It’s a bad list overall.
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Pierce < Trump: Pierce caused Bleeding Kansas
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Coolidge > Jackson: Indian Citizenship Act Vs Indian Removal Act
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Grant > Wilson: Wilson was incredibly racist even for his time
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“Trump’s overall rating was 10.92, easily the worst showing, while Biden’s 62.66 had him tied with John Adams. Some of Biden’s appeal could be due to the person he followed in the Oval Office.”
Biden’s biggest achievements have been fixing the cluster-fuck Trump left him (cough - Covid - cough). If Trump hadn’t come before him, Biden would be seen largely as a placeholder President. Someone keeping the seat warm until the next Democrat can come in.
Also worth crediting him on the infrastructure deal. This piece of legislation had a lot of needed stuff in it.
For instance
Money to replace lead service pipes
Money for bridges, etc
A HUGE sorely needed investment in public transportation including passenger rail
Various green initiatives (ev charger network, solar and power efficiency incentives)
Etc.It has been a really long time since the federal government has delivered anything (besides tax cuts that lean towards the wealthy) so it’s a big deal that this was pushed through.
The infrastructure deal is largely invisible. The value behind it won’t be seen for decades and there will be years of fraud and abuse it will have to overcome.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/17/democrats-shrinking-infrastructure-plan-00039588
https://theconversation.com/1-2t-infrastructure-plan-offers-lucrative-target-for-fraud-171453
Fair enough, it was watered down in the name of compromise. The last piece of major legislation that I was enthusiastic about was the ACA, and look what that ended being after negotiation/compromise - better than nothing I guess, but, in my opinion, a lost opportunity due to poor leadership. Biden has been fairly effective in that context.
