Who was the worst US President? - In your opinion, who was the worst US President?

Who was the worst US President?


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I think one of the difficulties of assessing the quality of a president's performance is the fact that you really have to consider the hand that they were dealt. A president who assumes office when times are good is going to have a much easier job than a president who assumes office in a time of crisis, and whatever confluence of factors is to blame for a crisis, people tend to blame the president for it regardless, which leads to an unfavorably skewed perception of their competency.

With all that said, I'm going to go with James Buchanan.
 
I think one of the difficulties of assessing the quality of a president's performance is the fact that you really have to consider the hand that they were dealt. A president who assumes office when times are good is going to have a much easier job than a president who assumes office in a time of crisis, and whatever confluence of factors is to blame for a crisis, people tend to blame the president for it regardless, which leads to an unfavorably skewed perception of their competency.

With all that said, I'm going to go with James Buchanan.

Another issue is that what is socially acceptable has changed. Do you judge a president on doing what is best for the country or doing what is right? Do you factor in hindsight or give them points for their efforts?

17th century has to be Adams but he was a damn great. His competition is Washington himself so it doesn't mean much.

Early 19th century would have to be Madison. The war of 1812 was chaotic and ended with no gains. Jackson killed Indians but literally all presidents did that so its odd how he gets singled out for it. He had a native as one of his sons and he tried to get that son into the military. He was arguably the least racist of the bunch and the first non-aristocratic president. His "trail of tears" wasn't even his legislation, it was VanBurens.

Later 19th century is either Buchanan or Andrew Johnson. I don't think anything could have been done to prevent southern secession so I'll go with Johnson. He crippled efforts to reform the south into something non-shit but also pushed for punitive actions against the south for a good laugh or something.

The Harding administration was famously corrupt (and passed those famous depression-causing tariffs) but Wilson and Taft are probably some of the worst of the early 20th century. Taft toppled the first ever democratically elected government in Mexico and Wilson refused to acknowledge the dictator the USA had installed in his place. Together they caused an immigration crisis on the scale of the Syrian Civil War at America's doorstep and arguably the bloodiest conflict the western hemisphere has ever seen. Wilson's expansion of government power ,crackdown on civil liberties, expansion of white supremacy to the federal level and entry into ww1 were also bad policies. Pretty much every US president did imperialist stuff but McKinley's blatant war of imperialism against the Philippines killed millions for little gain ranks among one of the worst. Hard to choose.

For the later 20th century I'd say that Bush Sr. takes the cake. I like progressive legislation and dislike random wars for no reason. The Bush government deregulated, cut programs and caused chaos through foreign interventions... very suspicious foreign interventions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmfVs3WaE9Y
Every president did this sort of stuff though. Eisenhower let a Banana company become a government, Kennedy installed fascist governments throughout central America, etc.

21st century is easy. Bush. You can criticize Obama but Bush started two wars that are still costing the country a fortune in $ and lives for nothing. His government deregulated everything and arguably caused a financial crisis. Trump has declared no wars. I'd call you a fool for putting him even the bottom half of a bad president list.
 
Another issue is that what is socially acceptable has changed. Do you judge a president on doing what is best for the country or doing what is right? Do you factor in hindsight or give them points for their efforts?

17th century has to be Adams but he was a damn great. His competition is Washington himself so it doesn't mean much.

Early 19th century would have to be Madison. The war of 1812 was chaotic and ended with no gains. Jackson killed Indians but literally all presidents did that so its odd how he gets singled out for it. He had a native as one of his sons and he tried to get that son into the military. He was arguably the least racist of the bunch and the first non-aristocratic president. His "trail of tears" wasn't even his legislation, it was VanBurens.

Later 19th century is either Buchanan or Andrew Johnson. I don't think anything could have been done to prevent southern secession so I'll go with Johnson. He crippled efforts to reform the south into something non-shit but also pushed for punitive actions against the south for a good laugh or something.

The Harding administration was famously corrupt (and passed those famous depression-causing tariffs) but Wilson and Taft are probably some of the worst of the early 20th century. Taft toppled the first ever democratically elected government in Mexico and Wilson refused to acknowledge the dictator the USA had installed in his place. Together they caused an immigration crisis on the scale of the Syrian Civil War at America's doorstep and arguably the bloodiest conflict the western hemisphere has ever seen. Wilson's expansion of government power ,crackdown on civil liberties, expansion of white supremacy to the federal level and entry into ww1 were also bad policies. Pretty much every US president did imperialist stuff but McKinley's blatant war of imperialism against the Philippines killed millions for little gain ranks among one of the worst. Hard to choose.

For the later 20th century I'd say that Bush Sr. takes the cake. I like progressive legislation and dislike random wars for no reason. The Bush government deregulated, cut programs and caused chaos through foreign interventions... very suspicious foreign interventions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmfVs3WaE9Y
Every president did this sort of stuff though. Eisenhower let a Banana company become a government, Kennedy installed fascist governments throughout central America, etc.

21st century is easy. Bush. You can criticize Obama but Bush started two wars that are still costing the country a fortune in $ and lives for nothing. His government deregulated everything and arguably caused a financial crisis. Trump has declared no wars. I'd call you a fool for putting him even the bottom half of a bad president list.
Wilson was also a TRUE and HONEST fascist.
 
Lyndon B. Johnson did more damage then any president I can think of. He escalated the Vietnam war from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968 causing tens of thousands of young American men to get slaughtered and god knows how many Vietnamese killed. He took away an immigration policy we had since the 1920s which helped America become the most powerful country in the world. He ALSO helped setup the welfare state that tons of minorities are still stuck in while calling black people niggers in secret even referring to one of his bills as the "nigger bill"
 
Lyndon B. Johnson did more damage then any president I can think of. He escalated the Vietnam war from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968 causing tens of thousands of young American men to get slaughtered and god knows how many Vietnamese killed. He took away an immigration policy we had since the 1920s which helped America become the most powerful country in the world. He ALSO helped setup the welfare state that tons of minorities are still stuck in while calling black people niggers in secret even referring to one of his bills as the "nigger bill"

After listening to that phonecall he made ordering a pair of trousers, I legit can't get mad at LBJ.
 
Wilson and FDR for their roles in the world disorder which will continue to haunt us for decades to come.
 
Since they all have been hit I'd say in this order of problems
1: Abe
2: Wilson
3: FDR
4: LBJ

Abe was a tyrant and monster period. His massive over reach of power allowed all later presidents to get away with so much more they would not have had the power for if not for his disgusting abuses of power.

With out Abe the rest would have been cucked by the other two branches as our system was made to be. To think in a different timeline Wilson and FDR would be a lame duck and laughed at like how Bernie Sanders was. While LBJ would be seen as how we see McCain and cucked out of power.
 
Early 19th century would have to be Madison. The war of 1812 was chaotic and ended with no gains. Jackson killed Indians but literally all presidents did that so its odd how he gets singled out for it. He had a native as one of his sons and he tried to get that son into the military. He was arguably the least racist of the bunch and the first non-aristocratic president. His "trail of tears" wasn't even his legislation, it was VanBurens.

War of 1812 was a net victory of America. It was fought because Brits were crimping our sailors, and when the war ended the Brits were no longer crimping our sailors. I don't think calling it a wash because we didn't annex Canada is a fair metric.

As for Jackson, his status as Hitler for Indians is a shame because it was more nuanced than that. The relocation of Indians was an attempt at preventing the massive race war which was inevitable. It was an absolutely shitty solution for an even shittier problem. It was damage control for the much larger and much more concerning issue of the awful treatment and hostility early Americans had for redskins. Laying all that on the shoulders of one man is disingenuous and unfair.
 
Blatantly LBJ, but only because JFK died too fast to fuck everybody even harder.
Imagine being so much of an absolute bastard that you get in office for less than a term, inheriting a behemoth world-power of a nation straight from the nearly divinely inspired hands of Dwight D "had a science-backed economic policy and actually delivered on it" Eisenhower himself, and still manage to redesign the entire fucking planet's geopolitical landscape into a finger-paint nuclear-shadow cartoon version of itself that no one's been able to fix ever since.
It'd be impressive if it wasn't so stupid.
 
Última edición:
Woodrow Wilson and Nixon turned the dollar from a gold-backed promise into toilet paper, i think Woodrow was the worse as he literally sold a government institute to the merchants.
 
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