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Who did the most damage of the last 6 Republican Presidents?
- Thread starter Deleted member 31923
- Start date
1. George W (global war, economic crisis)
2. Ronald Reagan (arming the Christian Right, blocking social development for decades,)
3. Trump (his so far only term has put an hard limit on him)
4. Nixon (he made more shit as a senator, tho)
Gerald Ford, George HW.
2. Ronald Reagan (arming the Christian Right, blocking social development for decades,)
3. Trump (his so far only term has put an hard limit on him)
4. Nixon (he made more shit as a senator, tho)
Gerald Ford, George HW.
Solid, solid points man. Might have to change my vote away from Reagan.
Why are people saying Reagan? He didn't do a tenth of the evil Nixon did.
Nixon was a horrible, horrible man.
Nixon was a horrible, horrible man.
Nixon sowed massive distrust in the government. Leading to the anti-intellectual movement spawned from Reagan. Trump is just the purest, unfiltered Republican to ever grace our political structure. The structure set by Nixon.
Long-term influence. Raeganomics trickled down laterally to poorer rich countries.
I really hate this statement. "Fuck you, got mine" is not a new thing. It's human nature. At the end of the day, I care about me and mine more than you and yours. It is so ingrained in humanity that many of the largest religions preach against that point of view.
I'm not going bring foreign policy into it. I'm not educated enough to speak to the nuances of America's foreign policy through each administration. I am aware of America's imperialism and the negative consequences of war. A better me would probably have that factor more into the equation. But as an American:
- Nixon was a pretty good President with a good domestic policy. Hell, if he hadn't been impeached, we'd have had universal healthcare for decades by now.
- Reagan probably would be my choice, but I mean, even he'd blush at the state of the Republican Party now. I may have disagreed on some of his policies, but ok.
- GWB. His legacy is stained by the conflict in the Middle East. I don't hate him though. I think he was woefully unprepared for office. His autobiography showed him in a different light to me.
- Trump is sickening and offensive in every derogatory way from his person to agenda. I catch myself asking myself how the fuck we elected such a terrible individual to the highest office in the country.
Reaganomics is child's play compared to the shit Nixon was doing! Sabotaging the Vietnam peace process alone makes him worse than whatever BS is being spouted about Reaganomics.
Reagan was an irredeemable POS. The only regret I have about that man is that his would be assassin sucked at the one task he set out to do.
For white people
For white people
Domestically, the America we live in today directly ties back to Reaganomics. His attack on unions, welfare, healthcare, social safety nets, emphasis on the division between working whites and minorities, all contributed to the elimination of the middle class and a war on the working class.
While Nixon was unquestionably awful, he left politics being discredited. Reagan is still beloved today by the GOP and it took a long time before the left came around to the idea that Reagan was shit and openly attack him.
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Reagan. His issues could be argued by nearly all of the other GOP examples, but I feel he helped normalize them the most.
The adoption of what many refer to as neoliberalism. The idea that market value is the only form of value. That anything the government can do is objectively bad, and anything a business can do is objectively good. That seeped into conservative culture where people normalized running the country like a business, and you see this even before Trump who is this problem in the form of a person. The selling of national parks and privatizing anything in the public space is one Reagan helped normalized. He helped, in essence, to make public issues private concerns, because of the atomization of individuals.
His racist ass helped cement the idea that a welfare state was for primarily non-whites. The term "welfare queen" is deeply embedded in the conservative lexicon, which creates an image of a black woman with many children and no father figure. And yet, the people who overwhelming use this same "leeching" system are whites, and in many cases, use it more. This is why they're often exempt from the more extreme and blatant acts of austerity: it is much easier to put work requirements on Medicaid on blacks because they're seen as the "bigger users" of a system and exempt whites within the same state, even if they use it more. This racist illusion of who uses assistance, and even the idea that those who use it are leeches and bad people, is a core tenet of conservatism.
Finally, of the points I wish to make, he helped cement the idea that the GOP will deify con men politicians. A man who turned things to garbage as he touched them, had a decaying brain in real time, and would do then-vile things like make racist jokes with Nixon or turn off his hearing aids when his wife was talking are things even worshippers of him today find it hard to believe as things Reagan could do. I remember when the racist tapes came out last year that people who met him and wrote books about him "couldn't believe he would say such a thing" and yet to all of us, it's as clear as looking up in the morning and seeing sunlight. Con men are seen as reasonable people and saviors, and Reagan was one even older non-Republican boomers see with warm eyes and hearts.
He's a disease that infected this country, kept the political left in gridlock for decades, has his own worshippers representing the current age of Republicans, and they've moved from a man with a fictional vision to the incarnation of a man who lived from that vision. You cannot have a Donald Trump without having a Ronald Reagan.
The adoption of what many refer to as neoliberalism. The idea that market value is the only form of value. That anything the government can do is objectively bad, and anything a business can do is objectively good. That seeped into conservative culture where people normalized running the country like a business, and you see this even before Trump who is this problem in the form of a person. The selling of national parks and privatizing anything in the public space is one Reagan helped normalized. He helped, in essence, to make public issues private concerns, because of the atomization of individuals.
His racist ass helped cement the idea that a welfare state was for primarily non-whites. The term "welfare queen" is deeply embedded in the conservative lexicon, which creates an image of a black woman with many children and no father figure. And yet, the people who overwhelming use this same "leeching" system are whites, and in many cases, use it more. This is why they're often exempt from the more extreme and blatant acts of austerity: it is much easier to put work requirements on Medicaid on blacks because they're seen as the "bigger users" of a system and exempt whites within the same state, even if they use it more. This racist illusion of who uses assistance, and even the idea that those who use it are leeches and bad people, is a core tenet of conservatism.
Finally, of the points I wish to make, he helped cement the idea that the GOP will deify con men politicians. A man who turned things to garbage as he touched them, had a decaying brain in real time, and would do then-vile things like make racist jokes with Nixon or turn off his hearing aids when his wife was talking are things even worshippers of him today find it hard to believe as things Reagan could do. I remember when the racist tapes came out last year that people who met him and wrote books about him "couldn't believe he would say such a thing" and yet to all of us, it's as clear as looking up in the morning and seeing sunlight. Con men are seen as reasonable people and saviors, and Reagan was one even older non-Republican boomers see with warm eyes and hearts.
He's a disease that infected this country, kept the political left in gridlock for decades, has his own worshippers representing the current age of Republicans, and they've moved from a man with a fictional vision to the incarnation of a man who lived from that vision. You cannot have a Donald Trump without having a Ronald Reagan.
As hearless it might seem, it "only" affected two countries. Reaganomics affected whole continents.
Reagan with his Reaganomics screwed us domestically. The middle class got destroyed under his policies. He also denied government loans to all students who's families made over $32.5k and to eliminate grants and work study jobs. More students had to apply for private loans instead of federal ones. One of the reasons why our student debt is so high now. His policies only benefited the wealthy while denying the poor and working class.
Seems strange to attempt to quantify evil, but my ranking would be Bush Jr. > Reagan > Trump > Nixon > Bush Sr. > Ford
Ultimately voted W as during his administration America endured the worst terrorist attack in its history, the PATRIOT Act, and the 2008 financial crisis/TARP. And overseas Iraq and Afghanistan endured an American invasion resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Hard to top that.
Ultimately voted W as during his administration America endured the worst terrorist attack in its history, the PATRIOT Act, and the 2008 financial crisis/TARP. And overseas Iraq and Afghanistan endured an American invasion resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Hard to top that.
The court system has completely broken due to Trump. I fully expect abortion rights and voting rights to be decimated in the next decade due to this. Better hope RBG lives another 5 years or it's a guarantee and that's just the Supreme Court.
It's a hard call between Reagan and Trump to me. I think I'm going with Trump though despite that you could trace a lot of this back to Reagan. Reasoning being Trump is totally the wrong person at the wrong time. The rise of the right in the US has also had a contribution to the rise of the right elsewhere IMO and all because of the nature of the internet and social media nowadays. Or in short I feel Trump also lucked his way into being as much of a cunt as he has managed to be.
If Reagan was around nowadays instead I've no doubt I'd easily put him at the top.
If Reagan was around nowadays instead I've no doubt I'd easily put him at the top.
any republican president would have done that. We knew that was going to happen since the 2010 midterms.
There is so much more blood on W's hands
GWB was an absolutely repugnant president whose actions resulted in the death of at least hundreds of thousands of innocent people. He would be my pick. Reason being a very close second.
I think McConnell broke it more than Trump by blocking so many Obama appointees and leaving vacancies. Any Republican president could make the appointments trump has.
Nixon for sowing wide-scale government discord, although I think future generations will reel from Trump's (awful) influence.
On policy:
1) Reagan
2) W Bush
3) Trump
I think Trump has done the most existential damage by far, however. He validated the ugliest underbelly of American culture and once that box opens you can't just close it back up. We have to reckon with his supporters for generations to come, and our division has not only been exposed by his candidacy, but exploited beyond repair.
1) Reagan
2) W Bush
3) Trump
I think Trump has done the most existential damage by far, however. He validated the ugliest underbelly of American culture and once that box opens you can't just close it back up. We have to reckon with his supporters for generations to come, and our division has not only been exposed by his candidacy, but exploited beyond repair.
^ This right here. He wasn't the worst personally, but he was the enabler.
Another part of the damage Trump has been doing is to the judiciary. Appointing so many conservative judges is terrifying to me. It isn't just limited to the SCOTUS and is one of the few things that can't be reversed.
Reagan is like the root of it all, albeit I think we should also consider non Presidents as well, like Barry Goldwater
Internationally: Bush Jr
Domestically: Trump's judicial appointments give him the edge over Reagan for me
Domestically: Trump's judicial appointments give him the edge over Reagan for me
It's a tough question and a bit too early to throw Trump into the mix. You can see the effects of the other presidents' policies in the long term in a way you can't yet with Trump. Like Bush's middle eastern clusterfuck. It's very possible that the things he's done to erode the institutions in our government could be far reaching and lead to massive failures down the line. He's basically corrupted every department there is and his corruption has set a blueprint for the future that we probably cannot fathom yet. But it's possible some of that won't come to fruition.
I voted GWB, but a case could easily be made for Nixon and Reagan, and they all lead into one another rather elegantly. Without one I'm not sure we get the next and so on. Trump is in that line, too. Without Reagan or Bush we don't get Trump. There may be another horrible president we get largely because of Trump's work, too.
I voted GWB, but a case could easily be made for Nixon and Reagan, and they all lead into one another rather elegantly. Without one I'm not sure we get the next and so on. Trump is in that line, too. Without Reagan or Bush we don't get Trump. There may be another horrible president we get largely because of Trump's work, too.
As someone who's part of the LGBT community, Reagan was much much much more damaging than Trump.Yes looking from today's perspective that's bad but given the public's perception of the gay community back then it's not at all surprising of his actions.
As opposed to this idiot
Who I feel like can say anything about a minority group at a moments notice that can cause immediate violence somewhere in this country because people feel like he is co-signing it?
I will always think that's more damaging than not attending a funeral.
Nixon was kicked out of office. He was so terrible that people had to admit he was terrible. He's officially, unequivocally terrible. That kind of terrible can be learned from. But the terribleness of Reagan, who is still touted as an American hero? That's much worse. Instead of learning from his failures, the party built its platform right on top of his cancerous ideas.
But Trump waved a flag though /s
(I know Trump a bigot but nothing he did comes close to the aids crisis)
Yeah, but what they learned from the Nixon failure was how to weasel out of it. Roger Ailes largely built Fox News as a response to the media painting Nixon as so terrible he had to resign. He wanted a propaganda network so that would never happen again. And it worked.
The party kept building the party on top of Nixon's ideas. That's what the southern strategy is.
Reagan set the table for letting cronies run government. He normalized being a figurehead puppet. And he was as corrupt as they come.
Definitely a toss up between Reagan and Bush Jr.
Reagan was a fucking monster and Bush Jr is still a war criminal. Reagan's policies during his reign of terror have been affecting this country since their creation.
Reagan was a fucking monster and Bush Jr is still a war criminal. Reagan's policies during his reign of terror have been affecting this country since their creation.
Dubya and the absolute havoc of the post 9/11 world is definitely a good shout. Still think the cancer of Reagan has him beat though.
It has to be Reagan. Or more aptly Freidman, the Mont Pelerin Society and the Chicago Boys. Reagan was a muppet that ushered in a new economic religion that even the Democrats have bent the knee to. Neoliberalism and the insanity of infinite growth set the tone for US domestic and foreign policy. The Bush clan may have been more militaristic and destabilizing in the middle east, but their ideology flows from Reagan. Trump is arguably the inevitable, horrifying realization that neoliberalism is a sham and it really is just greed at all costs that underpins our capitalist societies.