Presidential Rankings

A Day Of Sadness And Concern: Inauguration Day 2025

Ronald 26 Comments

Inauguration Day has arrived, and this author and blogger feels a sense of sadness and concern for the future.

Thank goodness there is a peaceful transition of power, unlike 2021, but it is scary to think what has occurred today.

It is still hard to fathom how 49.9 percent of the American voting population could back a person who was twice impeached, four times indicted, and a convicted felon, with the other charges only dropped because he is becoming President for a second time.

With Presidential scholars clearly putting Donald Trump in the bottom few Presidencies, in the company of James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, but often rated worse than them, it makes one wonder how American citizens could allow concern over the price of eggs and gas, a temporary phenomenon, to decide their vote, rather than think of the long term, and the effect on both the American economic future and America’s role in international affairs.

Instead of honoring Donald Trump on the day of his Inauguration, we should focus on the fact that today is Martin Luther King Day, a time to honor and memorialize this man of principle, decency, compassion, and human rights, who sacrificed his life for the cause of civil rights!

Joe Biden, Despite Low Public Opinion Ratings At End Of Presidency, Will Rise In History!

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President Joe Biden leaves office in three days, with low public opinion ratings, despite his multitude of accomplishments in his one term of office.

This is a sad state of affairs, but clearly, the American people at large are not very knowledgeable or good at making judgments about Presidents as they leave office.

History records that Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter left office under the cloud of negativism.

But now, Truman is generally rated 5th or 6th among all Presidents in ratings of Presidential scholars and experts.

Eisenhower is generally rated 5th or 6th among all Presidents, either ahead or behind Truman.

Lyndon B. Johnson, despite Vietnam, is rated in the bottom of the top ten, and in one survey, ahead of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Jimmy Carter is rated in the mid 20s, but it is clear his stature will rise, possibly to the bottom of the first third, or 15 Presidents.

Joe Biden has already been rated number 14 in one scholarly survey, and despite low public opinion ratings now, it seems assured he will remain in the top third or fifteen of the Presidents.

Sadly, American public opinion is ill informed and ignorant in many respects, and when it comes to being asked who are the greatest Presidents, invariably, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan are rated at the top, not Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Many experts would say that while Kennedy and Reagan consistently are in the lower part of the top ten Presidents, that both are somewhat overrated.

So it will probably, sadly, take until Joe Biden’s life has ended, before he will be completely appreciated for all the good he did!

Fourth Anniversary Of January 6 2021 Insurrection, And Kamala Harris Presiding Over Electoral Vote Count!

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Today is the 4th Anniversary of the US Capitol Insurrection, which will NEVER be forgotten, and any attempt at Donald Trump to make it go away as a FACT of history will fail, and will, permanently, put him in the basement of rankings of American Presidents, no matter what he does in his second term!

It is a sad day also for Kamala Harris, who has to certify her own defeat as the losing Presidential candidate but being the Vice President in the term ending in two weeks, and having the responsibility of counting the Electoral Votes in a joint session of Congress.

This has only occurred before for Richard Nixon in 1961, Hubert Humphrey in 1969, and Al Gore in 2001.

This is a very depressing day, due to the circumstances, but in the long run of history, Donald Trump will always be condemned, even if he has not been held accountable with a criminal penalty due to circumstances and timing.

Mass Pardons To January 6 Insurrectionists, And Potential Prosecution Of January 6 House Committee Members Beyond The Pale!

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Donald Trump’s declaration that he will give mass pardons to January 6 Insurrectionists at the US Capitol; and his promotion of the prosecution of all of the January 6 House Committee members who investigated and exposed the whole story of that tragic day, is beyond the pale!

It will insure that Donald Trump, already in the bottom five, and in many cases, dead last, in assessments of Presidents by historians, political scientists, and others, will remain solidly last in the rankings of Presidents!

It will stain him for all time with being the most corrupt, most abusive of the rule of law and the Constitution, of any President, and far more than even Richard Nixon.

It will undermine American democracy as we come up to the 250th anniversary of the American Republic!

A poll was taken about giving pardons to the insurrrectionists, and by vast margins, college educated, Democrats, African Americans, Latinos, urban, and young voters are opposed.

It will be a very obscene day when Trump shows that he has no respect for the loss of life and limb, and destruction of property, that occurred on January 6, 2021, one of the darkest days in American history, alongside December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001!

God Bless Jimmy Carter, As He Reaches Age 100 On Tuesday!

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It is hard to believe, but former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, reaches age 100 on Tuesday October 1.

There have been many occasions where Carter had health crises and also lost his wife Rosalynn, and one would think his life was nearing its end.

But here he is, still mentally alert, although physically unable to take care of himself, and reaching the centenarian accomplishment.

Carter has been much underrated for a long time, and his accomplishments have not been adequately acknowledged, and instead, his failures and shortcomings, particularly with the Iran Hostage Seizure, have caused the general public and many scholars to rate him only in the mid 20s at best in Presidential rankings.

His record and accomplishments are often overlooked or ignored, including:

The Egyptian Israeli Camp David Accords

the Panama Canal Treaty

best environmental record of any one term President

his promotion of human rights

his diplomatic recognition of mainland China

three Cabinet agencies (Education, Energy, Health and Human Services)

his ethical and moral standards, and lack of corruption

his tremendous intellect and high IQ

his common decency, empathy and compassion

his genuine religiosity, being a “true” Christian, not a phony

and his post Presidency activities through the Carter Center

and Habitat For Humanity activities, including personal building of housing for the poor

Nobel Peace Prize in 2002

All these are to be applauded, and one would wish for public recognition of his greatness on Tuesday, and beyond!

Republican Attacks On Joe Biden Totally Disingenuous!

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With President Joe Biden having withdrawn from the Presidential campaign, opposition Republicans have displayed a total lack of respect, and being totally disingenuous about his time in office.

It is understandable that for political reasons, Republicans would be critical of Biden, but they are going beyond the pale, and asserting totally ridiculous and preposterous comments about Biden.

We see Donald Trump, but also many other Republicans, asserting that Joe Biden is the worst President in American history, which demonstrates not only the horrible character of all concerned, but also, a total lack of knowledge of Presidential history!

It is a fact that no reputable Presidential scholar or expert would rate Joe Biden at the bottom of the 45 Presidents America has had, while many have made it clear that, indeed, it is Donald Trump who is the worst ever occupant of the Presidency.

So for Donald Trump to make such a stupid, moronic statement, is again an example of the psychological definition of “projection”!

But beyond that reality, how can any intelligent person say Biden is the worst, when he is rated as the “best” domestic achieving President in 60 years, since the time of Lyndon B. Johnson?

Biden was rated number 14 in the recent assessment of the American Political Science Association!

And what about such Presidents as Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Franklin Pierce, Herbert Hoover and a multitude of other Presidents who have been correctly rated as “disasters” or “tragedies” in office?

FDR Death, And Harry Truman Succession To The Presidency Commemorated!

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Sixty nine years ago, in the midst of late stages of World War II, the longest serving American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, passed away at the age of 63 in Warm Springs, Georgia.

The impact of FDR in his years in office, and the continued significance of his policies and actions, reverberates in America seven decades later, and he is usually ranked second or third among all Presidents in polls and surveys of Presidential scholars.

Serving more than 12 years and starting a fourth term in office, he had a far greater impact in many ways than Abraham Lincoln, who is usually ranked as the greatest American President.

FDR’s “New Deal” still affects America, and his leadership in World War II was crucial for the survival of democracy in the nation and the world.

The death of FDR also led to the Presidency of Harry Truman, tremendously underrated throughout his Presidency and for a generation after his retirement.

But once Truman passed away, recognition of his courageous, principled leadership emerged, and now he is ranked in the top five or six of all Presidents!

His continuation and expansion of the New Deal through the Fair Deal, and his strong leadership in the emerging Cold War made his Presidency extremely significant!

Donald Trump Condemned To Last Place In Presidential Rankings For All Time!

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It is now official: Donald Trump is condemned to last place in Presidential rankings for all time!

With two impeachments and four indictments, and with a total of 91 counts against the 45th President, he falls into the basement, so to speak, as for all time the worst, most corrupt President, and it is hard to imagine any future President being as horrendous as he has now been judged by facts and reality!

His mugshot will reverberate in history for the long run, a symbol of a would be tyrant who would never leave office, if it had not been for courageous and principled people around him who stood in the way of the establishment of an autocracy that would have destroyed the American Republic!

A lot of this tragedy was caused by Donald Trump himself, and his desire to destroy American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and puts him in an exclusive spot as a wannabe Fascist authoritarian who almost succeeded in his quest to be President for life!

And Trump is delusional, trying to raise money on his mugshot from gullible Americans, when to believe that he will evade ALL 91 counts in four cases against him, is truly a warped mind who lives in an alternative universe! Why would any sane American wish to buy a T shirt with the Trump mugshot on it is beyond all sanity!

Realize that almost all of the witnesses in the various cases against Donald Trump are REPUBLICANS, who thankfully refused to participate in the attack on democracy, at the same time that so many others, including present Republican contenders for the Presidency either stayed on the sidelines or participated in trying to overthrow the accurate results of the Presidential Election of 2020!

Yes, other Presidents have been judged in the past as the worst, including James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, and Warren G. Harding, but none of them, with their faults and shortcomings, come anywhere near the venality of Donald Trump!

Even the other most corrupt President, Richard Nixon, would be stunned at the level of evil that Donald Trump represents, and Nixon had some real accomplishments which have prevented him from ending up in the bottom few Presidents!

One might say Donald Trump accomplished some noteworthy achievements, but his level of evil is so massive that it cannot save him from the basement of history long term!

Ironically, Donald Trump will have a full scale Presidential funeral, and likely will have, at some point, a Presidential Library and Museum, as even Richard Nixon had, but the stain of what he did and tried to do to subvert American democracy will never be overcome in the annals of history!

Presidents Day 2023: The Changes In Rankings Occurring

Ronald 2 Comments

Every Presidents Day is a time for reflection on rankings of Presidents by Presidential scholars and by ordinary citizens.

As more evidence comes out about Donald Trump, it just moves him closer to the bottom of the list with James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson.

Neither of them, as horrendous as they were, took action to stage a coup by inciting violence and bloodshed at the US Capitol, and no President was as immoral and unethical as Trump, not even Richard Nixon.

The reputation of Jimmy Carter, even before his announcement of going into hospice, has been on the rise, as it is understood that he was horribly underestimated, because of his loss in 1980 to Ronald Reagan.

The record of Barack Obama also looks better all of the time when compared to the Presidents before and after him—George W. Bush and Donald Trump!

Joe Biden is in midstream, but his record of accomplishments and his common decency and empathy are causing him to be seen in sympathetic eyes by most observers, except the hate mongers, of which there are, sadly, too many!

Gerald Ford’s reputation is also improving, as the Republican President truly seen as saving the Presidency after the tragedy and corruption of Richard Nixon. His pardon of Nixon cost him in rankings, but in recent years, Ford is seen in a different light!

Donald Trump The Most Corrupt President In American History By Far!

Ronald 4 Comments

Sadly, America has had Presidents whose time in office included scandals and corruption on a wide scale.

But no President has been as corrupt personally and politically as Donald Trump.

It is also telling that the Presidents whose administrations stand out for their corruption are all Republicans!

The list would include Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877); Warren G. Harding (1921-1923); Richard Nixon (1969-1974); Ronald Reagan (1981-1989); and George W. Bush (2001-2009).

But the closest in level is Nixon, and yet, if he were here today, he would be shocked at the level of corruption, most of it personal, of Donald Trump!

Trump out of office faces legal challenges in Florida, Georgia, Washington DC, and New York, and he is the only President to be impeached twice, and have some members of his own party vote to convict him of impeachment charges!

That is why Trump has already been rated by scholars as in the bottom three of all Presidents in history, only ahead of James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, who battle each other for last place!