The Worst President In The History Of Our Country August 24, 2023August 25, 2023 Last night I watched a minute of Tucker Carlson’s interview with the twice-impeached, quadruply-indicted presumptive Republican nominee . . . . . . a candidate whom Carlson has said he “hates passionately” and whom he has characterized as “a demonic force, a destroyer” . . . . . . and though he presumably realizes that Trump holds the honor, Carlson gave him a platform to say — projecting, as he so often does — “Joe Biden is the worst president in the history of our country.” Biden who, with his team, has led us to: > The lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. > Inflation lower than after 8 years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. > A current “misery index” lower than it was at the end of Eisenhower’s presidency . . . or Reagan’s, Ford’s, Carter’s, Clinton’s, Nixon’s, Kennedy’s, Johnson’s, either Bush’s or Trump’s. > The long-sought bipartisan infrastructure bill Trump could never achieve. > An S&P 500 up 18% since taking office. > Rising wages. > A resurgence in manufacturing. > A dramatically strengthened NATO — Russia, are you listening? — with strengthened Pacific partnerships as well. > A restoration of dignity to the office of the presidency. So why do most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track? They believe it because . . . . . . if they’re Trump’s 35%, that’s what he’s led them to believe. . . . and if they’re not, they are, like me and (I’d guess) you, deeply dismayed if not downright frightened by our ever-increasing polarization and the way facts no longer seem to matter. If Trump says he had the largest inaugural crowd in history when he plainly did not, it’s just an “alternative fact.” If more than 1,000 former Republican and Democratic federal prosecutors say he obstructed justice, it’s a “witch hunt.” If he summons his followers to Washington (“it will be wild”) and tells them to march down to the Capitol and “fight like hell” because the election was stolen from them, knowing that some of them are armed, and then watches for 187 minutes while they storm the Capitol and threaten to kill the Vice President before reluctantly telling them he loves them but they should go home — well, what’s wrong with that? The entire Republican Party except for Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger just goes along with it. Sure, he’s a liar. Sure he’s a bully. Sure he’s a wannabe strongman who loves Putin, Kim Jung-Un, and the Proud Boys; who flirts with fascism and kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside. But he’s their wannabe strongman! Their retribution, no less! This is scary stuff. So the 65% who are not under his spell think the country’s headed in a dangerous direction, too. The 35% and the 65% agree — just for more-or-less opposite reasons. Yes, we have crime problems (worst in red states). The whole country (very much including those red states) needs to do better. Yes, we have an immigration mess (not least because the bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform that passed the Senate 68-32 a decade ago was blocked by a Republican minority in the House; it would have passed easily if the Republicans had allowed it to come up for a vote, so they did not). But it could be fixed if both sides would cooperate; and Biden may get that done in his second term as he got the CHIPs Act passed and Infrastructure bill passed, and the Inflation Reduction Act passed. But in the main, this president, far from being “the worst president in history,” is shaping up to be one of the best. If our democracy survives, historians will surely say, almost as one: “Move over, Dubya: Trump had you beat by a mile.”