Recent Donald Trump FACTS include him telling Vladimir Putin to “do as he liked” to NATO allies behind in their dues, Congressional supporter Mike Turner endangering U.S. intelligence sources by blabbing about an important secret the government knows about Russian weaponry, and two different courts socking Trump for nearly half a billion dollars total for assorted bad conduct such as fraud, touching a woman without permission, and saying false things about her. We also hear that Joe Biden is old.
Most recently, Alexander Smirnov, the dubious figure Trump and his allies relied on to claim that Joe Biden took bribes in connection with his son’s dubious business dealings has admitted that Russian intelligence was involved with his disseminating anti-Biden allegations Smirnov apparently made up. That undermines the retaliatory impeachment Trump’s House supporters are struggling to trigger.
In this context, let’s read the results of the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey.
It’s not political. Voters are current and recent members of the Presidents and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics.
Respondents ranked prexies on overall greatness or failure. Professors averaged the scores.
Abe Lincoln, FDR, George Washingon, TR, and Harry Truman are the top 5, although Republicans and Conservatives would rank Washington first and James Buchanan last. Not surprisingly, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and Buchanan occupy the 40th-44th slots. Harding has move up two places since 2015, and Harrison down two.
The results aren’t extremely partisan. Dwight Eisenower stands 8th, though he mostly played golf. To gauge how politics might have skewed the results, I compared how experts of different parties and ideologies ranked some recent presidents. The new poll listed six “political/ideological” groupings: Republican, Democrat, Independent/Other, Conservative, Liberal, and Moderate. Each grouping ranked Bill Clinton 10th, 11th, or 12th,, Each ranked FDR 2nd or 3rd.
Who did the experts rank last? Hi, Mr. Trump!
By contrast, Joe Biden is 14th, right behind Bill Clinton and John Adams and ahead of Woodrow Wilson and and Reagan.
Interestingly, Barack Obama is 7th. He was 16th in 2015 and 8th in 2018, so respect for his presidential greatness soared from 2015 and 2018.
Certainly there was some partisanship. Democrats placed Obama and Biden 6th and 13th, respectively, and Republicans 15th and 30th. Similarly, George Bush (pere) was ranked 11th by Republicans, 15th by Independents, and 19th by Democrats, while Bush (fils) ranked 19th, 31st, and 33rd.
But nothing helped Trump’s ranking much. Democrats, and “Liberals” ranked him 45th, as we might expect. Independents and “Moderates” also placed Mr. Trump 45th. Among Republicans and “Conservatives,” his rating leapt up to 43rd.
That is, experts from his own party ranked him 43rd of 45.
I’m not Mr. “Rely on Experts for Everything.” But when experts in the U.S. Presidency are ranking the 45 presidents, and the Republicans and Conservatives rank a recent Republican President 43rd, that seems worth noticing. Does it offend Maybe experts on the U.S. Presidency when someone takes an oath to support our Constitution then struggles to stay in office when that Constitution says, “Please leave, sir!”
I mean, I’m no slave to restaurant ratings, either; but if gourmets and healthy food experts ranked Ken’s Steakhouse 67th among 67 restaurants in town, and his sisters and the guys on his bowling team all ranked the place 65th, I might find somewhere else to dine.
– 30 –
[The above column appeared Sunday, 25 February, 2024, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on the newspaper’s website (or, at least, I think it will be – couldn’t find it just now), as well as on KRWG’s website under Local Viewpoints. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM, streaming at www.lccommunityradio.org/).]
[Not a lot to add. But here’s what I was reading, the Official Results of the Presidential Greatness Survey - White Paper. ]
[Apologies to two long-gone presidents, neither of whom is likely to care : first, to Benjamin Harrison, for erroneously tossing his name into that list of bottom-feeders. Benjamin's grandfather, William Henry Harrison, belonged there. Not because he did so badly, but because it's hard to evaluate a gentleman whose Presidency lasts 31 days. Folks at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis, Indiana caught my error and stood up for Benjamin. Thanks! Michael Hays stood up for Dwight David Eisenhower, recalling from our childhood watching federal troops require southern states to integrate schools, as required by Brown v Board of Education. Eisenhower didn't just play golf. My bad. Probably lingering bad feelings from when my father, an Adlai Stevenson partisan, had me wearing a sandwich sign opposing Ike when I was about 5 years old. Ike won, of course. Anyway, my bad. What I did particularly like about Ike, when I learned it, was that he was among a bunch of soldiers tasked with driving a horseless carriage across our vast country very early in the 20th Century. He recalled how hard it was, around the time he approved spending a bundle to create the Interstatete Highway System. ]
Peter,I write to protest your snideness toward #8, Dwight David Eisenhower. "Dwight Eisenower [sic] stands 8th, though he mostly played golf" is really a shameful and gratuitous slur on this president. After all, he could not have been #8 for "mostly" playing golf. He was also a decent and honorable man.I shall mention only one of his accomplishments, one which I saw on TV and which stirred me: sending the 101st into LIttle Rock in 1957 to enforce the court-ordered integration of Central High School. I remember seeing the troops marching down the street with--holy moly--fixed bayonets! Eisenhower was furious at AK Governor Orval Faubus's resistance to a court order, Army Chief of Staff Maxwell Taylor, whom DDE called to order the 101st troops to Little Rock instantly, knew he meant business, and the 101st Commander Major General Edwin Walker gave the order to fix bayonets. Not only was DDE determined to uphold the law, but he did so despite what I am sure was his birthright racism.I think that you need to make an apology, and not just to me.MichaelP.S. You might ask yourself whether the Good Donald would do a similar thing in a similar situation.
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