Who among us here doesn’t love history? I ran across this article, and I was impressed — thought it was pretty much right on the money, although I might have re-ordered a few of those choices in minor ways.
I then began to become curious — how many of these delusional presidents were conservatives? And how should one determine that — especially in presidencies which are well over 150 years old? I decided that the answer would be an analysis of each president’s political choices coupled with a little knowledge of history. For example, in 1820, the party called the Democrats was the true heir to progressive Jeffersonian Democracy, but some 25 years later, a party in that form had ceased to exist as it was formerly known. It had became a conservative party in reaction to Andrew Jackson (more on that below). In another 15 years after that, the first so-named Republican was elected president — and Abraham Lincoln was now a progressive reformist. Of course we know today that Republicans didn’t hold those values very long.
This sort of historical reasoning, however, should provide a good gauge of whether a president was a Progressive office-holder of the people or one who believed in the power of the monied elite, so I attempted to knit that analysis into the article. I was hoping that there would be lessons to be found in history, and as so often happens, there were no disappointments. Here goes, in the order the article has it, from somewhat delusional to . . . well . . you’ll see:
15. Franklin Pierce 1853 (D)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative. At this point in time, Democrats were the conservatives, and reformist progressive Republican Abraham Lincoln was only four years away.
Delusion? Obsessed with expanding the country, and did so by aggressively adding slave states. Slavery is grossly inconsistent with a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
14. Millard Fillmore 1850 (last Whig President, then Know Nothing)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative. Whigs and Know Nothings were both parties beholden to the monied elite.
Delusion? Fillmore was another slave state promoter, who advocated for slavery in Texas, New Mexico and Utah.
13. John Tyler 1841 (Democratic/Republicans (the only party), then Whigs in the 1820s)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative — he was a Whig. Another president on this list came out of the breakup of the Democratic Republicans and, instead, chose the progressive Democratic party. Open to you historians to pontificate on the Democratic Republicans being the only party at the time. My brief research says it’s true, but for the the Anti-Slavery party which was small, like our Green Party today.
Delusion? Tyler waited until he took office, then abandoned the Whigs, and brought back “the condemned and repudiated doctrines and practices of the worst days of Jackson’s rule." Who does that sort of thing and still expects public approbation and political success? Tyler didn’t seem to me to be a very nice guy.
12. Warren G. Harding 1921 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative modern Republican.
Delusion? Advocated aggressively for no “Catholics, Jews, unions, [or] political radicals.” Sound familiar? - there's more like it to come.
11. Calvin Coolidge 1923 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative modern Republican — succeeded Warren G. Harding.
Delusion? Coolidge was known as Silent Cal because he didn't believe in speaking to the public. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Bah humbug. Also executed two men after evidence all but proved their innocence.
10. Jimmy Carter 1977 (D)
Progressive or Conservative? Progressive Democrat.
Delusion? Well meaning, but as he was trained as a nuclear engineer, Carter's policy-inept presidency was mistake prone. He created a crisis due to his energy policies, and handled the Iran hostage crisis poorly.
9. Ronald Reagan 1981 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Ignored the HIV/AIDS situation, and never did take any action, even after the plague became world-wide. A person with his head in the sand is a person who only sees . . . sand.
8. William Henry Harrison 1841 (like John Tyler, a Democratic Republican turned Whig)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Although holding office for only one month, Harrison was a talkaholic who's inauguration speech was the longest ever at nearly 2 hours, and he then attended three parties afterwards. It's suggested that his outdoor speech in bad weather without a hat or coat may have contributed to his death from pneumonia. All in all, he exhibited poor judgement at best.
7. Herbert Hoover 1929 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Another truth denier, Hoover disavowed the facts establishing the Great Republican Depression, then signed a tariff act — described as an "international trade nightmare" — which then made the Depression even worse.
6. James Buchanan 1857 (D)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative Democrat. Progressive Republican Abraham Lincoln would succeed him.
Delusion? Buchanan just preceded progressive Abraham Lincoln, who ran contrary to many of Buchanan's policies. At this point in time, Buchanan's fellow Democrats had lost their way, and were no longer the party of the people. James Buchanan allowed the South to secede, and then divided the country with his inaction. He was a major cause of the Civil War, which otherwise may have been averted.
5. William Howard Taft 1909 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Between 1909 and 1933, the good ship America was captained by exceedingly poor presidencies, and all of them but one makes this list - the only Democrat among the group, Woodrow Wilson. Taft was a golf addict to the degree that Teddy Roosevelt exhorted him to give up the game. His rationale was that anyone could play golf - not only the rich, but the rank and file as well. While this was not true, in that greens fees were beyond the means of all but the rich during the beginnings of the Great Republican Depression which Taft himself helped cause, he also thought himself to be a great golfer, while, in point of fact, he was rather atrocious.
4. Andrew Jackson 1829 (Democratic/Republican, then Democrat (1828))
Progressive or Conservative? Progressive Democrat.
Delusion? Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 directly caused thousands of deaths and extirpated tribal lands from the Choctaw, Cherokee, Seminole, Muskogee (Creek) and the Chickasaw people. Not the actions of an ethical, rational operator. Others on this list went from Democratic Republican to Whig party, which was the true conservative choice at that time, so Jackson clearly had an alternative selection he could have made.
We Democrats unfortunately need to own Jackson’s horrendous suffering and avoidable carnage, in that Democrats in Jackson's time were much like the party of the people which Democrats lay claim to today.
3. Richard Nixon 1969 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Where does one start? Nixon not only masterminded the break-ins, he was convinced he would never get caught, so he lied about it openly. How delusional was he? - he argued that it was all legal because he was the president.
2. George W. Bush 2001 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Bush Manchild thought he knew more than his intelligence services, so he ignored them - then 911 happened. He was also delusionally obsessed with non-existent weapons of mass destruction. After freely allowing bankster predatory lending, Bush was shocked(!) to learn of his self-made economic collapse which ensued as a result. His hubris and ignorance earns him the penultimate spot on this list.
1. Donald Trump 2017 (R)
Progressive or Conservative? Conservative.
Delusion? Billionaire-infused Trump ran as a socialist agent, then utterly abandoned the people once (s)elected, insisted that violent white nationalists are "fine people", and he doesn't believe in climate chaos. Trump is a serial, daily prevaricator who stumbles over a very occasional rock of truth purely and only by accident. How delusional is he? - the global community knows that he isn't cogent, and many experts suspect outright dementia. He's so delusional he thinks he's a legitimate pResident. Some holders of the highest office might have delusional moments, but it's entirely probable that Trump really is delusional through and through.
So, what’s the score? Thirteen Conservatives and two Progressives which is statistically significant. Any conclusions? Well, it’s above my pay grade, but could it be that a true Democracy really cries out for power to the people instead of the rich? That those who think otherwise might be, you know, delusional?
To be fair, much, much more analysis by people really good at that sort of thing would need to be done to come to such a conclusion, but all of this is interesting, isn’t it? One thing can be easily asserted, however — all of us here have doubtless lived through both rational and non-rational presidencies, and the seas of life are most certainly calmer when there’s a non-delusional captain at the helm.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain)