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 // A HISTORICAL INDICTMENT OF DONALD J. TRUMP
      
THE WORST
PRESIDENT

// A HISTORICAL INDICTMENT
// OF DONALD J. TRUMP

The Office of the President of the United States has always carried with it an expectation of sophistication, dignity and civic restraint.

Until about ten years ago.

Somehow, we went from losing our goddamn minds over a tan suit to collectively shrugging off “grab ’em by the pussy," and elected a man to the highest office in the country who would go on to be twice impeached (so far), try to overturn an election, incite insurrection, and drag the presidency to new lows.

We elected a man who would turn out to be the worst president in the history of the United States.

Donald Trump isn't the worst just because he's corrupt, cruel, dishonest, incompetent, authoritarian, or vulgar. He's the worst because his presidency combines all of those failings into one sustained assault on democracy, truth, accountability, institutional restraint and the civic responsibility and dignity of the office.

It's been a long-held belief that James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson rank at the bottom of any presidential comparison project. Buchanan failed to confront secession, enabled the continuation of slavery, and saw the Union torn in two in Civil War. Johnson then sabotaged Reconstruction and obstructed civil rights for freed people after the war. Strong evidence for condemnation.

Until now.

The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project survey recently ranked Trump dead last, giving him 10.92 out of 100, with Buchanan next at 16.71 and Johnson at 21.56.

Richard Nixon, a more modern example, represents a different kind of dishonor as his criminal abuse of power led to the Watergate scandal and his resignation in shame. But even Nixon more than triples Trump's bottom-dwelling score on the PGP.

Buchanan and Johnson will always remain in the conversation because of slavery, secession and Reconstruction. Nixon will too because of his resignation. But when you combine anti-democratic conduct, institutional corruption, public dishonesty, legal impunity, cruelty, incompetence, a record of harm and the degradation of the office of the president, Trump stands alone.

The following two chronologies are not meant to be neutral biographies or complete histories of the Trump era. They are evidence lists supporting the argument above: first, a Record of Harm of major actions and institutional breakdowns; second, a record of presidential Degradation of Office through rhetoric, behavior, imagery, and public spectacle.

Prologue // October 7, 2016 — The Access Hollywood tape that should have been the end of it all. The Washington Post released a 2005 recording in which Trump bragged in vulgar terms about kissing women without consent and said that, because he was famous, he could “grab them by the pussy.” Once voters still supported Trump after the release of this tape, dismissing it as "locker room talk," the timeline had officially shifted. Source: Washington Post.

Record of Harm

This section is a chronological evidence list with an emphasis on major, well-documented actions, scandals, abuses, policies, investigations, legal events, and institutional ruptures that critics cite in arguing that Donald Trump’s record was exceptionally corrupting, lawless, cruel, incompetent, or damaging to constitutional democracy.

First term

Intermission

Second term

Degradation of the Office of the POTUS

This chronology is limited to the behavioral and rhetorical corrosion of the presidency: vulgarity, humiliation, dehumanization, authoritarian self-mythology, contempt for dissent, racist or misogynistic signaling, and the use of presidential or quasi-presidential communication channels for spectacle and grievance.

First term

Intermission

Second term

Sources

This site draws from court filings, executive orders, congressional records, federal agency materials, inspector general reports, official statements, archived presidential records, congressional investigations, public remarks, broadcast footage, social media posts, watchdog reports, human-rights reporting, and journalism or analysis from the following sources: