It is a survey so I guess it is just opinion, but as much as I think that Trump will go down in history as one of the worst in history, I cannot give him the bottom spot. Not as long as we continue to count James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson in the rankings. George Bush might still beat out Trump.
I understand why Trump is being considered. He is only two years into his term and he appears to have decreased America's standing in the world, appears to be allowing Russia to dictate global affairs, has denigrated the office of the presidency and several other institutions by his behavior in office, and seems poised at any moment to plunge the world into war or other chaos. He certainly has the potential to be the worst. However, I think that people may be caught up in the emotions of now and are not looking at things with a more objective frame of reference.
James Buchanan is the president who could have prevented, or at least mitigated the Civil War, a conflict that was one of the most destructive events in American Hisotry. A tragedy that cost 300,000 Union lives and killed another 300,000 Confederate traitors. The conflict fundamentally altered the course of American History and while good leaders like Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan were able to navigate the Union through the conflict, the scars of that conflict are still felt today, which leads me to Andrew Johnson, the exact worst person to be in office at the time of Reconstruction. A racist, Confederate sympathizer who allowed White Supremacy to continue rather than humbling the South and allowing Black Americans the rights paid for with American blood. His presidency set the stage for the next 100 years of oppression for Black Americans which was only partially alleviated in the 1960's with the Civil Rights movement.
In the modern era, George Bush because of incompetence presided over the most devastating terrorist attack on US soil claiming 3,000 Americans, then proceeded to launch the global war on terror (GWOT), first invading Afghanistan to supposedly hunt down Bin Laden, but letting him get away, then invading Iraq which had nothing to do with terrorism. Bush's incompetence or malice cost the US 5,000 more deaths and trillions of dollars and has devastated Iraq and Afghanistan.
Again, I am not saying that Trump cannot be the worst president in history. He certainly has that potential, but he hasn't because of his own incompetence, been able to be as successful in getting his agenda through to create the damage that Bush was able to do. Time will tell, but I can't objectively say he is the worst, yet.
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