Let's name positive traits of previous Republican presidemts

[yardwork]

Ok, don't get mad! Hear me out.

Trump is an outlier, even among bad Republican presidents. He has literally no redeeming qualities. Not one.

This comes into stark relief when we compare him to other bad Republican presidents. Watch this:

George W. Bush. Literal war criminal. Started US policies of kidnapping and torturing political prisoners. Remember "extraordinary renditions?" He also stole one (possibly two) elections. Extremely corrupt cabinet. And yet he did have some decent human traits: he had a sense of humor (which enraged me), and appeared to love his wife and kids. Later in life he became an artist. His paintings are weird but not bad.

Ronald Reagan. Put in motion the entire economic debacle that is now blamed on Democrats. Total liar. Incredibly corrupt cabinet. Disgraceful attitude toward HIV. And yet: he appeared to love his wife and kids. He seemed to like animals. He knew how to behave in public. He could rock a brown tweed suit. He was pleasant to the press, teasing them without demonizing them.

Richard Nixon. War criminal. Serial liar. Incredibly corrupt cabinet. Seemingly a mean man who wasn't nice to his family. And yet: Nixon wasn't stupid. Some of his policies were thoughtful.

What I'm trying to do here is show that Trump is a true monster. He has no redeeming human traits.

He's a blank slate that his followers paint anything they believe in onto. They make things up - they believe he's kind and smart and good. In the absence of anything decent - anything at all - they create a fantasy.

[tetedur]

1. Previous Republicans were not Trump. That is the best thing I can say about them.

Trump jumped a few rungs on the fascist ladder which was always the Republican agenda. The interesting thing to contemplate is who/what comes after him? Who will continue our descent into authoritarianism?

[yardwork]

2. Right. Is it a turning point or the first rung to hell?

[Kali999]

3. Ike

was the last legit republican president. ha ha ha well they were human i guess, not straight-out psychos like rump.

[dreamland]

4. Darn! All I heard is *crickets*

[JT45242]

5. Left off HW (Bush 1)

Lied about being in the CIA for the Bay of Pigs when we has becoming director of the CIA. Covered up Iran-Contra. Would do anything for power (much like Haig and other members of Raygun's cabinet)



But was a WW2 hero -- and initially was honest that supply side economics was voodoo economics. Also, appeared to love his kids -- no matter how dumb they were (Jeb and W).

I would say that since Ike, they were all people consumed by Machiavellian pursuits of power (or in the case of W, a dimwitted puppet of the real Machiavellian powers -- Cheney and others) .

But the poster is correct -- there is nothing in Mango Mussolini's life public, business, or private that would make you go -- but he has some good in him. Mango is a malignant narcissist with zero empathy and no redeeming human characteristic.

[Freddie]

6. Gerald Ford seemed like a pretty good guy

Tried hard to mitigate the oil embargo and rampant inflation of the day. Had a great wife and family. IMO he was the last Republican who cared about everyone, not just his followers. (FYI I voted for Carter in 76, my first vote ever).

[Ocelot II]

7. They did some useful things even if they mostly sucked as presidents.

Nixon went to China, a big deal at the time, and oversaw the formation of the EPA and OSHA. As a person Nixon was - pardon the pun - kind of a dick, with a Trumpish vindictive streak; his enemies list was infamous and he got the IRS to audit some of the "enemies." But that's as far as he went. He didn't mind a bit of conspiracy (Watergate) or some light treason (Anna Chennault as backchannel to quash Vietnam peace negotiations). But there were lines he wouldn't cross, including ignoring Supreme Court decisions.

Reagan's domestic policies were the standard GOP smash-the-poor ideas but on steroids. On the other hand he got a little detente going with the USSR and signed the INF treaty. He didn't go out of his way to punish opponents and he knew how to behave in public.

W can't be forgiven for the Iraq debacle, but he created PEPFAR, the AIDS relief program, which has saved millions of lives (and which Trump is terminating). He could be publicly embarrassing but he always seemed more oafish than mean, and since he left politics he's had the decency to lay low, stay in his basement and paint pictures of dogs. Speaking of which, all of the above had dogs and/or horses (W also had cats), which suggests they weren't 100% terrible. Trump, on the other hand...

[WhiteTara]

8. they left the WHite House

[dalton99a]

9. Trump's evilness is off the charts

There is nothing but evil amd destructiveness in him

[aocommunalpunch]

10. Other than W, they're all dead n/t

[dalton99a]

11. +1