Correctly Assessing President Trump

Written by Frank Li

The Trump Presidency is over, finally! Here is my assessment:

1. He is the most “obviously flawed” person ever to occupy the White House.
2. He is the least prepared person to take the top job in the nation.
3. He is not the worst President, even though he was impeached twice. Both JFK and George W. Bush still outrank him in the race to the bottom.

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Let me elaborate on each …

1. He is the most “obviously flawed” person ever to occupy the White House

He has little “moral cultivation”, as advocated by Confucius (Confucius on Governance). Two examples:

1. He lied at will (In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims), often shamelessly (Trump Cries Election Fraud. In Court, His Lawyers Don’t).
2. He could not handle adversity, from Covid-19 to his defeat in the 2020 election.

2. He is the least prepared person to take the top job in the nation

He is the only President who never served in the public sector or in the military prior to taking the top job in the nation. The relevant experience matters! Two examples:

1. He ran, and still runs, his family business like a king, without a board of directors watching over his shoulders. So, he often acted like a king as the President.
2. His best success prior to becoming the President was the host of a reality TV show. Not surprisingly, he simply turned his Presidency into a reality TV show. One recent example: Did Trump Watch Capitol Riots From a Private Party Nearby?

3. He is not the worst President

By the “worst President”, I mean the damage to America. So, let’s discuss his major failures and successes before reaching this conclusion.

3.1 President Trump’s major failures

The worst damage he caused to America was his failure to contain the spread of Covid-19. The image below offers a vivid example. For more, read 8 Catholic Sisters Die of Covid-19 Within Week at a Wisconsin Home.

However, if you look across the West, no country has done a good job on Covid-19, especially when compared with East Asian countries (Covid-19: East Asia vs. The World).

In other words, while anybody would/could/should have done better than President Trump did, America would still unlikely have fared much better than an average country in the West.

Now, what about the American carnage, for which he was impeached a second time?

He would easily be convicted for a crime of treason in any country other than in America for two main reasons.

First, America is so extreme on freedom of speech (China vs. America: Freedom of Speech) that it is hard to prove the direct link between his words, especially the incitement at the rally on that day, and the mob’s actions, despite the simple logic shown below.

Second, the security apparatus must be blamed much more for the failure to protect the Capitol Hill on that day, because the disaster should have been totally preventable, as most of the acts prior to the attack were played out in public. For more, read: Report: FBI Office Warned of ‘War” At U.S. Capitol Despite Claim Attack Was Unknown.

In case you are upset about the damage the American carnage did to democracy, read the image below.

Here is my warning in 2019: Democracy is Mob Rule; Trump is a Mob Boss!

As for all his other major failures, two points of explanation:

1. All can be fixed, relatively easily.
2. Blame our political system: getting re-elected ad nauseam. President Trump simply did it more boldly, thus making it more obvious. For more, read President Trump: Governing vs. Campaigning for 2020.

It must be emphasized that although he definitely carried it to the extreme, his contempt of the government and the main-stream media was not much beyond comprehension. After all, it was chiefly for this reason that he was elected in 2016. Two informative readings:

1. America: It’s Democracy, Stupid!
2. Brainwashing in Communism and in Democracy.

Finally, the Presidential awards and pardons … Yes, he abused them them (Donald Trump pardons Steve Bannon amid last acts of presidency). Yes, they were abused by his predecessors, too, especially over the past few decades.

3.2 President Trump’s major successes

Two very important notes:

1. He initiated no shooting war abroad.
2. He invaded no country.

Both were remarkable American Presidential achievements since Jimmy Carter!

As for his other major successes (Trump’s biggest accomplishments and failures from his 1-term presidency), especially the judicial appointments, they came with the job, not because of his extra-ordinary ability or effort.

3.3 Summary

Overall, the damage he did to America (balanced by his successes) still pales to what these two Presidents did:

1. JFK: for issuing Executive Order 10988, allowing public-sector workers to unionize against the people of the United States of America. For more, read Correctly Assessing President John F. Kennedy.
2. George W. Bush: for launching the Iraq War, which fundamentally changed the history (Introduction to “History 2.0”).

It is for this reason, chiefly, that I rank Donald Trump the third worst American President in recent history, as shown below.

4. Post-mortem for the American carnage

President Trump’s legacy will forever be linked to the American carnage. So, let me have a few more words about it in the form of a post-mortem …

The image below highlights a really big problem in America: systemic racism! It is the real reason behind the disaster of the American Carnage, far more troubling and profound than anything Trump!

Two informative readings:

1. The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design.
2. Lynch Mob: Evidence mounts that the Capital Insurrection was an “inside job”.

Donald Trump is no longer the President, but systemic racism deeply rooted in our society will persist for a long time …

Finally, my prediction of the outcome of Trump’s pending impeachment trial at the U.S. Senate: guilty!

One simple reason: The GOP establishment appears ready to get rid of him, as highlighted below.

5. Closing

Over the past 100 year at least, there has been only one American President who was actually elected by “We the People” (vs. moneyed interests behind the establishment): Donald Trump!

Yet, his Presidency ended very tragically … Why is that?

Blame (1) “We the People” (aka “We the indistinguishable”) and (2) Democracy (aka “mob rule”)!

For more, read: Introduction to “History 2.0”.

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