Will Donald Trump go down as the worst president in history? – CNN

"On several occasions, Trump has suggested that he expects to take his place on the list of former presidents aside Abraham Lincoln, presumably knocking George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and all the others in the top rank down a tick," wrote presidential historian Joseph Ellis in a op-ed for the Los Angeles Times this week. "To put it politely, he needs to adjust his expectations."

Added Ellis: "Donald Trump is quite likely to assume the title as the worst president in American history."

Deciding how presidents rank is, admittedly, a very subjective matter. And it's usually done by people like Ellis, academics and authors who have devoted their professional lives to the study of the presidency, which may not be a group naturally inclined to like Trump's decided anti-intellectual approach to, well, everything.

But those are the people who tend to rank the presidents. So, let's look at a few of the more recent rankings -- and where Trump stands.

On "luck," Trump ranked tenth. On "willingness to take risks," he was 25th. (Remember that this came out in early 2019, long before the world had ever heard of "Covid-19." The arrival of the pandemic is very likely to drop Trump's "luck" score in future surveys.)

Trump ranked dead last in this survey, trailing Buchanan, William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce and Johnson, respectively. Broken out by the relative ideology of the panel, Trump fared little better. Among self-identified conservatives, Trump was ranked as the 40th best president. (Buchanan was conservatives' choice as worst president.) Among moderates and liberals in the survey, Trump was ranked dead last.

"He said, 'Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand,'" Noem told the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader about a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. "I shook his hand, and I said, 'Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.' And he goes, 'Do you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?'. "I started laughing. He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious."

Now, making historical judgments about a president in the middle of his term -- or even immediately after his term ends -- is a dicey business. Ulysses S. Grant was widely seen to be a failure in the immediate aftermath of his presidency but has fared far better in the light of history. (Grant is ranked 24th by Siena and 21st in the "Presidential Greatness Survey.") Ditto George H.W. Bush (21st in Siena, 17th in the "Presidential Greatness Survey.")

"I suspect the tour guides at Buchanan's National Historic Landmark homeplace, Wheatland, in Pennsylvania, are already celebrating," concluded Ellis in his op-ed. "Their man, they must fondly hope, will never be last again."

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Will Donald Trump go down as the worst president in history? - CNN