# Might we look back at Trump someday the way we regard W.? With nostalgia and longing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 28, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220 "2025-11-28T23:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hideousidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/858c86/32.png) [@hideousidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hideousidiot)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/1 "2025-11-28T23:29:18Z")
Don’t laugh. If I’d told you during the depth of W.’s reign, as the economy imploded and his war of choice against Iraq fizzled, that someday—in less than 10 years’ time—we would have a Republican so much worse than Bush that we would think “Bush was bad but not nearly as bad as this guy” you would have said that was impossible. But let me tell you what a future GOP president could be that we would wish to have Trump back again. He could be just as evil, but smart, without Trump’s repulsive history of sexual misdeeds–in fact, there’s no reason someone couldn’t be a nice, stable, even admirable, family man with horrible political positions on immigrants, poor people, tax breaks for billionaires, rampant corruption. He could be well-spoken–not too many big words, of course, but he could express himself coherently without lapsing into word salad. He could actually put in a respectable work day–he might even never play a single round of golf. I’d still hate him for the same reasons I hate Trump–namely his offensive policies and allies, but he would attract (and deserve) a lot more political support. If voters support Trump with all his personal faults, imagine what a future demagogue could do politically with the same policies but none of the personal baggage. I’d certainly look at Trump fondly in retrospect. At least I can imagine his downfall coming within my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/2 "2025-11-28T23:32:23Z")
I think you overestimate any nostalgia people have for W. He and his regime caused huge damage to this country, from which we were not finished recovering when Trump was elected. Being a down-home idiot is no excuse for what he approved and sanctioned. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/3 "2025-11-28T23:33:07Z")
I suppose if I’m actually homeless, living in an underpass, and roasting sparrows on a curtain rod I might look back at 2025 as the good old days. I think Bush actually cared about the United States. Hell, I think Cheney, Nixon, and Herbert Hoover all cared about the United States. Donald J. Trump doesn’t care about the United States at all outside of what’s good for him. He would douse the country in gasoline and light it on fire if he thought it was good for him. It’s hard to imagine another president worse than Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/4 "2025-11-28T23:37:08Z")
For sure it’s possible. Trump is 1) rather dumb and 2) is still somewhat motivated by his idea of what is “good for America,” even if it’s a really wrong/warped notion of what’s good. If we ever end up with a president that is 1) smart and 2) motivated to outright _harm_ America with no intention of good, he’d be far scarier than Trump. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/5 "2025-11-28T23:47:07Z")
The scary thing is you could be right. “Remember when the POTUS was a comically inept geriatric who only sent immigrants to death camps, and at least had the decency to make sure the death camps were in other countries? Ah good times!” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/6 "2025-11-28T23:52:48Z")
Nostalgia might not be the right word, but Trump’s made Bush look a lot better. You can check out the comments in this [Youtube comment section, for instance, in Bush’s speech after Obama was elected.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcOgwJ9uAMQ) A whole lot of them are the “I used to hate Bush but he was good compared to Trump” variety. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/7 "2025-11-29T00:02:37Z")
W..didn’t have all the other branches of government bowing to his every whim. And he had Laura. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/8 "2025-11-29T00:21:52Z")
At least being nostalgic for trump would mean he was gone. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/9 "2025-11-29T00:44:15Z")
The fact that Trump is worse doesn’t retroactively make Bush better. I have zero nostalgia or longing for Bush. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/10 "2025-11-29T01:11:37Z")
P.J. O’Rourke, in announcing on _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_ that he’d be voting for Hillary Clinton, said it was because she was “wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters.” I regard Bush the Lesser in much the same light. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/11 "2025-11-29T01:16:45Z")
Your premise is wrong. Also no. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/12 "2025-11-29T01:20:02Z")
I have two contradictory thoughts regarding the thread question. Yes.Lots of anti-Stalinists looked back on Lenin favorably. No, because Trump talks like a mass murderer even if he isn’t one. Final answer: A few liberals might look back at Trump that way, but not a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/13 "2025-11-29T01:39:51Z")
In the same way that one might look back on passing a kidney stone as preferable to going into shock due to having medically severe diarrhea, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/14 "2025-11-29T01:46:31Z")
I think the POTUS described in the OP is Vance. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/15 "2025-11-29T01:52:01Z")
Once Trump is gone and the cult of MAGA has faded away, the United States of America has an opportunity to ensure it never happens again. I’m not sure exactly what that will entail but there is no shortage of ideas for fixes. If this happens (and if the process doesn’t get shitbagged by Trump cult remnants) no one will need to look back at Trump with any kind of fondness and he can perpetually remain #1 on the list of Worst Presidents Ever. However, if America asks for worse, it will get worse. I would hope that Trump’s administrations were a good illustration as to how close America came to the edge but I am also certain that there are many people out there who truly believe that Trump’s problem was that he wasn’t extreme enough. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/16 "2025-11-29T01:59:00Z")
I never hated Bush. I even voted for him the first time. I do consider him a failed president. The Iraq War was a disaster, and is probably to blame for much of our problems today (disbanding the Iraqi Army –\> ISIS –\> War in Syria –\> refugee crisis —\> authoritarian governents in Europe and U.S.) But I can’t imagine ever concluding that Trump is not as bad as I think he is now. And he’s got over three years to become even worse. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/17 "2025-11-29T02:08:14Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I think you overestimate any nostalgia people have for W. Agree with this. The progressives do not like Bush the Younger/W because of reasons everyone here knows. The Republicans do not like W because their party has been taken over by isolationists, and also because W obviously looks down on Trump.. That covers most of us. I’m the closest here to someone who might theoretically be nostalgic for W, but I have no nostalgia for daily reading news about a war we lost so decisively – Afghanistan. I cannot see that Gore – or Kerry – would have been any wiser on Iraq, but again that’s no reason to be nostalgic for W. P.S.The more I proofread the above, the closer to nostalgic for W I am getting. Bush failed on immigration but [was on the side of decency](https://web.archive.org/web/20130530035756/http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/28/immigration.congress/index.html). And Bush would have been good on Ukraine. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/18 "2025-11-29T02:10:21Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > No, because Trump talks like a mass murderer even if he isn’t one. Yes, he is. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/19 "2025-11-29T02:14:11Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > (snip) I cannot see that Gore – or Kerry – would have been any wiser on Iraq, but again that’s no reason to be nostalgic for W. (snip) I think Gore and Kerry woud have been less likely to go to war with Iraq, which would have been the wisest decision. Neither of them would had Cheney breathing down their neck, dreaming about Halliburton contracts. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220/20 "2025-11-29T02:35:58Z")
I’d hate to think who a future White House occupant might be who would be worse than Trump. Vance, maaaaaaybe. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/might-we-look-back-at-trump-someday-the-way-we-regard-w-with-nostalgia-and-longing/1025220.md?page=2)