The point about WHH is that he became comatose shortly after his inauguration, and then died without doing anything at all in his presidency. If he had lived there’s a possibility that he might have been good.
All the others would be a bad choice. WHH may or may not be a bad choice. But probably not as bad as Trump.
James Buchanan was plausibly gay, so I’m going to go with him…just paving the way for Pete Buttigieg in a few years.
Besides, nobody’s seceding these days, so he won’t fuck that up.
ETA: Harrison is a close second. He was an old war hero - sort of a John McCain type (if McCain owned slaves). We’ve already gotten past the slavery issue. No reason to think he’d be a bad president.
I know very little about any of the others. But any or all of them would be preferable to Trump, period.
Throw a dart at the OP’s list. Wherever it lands you win the biggest prize ever offered. The absence of the end of the USA as we know it in 2025.
Uh…
Touché.
Make that, nobody worth keeping is seceding…
As long as she leaves, I’m all for it.
None on that list were “good for the country”, so I’ll go with the nice guy.
mmm
I understand. I meant their policies should matter over how likeable they are. We shouldn’t care if they swear, or cheat on their wives/husbands. They were elected for more substantial reasons.
I thought that was the whole premise of the poll. Why flawed?
This is the way I’m leaning. But I don’t really know enough about some of them—let alone whether the qualities that made them bad would be exacerbated or ameliorated when transported to the twenty-first century—to make a truly informed choice.
Because the OP doesn’t ask “Which of these presidents would you prefer over Trump?” It posits a group of “history’s worst presidents” that doesn’t include Trump – but since he’s far worse than any of them, they aren’t the “worst.”
Also, whatever their individual failings as president, I suppose someone could make the case that since none of them have any knowledge of any events in the last ~100 years, Trump would be better than any of them magically incarnated in 2025. But you could make the same argument for Trump vs. Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt, too, so again I don’t see the point.
I voted for Andy Johnson (assuming non-USians can vote in this poll, but given the impact that the US President has on the rest of the world, I’m comfortable with that).
Reason for Johnson? He was dedicated to the US Constitution.
He was the only southern Senator to stay in the Senate after his home state seceded.
He came close to being lynched for that dedication.
He became the military governor of Tennessee at one point, installed by Lincoln, to ensure Tennessee remained in Union hands while the war continued.
He set aside his own Democratic Party to stand for election with Lincoln, on a Union party ticket.
Before he died, he gave instructions that when he was buried, a copy of the US Constitution was to be his pillow in his coffin.
Yes, he got into a major fight with the Radical Republicans, but ultimately that fight was an argument about how the Constitution should apply in the post-Civil War situation, and how best to heal the nation. He may have been wrong on that, but to quote PJ O’Rourke, he was wrong “within normal parameters” - what was the best thing to do for the country after a brutal Civil War?
Of all the ones on the list, he stands out for his dedication to the Constitution, putting it as the primary rule for his career as a politician. He’s clearly a better choice than Trump.
The OP’s link went to a Wikipedia article which summarizes the results of a whole bunch of polls and surveys, most of which were conducted before Trump became president.
The poll is premised on the idea that there’s at least one of those “worst” that you’d replace Trump with if you could (although there’s also an option to not do so), which implies that Trump is worse than at least some of those listed.
Possibly a reasonable point—is the genie doing anything to bring them up to speed? Or would they be sitting in the White House saying “Your world frightens and confuses me”?
Thank you.
Yeah, let’s assume that the genie magicks into the dead president whatever knowledge is required to function as a politician and human being in modern society. But their personality, abilities, defects, and political inclinations remain intact.
At least one? If you could somehow download all of them into a supercomputer and create an AI that represented all of them on their very worst days, I’d still take that AI over Trump seven days a week and twice on Sunday.
My 10th grade history teacher, Mr. Harrison, was a descendant of William Henry Harrison which he proudly declared to us on the first day of school, and liked to remind us frequently. I liked Mr. Harrison, and I voted for William H. Harrison because I think he deserves a real chance to prove just how bad president he could be! (or, hopefully, how great a president he could have been)
Tyler is pretty iffy. He joined the Confederacy. So he out does the Traitor bit. Probably not better than Trump.
Harding was terrible and easily controlled by a corrupt inner circle, but still better than Trump at least.
Buchanan was the worst President (not worst man to be President) until Trump. But would probably be slightly better. But he wasn’t against slavery. At the same time he had bought and freed slaves.
Andrew Johnson fumbled the peace. But better than Trump most likely. He had some domestic slaves though. So yet another slave owner. He did free them in 1863 and they chose to stay with him as paid employees. He never sold a slave and the little bit I can find, indicates he treated them well, at least by the standards of slave owners.
Harrison was a War Hero & Whig. Espoused belief that the President should follow the will of the people as expressed by Congress. However, he was a slave owner and opposed congress restricting slavery in new territories. That seems to be a really big strike.
Franklin Pierce was a Northern Dem that was anti-abolitionist and enforces the Fugitive Slave Act. Signed in law the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was also a bit of a failure as a War Time General. I give him points for affirming his oath of office on a law book and not a bible. John Quincy Adams was the only other to do so before him. Not a great choice overall vs. Trump.
Millard Fillmore was the first non-slave owner President except for the 2 Adams. Interesting speech he gave on slavery:
“God knows I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the constitution, till we get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world,”
Keep in mind he took the nomination of the Know Nothing Party in 1856. The party opposed to immigration & Catholics. And of course he signed into law and enforced the Fugitive Slave Law act. Probably better than Trump and Alec Baldwin would also be able to portray him. Seriously, image search him.
I’m pretty sure Trump would gladly own slave if he could, so that has to be in the equation.
No Nixon? 
I’m really struggling to understand the people who don’t understand the poll.
IMO it says / means:
Loser trump was a shitty president. Here are a few other presidents historically regarded as shitty in their time. If you got to / had to pick trump or one of these others to be inaugurated in 2025, who would it be?
That does not seem to me to be hard to understand. Might be hard to decide, but not hard to understand. And of course a trump booster, if one was to appear in this thread, would/could pick trump. Just as an e.g. Buchanan fan could pick Buchanan.
My own personal magic 8-ball says Millard Fillmore. Just because it’s the most fun name to say. And the Millard part reminds me of Milhouse which is another funny presidential moniker.
Well, my greatgreagreattgreat uncle Millard Fillmore was, well, less than great. Your 8-Ball might have made a good choice; seems he was fairly harmless.
Johnny Carson used to pick on him, saying they exhumed him and there in his breast pocket was his I.D., which he kept on him because none of the White House guards recognized him.
Time needs to be considered in all of this. There were things that were acceptable or at least far less objectionable in the past that would be totally unacceptable now. That has to be in the equation also. There are celebrity quotes from 50 years ago that sound totally horrible now but were, in fact, opinions held by many at that time. Considering how enlightened we are supposed to be in the year 2023, Trump is nothing less than horrific.