Continuing on the theme of my most recent piece, I thought it would be clarifying to offer a list of six operating axioms that I am using for the current American political moment. Some overt recognition of something approximating the truth seems all the more needed right now, given the rather pronounced war on a common reality that much of the GOP is currently engaged in.
1. Donald Trump is the worst president in American history.
It’s not even close. There have been some truly abhorrent American Presidents, who have done some truly heinous shit. Before the long, long list of these atrocities is raised in objection to my statement, let me clarify; I freely concede that trump has not committed the worst acts of any president in American history. This in no way absolves him of being the worst one of the bunch, at least from the standpoint of violating his oath of office in pursuit of his unapologetic fascism.
If you would like a thought experiment to support this point, consider a world where trump was the president at any prior point in the history of the country and see if you can conclude that he would have handled whatever situation was on the table any better than the actual President at the time did, or (if applicable) he would have acted any less atrociously. He wouldn’t have.
