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Is Joe Biden the Worst President in History? A Critical Examination
Introduction:
The claim that Joe Biden is the worst president in US history is a bold one, sparking intense debate and dividing public opinion. This isn't simply a matter of political preference; it involves examining concrete policies, their impact on the American populace, and comparing Biden's presidency to others throughout history. This in-depth analysis won't shy away from criticism, but it will also strive for objectivity, presenting both sides of the argument to allow readers to form their own informed conclusions. We will delve into key policy areas, economic performance, foreign policy decisions, and public approval ratings to provide a comprehensive picture. This isn't about shouting slogans; it's about understanding the complexities of a presidency facing unprecedented challenges.
I. Economic Performance Under Biden: A Mixed Bag
The Biden administration inherited an economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the economy has shown signs of recovery, including job growth, inflation has surged to levels not seen in decades, significantly impacting the purchasing power of many Americans. The American Rescue Plan, a massive stimulus package, aimed to boost the economy, but critics argue it contributed to inflation. Conversely, supporters point to the reduced unemployment rate as evidence of its success. Analyzing the intricacies of inflation, its causes (global supply chain disruptions, increased demand, etc.), and the effectiveness of government responses is crucial for a fair assessment. A balanced view necessitates acknowledging both successes and failures in economic management. We'll examine specific economic indicators such as GDP growth, inflation rates, unemployment figures, and the national debt to paint a comprehensive picture.
II. Foreign Policy Challenges and Controversies
Biden's foreign policy has been marked by a shift away from Trump-era "America First" policies. The withdrawal from Afghanistan, while long planned, was widely criticized for its chaotic execution and the subsequent humanitarian crisis. This event significantly impacted public perception of the administration's foreign policy capabilities. Conversely, Biden has sought to strengthen alliances with European nations and engage in multilateral diplomacy, a departure from the more unilateral approach of his predecessor. Examining specific foreign policy decisions, their consequences, and comparing them to previous administrations' handling of similar situations is critical for a thorough evaluation. This includes assessing the impact on global stability, alliances, and America's international standing.
III. Domestic Policy Achievements and Shortcomings:
Biden’s domestic agenda has seen both legislative successes and notable failures. The passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a significant achievement, promising improvements to roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure. However, other legislative priorities, such as comprehensive immigration reform, have faced significant roadblocks in Congress. Analyzing the success and failure of specific legislative initiatives, their impact on various segments of the population, and the political dynamics that shaped their progress (or lack thereof) is essential for a balanced assessment. We’ll also examine the impact of executive orders and their effectiveness in achieving stated goals.
IV. Public Opinion and Approval Ratings:
President Biden’s approval ratings have consistently remained below 50% throughout much of his presidency. This low approval is influenced by various factors, including economic anxieties, concerns about foreign policy decisions, and political polarization. Analyzing trends in approval ratings, their correlation with specific events, and comparing them to historical presidential approval ratings provides context. Understanding the demographic breakdown of approval and disapproval ratings offers further insight into the diverse perspectives on his presidency. We must consider whether low approval ratings equate to “worst president” status, particularly considering historical context and the shifting political landscape.
V. Comparing Biden to Other Presidents Considered "Worst":
To fairly assess whether Biden deserves the title of "worst president," a comparative analysis with other presidents frequently cited in similar discussions is necessary. This necessitates researching their actions, policies, and historical context. This comparative analysis should focus on objective metrics wherever possible, acknowledging the inherent biases involved in such subjective judgments. It's essential to avoid cherry-picking data and to present a comprehensive overview of both successes and failures of each presidency.
Article Outline:
Title: Is Joe Biden the Worst President in History? A Critical Examination
Introduction: Hook and overview of the article's contents.
Chapter 1: Economic Performance: Analysis of economic indicators under Biden's presidency, including inflation, unemployment, and GDP growth.
Chapter 2: Foreign Policy: Examination of key foreign policy decisions, their consequences, and comparison with previous administrations.
Chapter 3: Domestic Policy: Review of legislative successes and failures, impact on different demographics, and political dynamics.
Chapter 4: Public Opinion and Approval Ratings: Analysis of approval ratings, correlation with events, and comparison with historical trends.
Chapter 5: Comparative Analysis: Comparing Biden's presidency to other presidents often labeled among the "worst."
Conclusion: Summary of findings and concluding thoughts on the central question.
(The detailed content for each chapter is provided above in the main article body.)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
1. What are the main criticisms of Joe Biden's presidency? Criticisms range from his handling of the economy and inflation to his foreign policy decisions, particularly the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
2. What are some of Joe Biden's accomplishments as president? The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a significant accomplishment, alongside efforts to improve relations with some key international allies.
3. How do Biden's approval ratings compare to other presidents? His approval ratings are consistently low compared to many recent presidents at similar points in their terms.
4. How does inflation under Biden compare to previous administrations? Inflation has been significantly higher during Biden's term than in recent decades, impacting the public's perception of his economic policies.
5. What is the impact of the Afghanistan withdrawal on Biden's presidency? The chaotic withdrawal damaged his public image and raised concerns about his foreign policy decision-making.
6. How has Biden's presidency affected different demographics in the US? Different demographics have experienced the impacts of his policies differently, with some benefiting more than others.
7. What role has political polarization played in shaping public opinion of Biden? Political polarization has amplified criticism and significantly impacted the reception of his policies.
8. What are the key differences between Biden's foreign policy and that of previous administrations? Biden has emphasized diplomacy and multilateralism, unlike Trump's more unilateral "America First" approach.
9. Is it fair to compare Biden's presidency to those of other presidents often deemed "worst"? While comparisons are useful for context, it's important to consider the unique challenges and historical context of each presidency.
Related Articles:
1. Biden's Economic Policies: A Deep Dive: An analysis of the economic impact of Biden's policies and their effectiveness.
2. The Afghanistan Withdrawal: A Critical Assessment: Examining the planning, execution, and consequences of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
3. Biden's Foreign Policy: A Shift in Global Relations: Exploring the changes in US foreign policy under Biden's administration.
4. The American Rescue Plan: Success or Failure?: Analyzing the impact and effectiveness of the American Rescue Plan.
5. Biden's Infrastructure Plan: Building America's Future?: Examining the progress and potential impact of the infrastructure investment plan.
6. The State of US Public Opinion Under Biden: A detailed analysis of polling data and public sentiment.
7. Comparing Presidential Approval Ratings: A Historical Perspective: A comparison of Biden's approval ratings to those of past presidents.
8. The Impact of Inflation on American Households: Examining the impact of rising inflation on American families.
9. US Foreign Policy Under Trump vs. Biden: A direct comparison of foreign policy approaches.
| joe biden worst president in history: The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam Max Boot, 2018-01-09 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (Biography) A New York Times bestseller, this “epic and elegant” biography (Wall Street Journal) profoundly recasts our understanding of the Vietnam War. Praised as a “superb scholarly achievement” (Foreign Policy), The Road Not Taken confirms Max Boot’s role as a “master chronicler” (Washington Times) of American military affairs. Through dozens of interviews and never-before-seen documents, Boot rescues Edward Lansdale (1908–1987) from historical ignominy to “restore a sense of proportion” to this “political Svengali, or ‘Lawrence of Asia’ ”(The New Yorker). Boot demonstrates how Lansdale, the man said to be the fictional model for Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, pioneered a “hearts and minds” diplomacy, first in the Philippines and then in Vietnam. Bringing a tragic complexity to Lansdale and a nuanced analysis to his visionary foreign policy, Boot suggests Vietnam could have been different had we only listened. With contemporary reverberations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, The Road Not Taken is a “judicious and absorbing” (New York Times Book Review) biography of lasting historical consequence. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Worst President in History Matt Margolis, Mark Noonan, 2018-07-24 An Amazon Bestseller! The Most Comprehensive Takedown of the Obama Presidency! “If you want to know why the history books will have a dim view of Barack Obama, this is the book to read.”—John Hawkins, Right Wing News and Townhall.com The presumption of Barack Obama’s presidential greatness began before he even won the presidency. Now that he’s out of office, presidential “experts” and historians are ranking Obama as one of our nation’s greatest presidents, placing him amongst Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Truman. Obama’s presidency was certainly consequential, but it was by no means great. Did Barack Obama really save America from another Great Depression? Did he really unite America or improve America’s global image? Did he really usher in a new era of post-partisanship and government transparency? Did he really expand health coverage while lowering costs and cutting taxes? Did he really make America safer and stronger than it was when he first took office? According to his supporters in the media, Hollywood, and academia, he did. But they are wrong. And they’re working aggressively to ensure their version of Obama’s legacy is written into the history books. How can you discover and protect the truth? Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan have compiled everything you need to know about the presidency of Barack Obama into a single source. First published in 2016, this book has now been updated to include the entirety of Obama’s presidency, and the shocking details that have come to light since he left office. The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama compiles two hundred inconvenient truths about Obama’s presidency—the facts that define his legacy: his real impact on the economy; the disaster that is Obamacare; his shocking abuses of taxpayer dollars; his bitterly divisive style of governing; his shameless usurping of the Constitution; his many scandals and cover-ups; his policy failures at home and abroad; the unprecedented expansion of government power...and more. In his farewell address to supporters on January 11, 2017, Barack Obama declared, “By almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.” This book destroys that narrative, putting Obama’s presidency into historical context and offering an avalanche of facts that simply cannot be ignored. All of these facts are now at your fingertips in a single source. The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama is your ultimate guide to Obama’s real presidential record—the record he’d like history to forget. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Case for Trump Victor Davis Hanson, 2019-03-05 This New York Times bestselling Trump biography from a major American intellectual explains how a renegade businessman became one of the most successful -- and necessary -- presidents of all time. In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over sixteen well-qualified Republican rivals, a Democrat with a quarter-billion-dollar war chest, and a hostile media and Washington establishment to become president of the United States -- and an extremely successful president. Trump alone saw a political opportunity in defending the working people of America's interior whom the coastal elite of both parties had come to scorn, Hanson argues. And Trump alone had the instincts and energy to pursue this opening to victory, dismantle a corrupt old order, and bring long-overdue policy changes at home and abroad. We could not survive a series of presidencies as volatile as Trump's. But after decades of drift, America needs the outsider Trump to do what normal politicians would not and could not do. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Yesterday's Man Branko Marcetic, 2020-02-25 Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden exposes the forgotten history of Joe Biden, one of the United States' longest-serving politicians, and one of its least scrutinized. Over nearly fifty years in politics, the man called Middle-Class Joe served as a key architect of the Democratic Party's rightward turn, ushering in the end of the liberal New Deal order and enabling the political takeover of the radical right. Far from being a liberal stalwart, Biden often outdid even Reagan, Gingrich, and Bush, assisting the right-wing war against the working class, and ultimately paving the way for Trump. The most comprehensive political biography of someone who has tried for decades to be president, Yesterday's Man is an essential read for anyone interested in knowing the real Joe Biden and what he might do in office. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Duty Robert M. Gates, 2014-01-14 From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he’d long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Bosom Friends Thomas J. Balcerski, 2019-08-02 The friendship of the bachelor politicians James Buchanan (1791-1868) of Pennsylvania and William Rufus King (1786-1853) of Alabama has excited much speculation through the years. Why did neither marry? Might they have been gay? Or was their relationship a nineteenth-century version of the modern-day bromance? In Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, Thomas J. Balcerski explores the lives of these two politicians and discovers one of the most significant collaborations in American political history. He traces the parallels in the men's personal and professional lives before elected office, including their failed romantic courtships and the stories they told about them. Unlikely companions from the start, they lived together as congressional messmates in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse and became close confidantes. Around the nation's capital, the men were mocked for their effeminacy and perhaps their sexuality, and they were likened to Siamese twins. Over time, their intimate friendship blossomed into a significant cross-sectional political partnership. Balcerski examines Buchanan's and King's contributions to the Jacksonian political agenda, manifest destiny, and the increasingly divisive debates over slavery, while contesting interpretations that the men lacked political principles and deserved blame for the breakdown of the union. He closely narrates each man's rise to national prominence, as William Rufus King was elected vice-president in 1852 and James Buchanan the nation's fifteenth president in 1856, despite the political gossip that circulated about them. While exploring a same-sex relationship that powerfully shaped national events in the antebellum era, Bosom Friends demonstrates that intimate male friendships among politicians were--and continue to be--an important part of success in American politics. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Most Dangerous President in History Nick Adams, 2022-11-15 President Biden is the most dangerous president in American history. Many Americans still think of Joe Biden as an average guy who supports the working class. But in reality, he has carried out a destructive agenda against our entire system of freedom. He has fully embraced the Green New Deal agenda, along with woke sexual and racial politics, leading to a more divided and poorer country. His weakness on the international stage has created a perilous world. But the danger of Biden goes much deeper than these issues that are hurting us on a daily basis. For one of the first times in US history, we have a president whose motives we cannot trust. In this book, Nick Adams exposes what the media and politicians have been hiding for nearly fifty years. He doesn’t just make the case that Biden is the most dangerous president in history—he proves it. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Hope Never Dies Andrew Shaffer, 2018-07-10 The New York Times Best Seller [Hope Never Dies is] an escapist fantasy that will likely appeal to liberals pining for the previous administration, longing for the Obama-Biden team to emerge from political retirement as action heroes.—Alexandra Alter, New York Times Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama team up in this high-stakes thriller that combines a mystery worthy of Watson and Holmes with the laugh-out-loud bromantic chemistry of Lethal Weapon’s Murtaugh and Riggs. Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” re-teams with the only man he’s ever fully trusted: the 44th president of the United States. Together they’ll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America’s opioid epidemic. Part noir thriller and part bromance, Hope Never Dies is essentially the first published work of Obama/Biden fiction—and a cathartic read for anyone distressed by the current state of affairs. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Lucky Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes, 2021-03-02 The inside story of the historic 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden’s harrowing ride to victory, from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Shattered, the definitive account of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Almost no one thought Joe Biden could make it back to the White House—not Donald Trump, not the two dozen Democratic rivals who sought to take down a weak front-runner, not the mega-donors and key endorsers who feared he could not beat Bernie Sanders, not even Barack Obama. The story of Biden’s cathartic victory in the 2020 election is the story of a Democratic Party at odds with itself, torn between the single-minded goal of removing Donald Trump and the push for a bold progressive agenda that threatened to alienate as many voters as it drew. In Lucky, #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes use their unparalleled access to key players inside the Democratic and Republican campaigns to unfold how Biden’s nail-biting run for the presidency vexed his own party as much as it did Trump. Having premised his path on unlocking the Black vote in South Carolina, Biden nearly imploded before he got there after a relentless string of misfires left him freefalling in polls and nearly broke. Allen and Parnes brilliantly detail the remarkable string of chance events that saved him, from the botched Iowa caucus tally that concealed his terrible result, to the pandemic lockdown that kept him off the stump, where he was often at his worst. More powerfully, Lucky unfolds the pitched struggle within Biden’s general election campaign to downplay the very issues that many Democrats believed would drive voters to the polls, especially in the wake of Trump’s response to nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd. Even Biden’s victory did not salve his party’s wounds; instead, it revealed a surprising, complicated portrait of American voters and crushed Democrats’ belief in the inevitability of a blue wave. A thrilling masterpiece of political reporting, Lucky is essential reading for understanding the most important election in American history and the future that will come of it. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Beautiful Things Hunter Biden, 2021-04-06 Hunter Biden recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety. The story ends with where Hunter is today |
| joe biden worst president in history: Sweet Lechery Jeet Heer, 2014-12-01 In Sweet Lechery, cultural journalist Jeet Heer offers a quirky collection of literary criticism that touches on a wide range of contemporary topics. From Margaret Atwood to Philip K. Dick, from Seth to Marshall McLuhan, Heer considers the literary and social contributions of canonical authors, artists, theorists and polemicists alike. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and genres, he links sex to economics, porn to high-brow literature, and tackles the oddball themes of cannibalism and vegetable sex in Canadian fiction. He examines the struggles of science fiction writers and the artistic opportunities of comic artists, weighing in on partisan politics for good measure. Rich with contextual detail and social commentary, these essays examine the cultural, historical and political forces that inform the books we read and write. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Jackie Paul Brandus, 2020-08-25 The world was shocked when Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis in 1968. It would not have been so surprising had the truth of their relationship—which dated back to the 1950s—been known. Jackie knew Ari almost as long as she had known John F. Kennedy—and saw qualities in him (besides money) that she found highly attractive. The five years between her marriages to JFK and Onassis are often overlooked. But it was an incredible period of growth and change for Jackie. How did the world’s most famous woman remain so enigmatic? What was she really like? This book reveals the real Jackie, the one that hid behind her trademark large sunglasses. In this book, you’ll learn about: • Jackie’s lovers—and the one man she regretted not marrying • The secret, second burial of JFK • Her evolution from “political wife Jackie” into “nightclubbing, party girl Jackie” • Her own near death in 1967 • Her influence on pop art, fashion, and design |
| joe biden worst president in history: Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy Adam Jentleson, 2021-01-12 With a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration THE CASE FOR ENDING THE FILIBUSTER A truly excellent book… blistering and persuasive.” —Ezra Klein, New York Times An insider’s account of how politicians representing a radical white minority of Americans have used “the world’s greatest deliberative body” to hijack our democracy. Our democracy is under assault from homegrown authoritarians, with most observers blaming Donald Trump and the Republican Party that submitted to him. Yet as Adam Jentleson shows, the problem not only goes back to the nineteenth century, but is less about the presidency than it is about our nation’s most venerated institution: the United States Senate. A revelatory history of minority rule in America as expressed through the Senate filibuster, Kill Switch shows that white conservatives have long relied on the filibuster—which is not featured in the Constitution, and which, as Jentleson demonstrates, the Framers would have opposed—to shut down attempts to create a multiracial democracy. Featuring a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration, Kill Switch will remain an essential warning about the costs of empowering this nation’s right-wing minority. • “Jentleson understands the inner workings of the institution, down to the most granular details, showing precisely how arcane procedural rules can be leveraged to dramatic effect.” —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times • “Careful and thorough and exacting.” —Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books • “[An] excellent, surprising new book.” —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Best "Worst President" Mark Hannah, 2016-06-28 A veteran political analyst and a renowned New Yorker illustrator celebrate Barack Obama’s achievements in a compendium that takes his critics head-on. Barack Obama’s election in 2008 was a watershed moment in American history that inspired supporters on the Left—and fired up enemies on the Right. Elected in the midst of multiple crises—a Wall Street meltdown that imperiled the global economy and American troops entangled in two foreign wars—Obama’s presidency promised to be one of the most consequential in modern American history. Although he stabilized the economy and restored America’s prestige on the global stage, President Obama has been denied the credit he deserves, receiving instead acidic commentary from political opponents such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, who declared that Obama was “the worst president in [his] lifetime.” In The Best “Worst President”, Mark Hannah and New Yorker illustrator Bob Staake swiftly and systematically debunk conservative lies and disinformation meant to negate the president’s accomplishments and damage his reputation—baseless charges too often left unchallenged by the national media. Hannah and Staake not only defend the president but showcase his administration’s most surprising and underappreciated triumphs—making clear he truly is the best “worst president” our nation has ever known. |
| joe biden worst president in history: In Love with Art Jeet Heer, 2013-09-02 In a partnership spanning four decades, Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman have been the pre-eminent power couple of cutting-edge graphic art. From Raw magazine to the New York, where she serves as art editor, Mouly and Spiegelman have revolutionized the art. In Love with Art profiles the pair and interviews Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine and more. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Battle for the Soul Edward-Isaac Dovere, 2021-05-25 An award-winning political journalist for The Atlantic tells the inside story of how the embattled Democratic Party, seeking a direction for its future during the Trump years, successfully regained the White House. The 2020 presidential campaign was a defining moment for America. As Donald Trump and his nativist populism cowed the Republican Party into submission, many Democrats—haunted by Hillary Clinton’s shocking loss in 2016 and the resulting four-year-long identity crisis—were convinced that he would be unbeatable. Their party and the country, it seemed, might never recover. How, then, did Democrats manage to win the presidency, especially after the longest primary race with the biggest field ever? How did they keep themselves united through an internal struggle between newly empowered progressives and establishment forces—playing out against a pandemic, an economic crisis, and a new racial reckoning? Edward-Isaac Dovere’s Battle for the Soul is the searing, fly-on-the-wall account of the Democrats’ journey through recalibration and rebirth. Dovere traces this process: from the early days in the wilderness of the post-Obama era to the jockeying of potential candidates; from the backroom battles and exhausting campaigns to the unlikely triumph of the man few expected to win; and on through the inauguration and the insurrection at the Capitol. Dovere draws on years of on-the-ground reporting and contemporaneous conversations with the key players—whether with Pete Buttigieg in his hotel suite in Des Moines an hour before he won the Iowa caucuses or with Joe Biden in his first-ever interview in the Oval Office—as well as with aides, advisors, and voters. Offering unparalleled access and an insider’s command of the campaign, Battle for the Soul takes a compelling look at the policies, politics, and people, as well as the often absurd process of running for president. This fresh and timely story brings you on the trail, into the private rooms, and along to eavesdrop on critical conversations. You will never see campaigns or this turning point in our history the same way again. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Deplorable Mary E. Stuckey, 2021-11-09 Political campaigns in the United States, especially those for the presidency, can be nasty—very nasty. And while we would like to believe that the 2020 election was an aberration, insults, invective, and yes, even violence have characterized US electoral politics since the republic’s early days. By examining the political discourse around nine particularly deplorable elections, Mary E. Stuckey seeks to explain why. From the contest that pitted Thomas Jefferson against John Adams in 1800 through 2020’s vicious, chaotic matchup between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Stuckey documents the cycle of despicable discourse in presidential campaigns. Looking beyond the character and the ideology of the candidates, Stuckey explores the broader political, economic, and cultural milieus in which each took place. In doing so, she reveals the conditions that exacerbate and enable our worst political instincts, producing discourses that incite factions, target members of the polity, encourage undemocratic policy, and actively work against the national democratic project. Keenly analytical and compulsively readable, Deplorable provides context for the 2016 and 2020 elections, revealing them as part of a cyclical—and perhaps downward-spiraling—pattern in American politics. Deplorable offers more than a comparison of the worst of our elections. It helps us understand these shameful and disappointing moments in our political history, leaving one important question: Can we avoid them in the future? |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Seventies Bruce J. Schulman, 2001-08-07 Most of us think of the 1970s as an in-between decade, the uninspiring years that happened to fall between the excitement of the 1960s and the Reagan Revolution. A kitschy period summed up as the Me Decade, it was the time of Watergate and the end of Vietnam, of malaise and gas lines, but of nothing revolutionary, nothing with long-lasting significance. In the first full history of the period, Bruce Schulman, a rising young cultural and political historian, sweeps away misconception after misconception about the 1970s. In a fast-paced, wide-ranging, and brilliant reexamination of the decade's politics, culture, and social and religious upheaval, he argues that the Seventies were one of the most important of the postwar twentieth-century decades. The Seventies witnessed a profound shift in the balance of power in American politics, economics, and culture, all driven by the vast growth of the Sunbelt. Country music, a southern silent majority, a boom in enthusiastic religion, and southern California New Age movements were just a few of the products of the new demographics. Others were even more profound: among them, public life as we knew it died a swift death. The Seventies offers a masterly reconstruction of high and low culture, of public events and private lives, of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Evel Knievel, est, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. From The Godfather and Network to the Ramones and Jimmy Buffett; from Billie jean King and Bobby Riggs to Phyllis Schlafly and NOW; from Proposition 13 to the Energy Crisis; here are all the names, faces, and movements that once filled our airwaves, and now live again. The Seventies is powerfully argued, compulsively readable, and deeply provocative. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Soul of America Jon Meacham, 2018-05-08 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear. ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The Christian Science Monitor • Southern Living Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King, Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. He writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for women’s rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson’s crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back, to assert hope over fear—a struggle that continues even now. While the American story has not always—or even often—been heroic, we have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring book, Meacham reassures us, “The good news is that we have come through such darkness before”—as, time and again, Lincoln’s better angels have found a way to prevail. Praise for The Soul of America “Brilliant, fascinating, timely . . . With compelling narratives of past eras of strife and disenchantment, Meacham offers wisdom for our own time.”—Walter Isaacson “Gripping and inspiring, The Soul of America is Jon Meacham’s declaration of his faith in America.”—Newsday “Meacham gives readers a long-term perspective on American history and a reason to believe the soul of America is ultimately one of kindness and caring, not rancor and paranoia.”—USA Today |
| joe biden worst president in history: Confronting the Presidents Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard, 2024-09-10 Every American president, from Washington to Biden: Their lives, policies, foibles, and legacies, assessed with clear-eyed authority and wit. Authors of the acclaimed Killing books, the #1 bestselling narrative history series in the world, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard begin a new direction with Confronting the Presidents. From Washington to Jefferson, Lincoln to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Kennedy to Nixon, Reagan to Obama and Biden, the 45 United States presidents have left lasting impacts on our nation. Some of their legacies continue today, some are justly forgotten, and some have changed as America has changed. Whether famous, infamous, or obscure, all the presidents shaped our nation in unexpected ways. The authors' extensive research has uncovered never before seen historical facts based on private correspondence and newly discovered documentation, such as George Washington's troubled relationship with his mother. In Confronting the Presidents, O’Reilly and Dugard present 45 wonderfully entertaining and insightful portraits of each president, with no-spin commentary on their achievements—or lack thereof. Who best served America, and who undermined the founding ideals? Who were the first ladies, and what were their surprising roles in making history? Which presidents were the best, which the worst, and which didn’t have much impact? How do decisions made in one era, under the pressure of particular circumstances, still resonate today? And what do presidents like to eat, drink, and do when they aren’t working—or even sometimes when they are? These and many more questions are answered in each fascinating chapter of Confronting the Presidents. Written with O’Reilly and Dugard’s signature style, authority, and eye for telling detail, Confronting the Presidents will delight all readers of history, politics, and current affairs, especially during the 2024 election season. |
| joe biden worst president in history: His Very Best Jonathan Alter, 2021-09-21 “Drawing on fresh archival material and extensive access to Carter and his family, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Alter tells the epic story of a man of faith and his improbable journey from barefoot boy in the vicious Jim Crow South to global icon. We learn how Carter evolved from a timid child into an ambitious naval nuclear engineer and an indefatigable born-again governor; how as a president he failed politically amid the bad economy of the 1970s and the seizure of hostages in Iran but succeeded in engineering peace between Israel and Egypt, amassing a historic environmental record, moving the government from tokenism to diversity, setting a new global standard for human rights, and normalizing relations with China, among dozens of other unheralded achievements. After leaving office, Carter revolutionized the postpresidency with the bold global accomplishments of the Carter center”--Cover. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Upswing Robert D. Putnam, 2020-10-13 From the author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids, a “sweeping yet remarkably accessible” (The Wall Street Journal) analysis that “offers superb, often counterintuitive insights” (The New York Times) to demonstrate how we have gone from an individualistic “I” society to a more communitarian “We” society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation. Deep and accelerating inequality; unprecedented political polarization; vitriolic public discourse; a fraying social fabric; public and private narcissism—Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: This is the worst of times. But we’ve been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However as the twentieth century opened, America became—slowly, unevenly, but steadily—more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today’s disarray. In a sweeping overview of more than a century of history, drawing on his inimitable combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Robert Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back again. He draws inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community. Engaging, revelatory, and timely, this is Putnam’s most ambitious work yet, a fitting capstone to a brilliant career. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Asian 21st Century Kishore Mahbubani, 2022 This open access book consists of essays written by Kishore Mahbubani to explore the challenges and dilemmas faced by the West and Asia in an increasingly interdependent world village and intensifying geopolitical competition. The contents cover four parts: Part One The End of the Era of Western Domination. The major strategic error that the West is now making is to refuse to accept this reality. The West needs to learn how to act strategically in a world where they are no longer the number 1. Part Two The Return of Asia. From the years 1 to 1820, the largest economies in the world were Asian. After 1820 and the rise of the West, however, great Asian civilizations like China and India were dominated and humiliated. The twenty-first century will see the return of Asia to the center of the world stage. Part Three The Peaceful Rise of China. The shift in the balance of power to the East has been most pronounced in the rise of China. While this rise has been peaceful, many in the West have responded with considerable concern over the influence China will have on the world order. Part Four Globalization, Multilateralism and Cooperation. Many of the world's pressing issues, such as COVID-19 and climate change, are global issues and will require global cooperation to deal with. In short, human beings now live in a global village. States must work with each other, and we need a world order that enables and facilitates cooperation in our global village. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Good Ruler Bruce Kuklick, 1988 Which American presidents have been good? Which have been bad? Experts on the presidency have never been able to agree on their assessments. Bruce Kuklick suggests that historians and political scientists have approached the problem of defining successful leadership without adequately considering the essential factor. Instead of trying to evaluate which presidents set consistent and worthy policies and brought them to fruition, Kuklick asks us to pay more attention to how the American people feel about their presidents. The citizenry and its emotional responses are sued as the measure of a successful president, rather than the ostensibly rational appraisals of scholars. Applying this measure to the presidents from the Depression to Watergate, Kuklick begins by tracing the way in which Franklin Roosevelt established the parameters of the inspirational presidency and how his success shaped the study of political history. He then explores the triumphs of Eisenhower and Kennedy and contrasts these triumphs too the failures of Hoover, Truman, Johnson, and Nixon. The ability of leaders to win the respect and admiration of the citizenry is, for Kuklick, the crucial touchstone by which the success of a president is judged. To highlight this position that is not useful for historians to justify the merits or failures of a president by pointing out what he would have done had he lived longer or in a different era, Kiklick includes and entertaining and enlightening fable, an imaginary view of historical events: Nixon is elected in 1960, giving a youthful tone to the White House until his assassination in 1967; Kennedy is elected in 1968 but resigns after he is accused of misconduct. The fable demonstrates that the specific events are less important than a president's ability to evoke a positive emotional response from the citizenry. The Good Ruler analyzes our recent political history without partisan bias and examines the basic premises of American democratic politics. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Donald J. Trump, Former President of the United States J.P.L. MIMMS, 2023-05-01 This character has behaved like a pariah toward his brother and his mother who never really controlled him, even since his early childhood. He was sent to military college and then to university, and not having good grades or SATs, he asked for help from a friend named Shapiro as well as his sister, who corrected his grades and SATs. This was the beginning of his cheating life. Later in business, in the sixties, with the help of his mentor, Roy Cohn, he learned how to defraud the government and the city of New York by not paying his taxes. Between the years 1970 to 2000, he made panoply of fraudulent bankruptcies in many different ways. Also, he did not pay his employees who were mostly undocumented immigrants. He threatened his contractors in multiple legal ways in order to avoid paying them. It is not surprising how this overly narcissistic, racist, lying character got along well with three dictators, including that of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and North Korea. His biggest cheat was when he became, in 2016, president of the United States of America. And this, with the help of his fixer and childhood friend, Felix Sater, who had connections with relatives of Vladimir Putin. There was also a friend of Michael Cohen's, named Gauger, who knew how to cheat the electoral system by rigging the polls. Another scam was to avoid going to Vietnam. He asked his father's doctor to obtain a document by pretending that he had a problem with an ankle. Trump's grandfather was kicked out of Germany in 1905 for avoiding military service. It would seem that Donald has the same DNA as his grandfather Friedrich. This persona, with his 4,500 lies and his shenanigans of all kinds, from 2016 to 2021, created an unimaginable chaos at the White House. He fomented, among other things, a lack of seriousness about the coronavirus pandemic. He lied to the American people throughout 2020 by making fun of the deaths for which he is 89 percent responsible by repeating in his rallies that it was a hoax and an invention of the Democrats. He never put a coronavirus program in place mainly because he preferred to play golf while Americans were dying by the hundreds of thousands. The worst happened on January 6, 2021. The president, with his big lies and his lying GOP accomplices of cowards, attempted a coup against their own government. Finally, we are not out of the woods yet since democracy is in danger, and as long as these heinous traitors are not accused and put behind bars, the future of this country is heading toward a second civil war. As I write these words in January 2022, the GOP, aided by media such as Fox News, who continues to spread lies, which a good portion of the population is hoarding into truth. Even after fifteen months of the defeat of Trump's Republicans, some still claim that they won this same election. It is grotesque! Finally, once again, the star Trump with the steal documents, the Mar-a-Lago raid occurred on August 8, 2022, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago complex in Palm Beach, Florida, the residence of Donald Trump, former president of the United States. According to the press and the political pundits, Trump was the worst president ever. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Promise Me, Dad Joseph R. Biden (Jr.), 2018 Promise me, Dad, Beau had told his father. Give me your word that no matter what happens, you're going to be all right. Joe Biden gave him his word. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden's extraordinary life and career. Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad--Joe, I need your help--he responded. For twelve months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his countryand his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama. Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop. This is a book written not just by the vice president, but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.--Provided by publisher. |
| joe biden worst president in history: White Working Class Joan C. Williams, 2017-05-16 I recommend a book by Professor Williams, it is really worth a read, it's called White Working Class. -- Vice President Joe Biden on Pod Save America An Amazon Best Business and Leadership book of 2017 Around the world, populist movements are gaining traction among the white working class. Meanwhile, members of the professional elite—journalists, managers, and establishment politicians--are on the outside looking in, left to argue over the reasons. In White Working Class, Joan C. Williams, described as having something approaching rock star status by the New York Times, explains why so much of the elite's analysis of the white working class is misguided, rooted in class cluelessness. Williams explains that many people have conflated working class with poor--but the working class is, in fact, the elusive, purportedly disappearing middle class. They often resent the poor and the professionals alike. But they don't resent the truly rich, nor are they particularly bothered by income inequality. Their dream is not to join the upper middle class, with its different culture, but to stay true to their own values in their own communities--just with more money. While white working-class motivations are often dismissed as racist or xenophobic, Williams shows that they have their own class consciousness. White Working Class is a blunt, bracing narrative that sketches a nuanced portrait of millions of people who have proven to be a potent political force. For anyone stunned by the rise of populist, nationalist movements, wondering why so many would seemingly vote against their own economic interests, or simply feeling like a stranger in their own country, White Working Class will be a convincing primer on how to connect with a crucial set of workers--and voters. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Where They Stand Robert W. Merry, 2012-06-26 The author of the acclaimed biography of President James Polk, A Country of Vast Designs, offers a fresh, playful, and challenging way of playing “Rating the Presidents,” by pitching historians’ views and subsequent experts’ polls against the judgment and votes of the presidents’ own contemporaries. Merry posits that presidents rise and fall based on performance, as judged by the electorate. Thus, he explores the presidency by comparing the judgments of historians with how the voters saw things. Was the president reelected? If so, did his party hold office in the next election? Where They Stand examines the chief executives Merry calls “Men of Destiny,’’ those who set the country toward new directions. There are six of them, including the three nearly always at the top of all academic polls—Lincoln, Washington, and FDR. He describes the “Split-Decision Presidents’’ (including Wilson and Nixon)—successful in their first terms and reelected; less successful in their second terms and succeeded by the opposition party. He describes the “Near Greats’’ (Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, TR, Truman), the “War Presidents’’ (Madison, McKinley, Lyndon Johnson), the flat-out failures (Buchanan, Pierce), and those whose standing has fluctuated (Grant, Cleveland, Eisenhower). This voyage through our history provides a probing and provocative analysis of how presidential politics works and how the country sets its course. Where They Stand invites readers to pitch their opinions against the voters of old, the historians, the pollsters—and against the author himself. In this year of raucous presidential politics, Where They Stand will provide a context for the unfolding campaign drama. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Joe Biden Evan Osnos, 2021-05-27 A concise, brilliant and trenchant examination of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his lifelong quest for the presidency Former vice president Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been called both the luckiest man and the unluckiest - fortunate to have sustained a fifty-year political career that reached the White House, but also marked by deep personal losses that he has suffered. Yet even as Biden's life has been shaped by drama, it has also been powered by a willingness, rare at the top ranks of politics, to confront his shortcomings, errors and reversals of fortune. His trials have forged in him a deep empathy for others in hardship - an essential quality as he addresses a nation at its most dire hour in decades. Blending up-close journalism and broader context, Evan Osnos illuminates Biden's life and captures the characters and meaning of an extraordinary presidential election. He draws on lengthy interviews with Biden and on revealing conversations with more than a hundred others, including President Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and a range of progressive activists, advisers, opponents, and Biden family members. In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy - a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Promises to Keep Joe Biden, 2007-07-31 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • President Joe Biden, the author of Promise Me, Dad, tells the story of his extraordinary life and career prior to his emergence as Barack Obama’s beloved, influential vice president. “I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. In fact, I believe that my chosen profession is a noble calling.”—Joe Biden Joe Biden has both witnessed and participated in a momentous epoch of American history. In Promises to Keep, Joe Biden reveals what these experiences taught him about himself, his colleagues, and the institutions of government. With his customary candor and wit, Biden movingly recounts growing up in a staunchly Catholic multigenerational household in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware; overcoming personal tragedy, life-threatening illness, and career setbacks; his relationships with presidents, with world leaders, and with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle; and his leadership of powerful Senate committees. Through these and other recollections, Biden shows us how the guiding principles he learned early in life—to work to make people’s lives better; to honor family and faith; to value persistence, candor, and honesty—are the foundation on which he has based his life’s work as husband, father, and public servant. Promises to Keep is an intimate series of reflections from a public servant who surmounted numerous challenges to become one of our most effective leaders and who refuses to be cynical about politics. It is also a stirring testament to the promise of the United States. Praise for Promises to Keep “A ripping good read . . . Biden is a master storyteller and has stories worth telling.”—The Christian Science Monitor “A compelling personal story.”—The New York Times “Moving . . . [Biden’s] response to tragedy and near death [is] both admirable and likable.”—Salon |
| joe biden worst president in history: One Nice Guy Not so Nice Murali Venugopalan, Johanna Venugopalan, Mundiyath Venugopalan, 2023-05-26 This book surveys President Biden's first two years in the White House. It examines first why he hasn't been able to keep his promise to stop the pandemic and to follow always his mantra Follow the Science. Then there is discussion of the importance of critical thinking and examines how race was incorporated into it to generate the critical race theory the teaching of which in schools and colleges has come under sharp attack from parents whom his administration has termed domestic terrorists. His contention that white supremacy is the greatest danger to the country follows, with the added topics of the increase in crime since summer of 2020, associated looting, shooting and shop lifting and Democrats demand for better gun control and defunding of police. Open border and immigration is treated in the context of building back better border-less with the huge crowds there. After that we review the domestic policy, foreign policy, and climate policy, all of which has resulted in bankrolling trillions of dollars in the inflation nation with nothing to show the taxpayer who is suffering from increasing food and fuel prices daily. Three following chapters discuss the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, assisting Ukraine as hired hands with weapons and money to defend the Russian invasion, and China's actions to take control of Taiwan, respectively. The last chapter is about midterm elections in which control of the House of Representatives was taken over by Republicans and the prospects for completing two terms as president. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal Noam Chomsky, Robert Pollin, 2020-09-22 An engaging conversation with Noam Chomsky—revered public intellectual and Manufacturing Consent author—about climate change, capitalism, and how a global Green New Deal can save the planet. In this compelling new book, Noam Chomsky, the world’s leading public intellectual, and Robert Pollin, a renowned progressive economist, map out the catastrophic consequences of unchecked climate change—and present a realistic blueprint for change: the Green New Deal. Together, Chomsky and Pollin show how the forecasts for a hotter planet strain the imagination: vast stretches of the Earth will become uninhabitable, plagued by extreme weather, drought, rising seas, and crop failure. Arguing against the misplaced fear of economic disaster and unemployment arising from the transition to a green economy, they show how this bogus concern encourages climate denialism. Humanity must stop burning fossil fuels within the next thirty years and do so in a way that improves living standards and opportunities for working people. This is the goal of the Green New Deal and, as the authors make clear, it is entirely feasible. Climate change is an emergency that cannot be ignored. This book shows how it can be overcome both politically and economically. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Rise to Greatness David Von Drehle, 2012-10-30 The electrifying story of Abraham Lincoln's rise to greatness during the most perilous year in our nation's history As 1862 dawned, the American republic was at death's door. The federal government appeared overwhelmed, the U.S. Treasury was broke, and the Union's top general was gravely ill. The Confederacy—with its booming economy, expert military leadership, and commanding position on the battlefield—had a clear view to victory. To a remarkable extent, the survival of the country depended on the judgment, cunning, and resilience of the unschooled frontier lawyer who had recently been elected president. Twelve months later, the Civil War had become a cataclysm but the tide had turned. The Union generals who would win the war had at last emerged, and the Confederate Army had suffered the key losses that would lead to its doom. The blueprint of modern America—an expanding colossus of industrial and financial might—had been indelibly inked. And the man who brought the nation through its darkest hour, Abraham Lincoln, had been forged into a singular leader. In Rise to Greatness, acclaimed author David Von Drehle has created both a deeply human portrait of America's greatest president and a rich, dramatic narrative about our most fateful year. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Voting Wars Richard L. Hasen, 2012-08-14 In 2000, just a few hundred votes out of millions cast in the state of Florida separated Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush from his Democratic opponent, Al Gore. The outcome of the election rested on Florida's 25 electoral votes, and legal wrangling continued for 36 days. Then, abruptly, one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, Bush v. Gore, cut short the battle. Since the Florida debacle we have witnessed a partisan war over election rules. Election litigation has skyrocketed, and election time brings out inevitable accusations by political partisans of voter fraud and voter suppression. These allegations have shaken public confidence, as campaigns deploy armies of lawyers and the partisan press revs up when elections are expected to be close and the stakes are high. |
| joe biden worst president in history: What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer, 2011-08-02 Before Game Change there was What It Takes, a ride along the 1988 campaign trail and “possibly the best [book] ever written about an American election” (NPR). Written by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and New York Times–bestselling author Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes is “a perfect-pitch rendering of the emotions, the intensity, the anguish, and the emptiness of what may have been the last normal two-party campaign in American history” (Time). An up-close, in-depth look at six candidates—George H. W. “Poppy” Bush, Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, and Gary Hart—this account of the 1988 US presidential campaign explores a unique moment in history, with details on everything from Bush at the Astrodome to Hart’s Donna Rice scandal. Cramer also addresses the question we find ourselves pondering every four years: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that allows them to throw their hat in the ring as a candidate for leadership of the free world? Exhaustively researched from thousands of hours of interviews, What It Takes creates powerful portraits of these Republican and Democratic contenders, and the consultants, donors, journalists, handlers, and hangers-on who surround them, as they meet, greet, and strategize their way through primary season chasing the nomination, resulting in “a hipped-up amalgam of Teddy White, Tom Wolfe, and Norman Mailer” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). With timeless insight that helps us understand the current state of the nation, this “ultimate insider’s book on presidential politics” explores what helps these people survive, what makes them prosper, what drives them, and ultimately, what drives our government—human beings, in all their flawed glory (San Francisco Chronicle). |
| joe biden worst president in history: Taking Back Trump's America Peter Navarro, 2022-09-20 As seen on Tucker Carlson As heard on Mark Levin In this follow-up to the breakout bestseller In Trump Time, Peter Navarro explains why Trump lost the White House in 2020 and how he will win it back in 2024—and none too soon. Steve Bannon, the chief architect of Trump’s 2016 win, describes Taking Back Trump’s America as “a brass-knuckled insider’s account of the merciless 2020 fall and miraculous 2024 rise of the White House of Trump.” In Peter Navarro’s telling—he was in all of the rooms where it happened—Trump’s fall may be laid squarely at the feet of a coterie of incompetent and disloyal “bad personnel” inside the White House. They continually sought to undermine the commander in chief they putatively served and included everyone from Attorney General Bill Barr, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and National Economic Council Directors Gary Cohn and Larry Kudlow, to National Security Advisors H.R. McMaster and John “Dr. Strangelove” Bolton, Jared “Rasputin” Kushner, the Four-Star Traitors in Generals John Kelly and Jim Mattis, and four of the worst chiefs of staff in White House history. This confederacy of predatory globalists, Never-Trump Republicans, wild-eyed Freedom Caucus nut jobs, and self-absorbed Wall Street transactionalists would constantly delay, disrupt, and deter a set of populist, economic, nationalist, and “tough on China” actions and policies that would have otherwise carried Donald Trump to a landslide victory. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Hardest Job in the World John Dickerson, 2020-06-16 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the veteran political journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent, a deep dive into the history, evolution, and current state of the American presidency, and how we can make the job less impossible and more productive—featuring a new post-2020–election epilogue “This is a great gift to our sense of the actual presidency, a primer on leadership.”—Ken Burns Imagine you have just been elected president. You are now commander-in-chief, chief executive, chief diplomat, chief legislator, chief of party, chief voice of the people, first responder, chief priest, and world leader. You’re expected to fulfill your campaign promises, but you’re also expected to solve the urgent crises of the day. What’s on your to-do list? Where would you even start? What shocks aren’t you thinking about? The American presidency is in trouble. It has become overburdened, misunderstood, almost impossible to do. “The problems in the job unfolded before Donald Trump was elected, and the challenges of governing today will confront his successors,” writes John Dickerson. After all, the founders never intended for our system of checks and balances to have one superior Chief Magistrate, with Congress demoted to “the little brother who can’t keep up.” In this eye-opening book, John Dickerson writes about presidents in history such a Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Eisenhower, and and in contemporary times, from LBJ and Reagan and Bush, Obama, and Trump, to show how a complex job has been done, and why we need to reevaluate how we view the presidency, how we choose our presidents, and what we expect from them once they are in office. Think of the presidential campaign as a job interview. Are we asking the right questions? Are we looking for good campaigners, or good presidents? Once a candidate gets the job, what can they do to thrive? Drawing on research and interviews with current and former White House staffers, Dickerson defines what the job of president actually entails, identifies the things that only the president can do, and analyzes how presidents in history have managed the burden. What qualities make for a good president? Who did it well? Why did Bill Clinton call the White House “the crown jewel in the American penal system”? The presidency is a job of surprises with high stakes, requiring vision, management skill, and an even temperament. Ultimately, in order to evaluate candidates properly for the job, we need to adjust our expectations, and be more realistic about the goals, the requirements, and the limitations of the office. As Dickerson writes, “Americans need their president to succeed, but the presidency is set up for failure. It doesn’t have to be.” |
| joe biden worst president in history: Details Are Unprintable Allan Levine, 2020-10-01 The narrative of Details Are Unprintable primarily unfolds over a seven-month period from October 1943 to April 1944—from the moment the body of twenty-two-year old Patricia Burton Lonergan is discovered in the bedroom of her New York City Beekman Hill apartment, to the arrest of her husband of two years, Wayne Lonergan, for her murder, and his subsequent trial and conviction. But this story goes back in time to the 1920s, when Wayne Lonergan grew up in Toronto and then forward to his post-prison life following his deportation to Canada. It is the chronicle of Lonergan in denial as a bisexual or gay man living in an intolerant and morally superior heterosexual world; and of Patricia, rich and entitled, a seeker of attention, who loved a night out on the town—all set against the fast pace of New York’s ostentatious café society. Part True Crime and part a social history of New York City in the 1940s, this book transports readers to the New York World’s Fair of 1939 when Patricia’s father William Burton first encountered Lonergan; the Stork Club, 21 Club, and El Morocco to experience with Patricia a night of drinking champagne cocktails and dancing; and the muggy New York courtroom where Lonergan’s fate was decided. What truly happened on that tragic night in October 24, 1943? Should we accept Lonergan’s confession at face value as the jury did? Or was he indeed a victim of physical and mental abuse by the state prosecutors and the police, as he maintained for the rest of his life? This book considers these, and other, key questions. |
| joe biden worst president in history: The Trials of Harry S. Truman Jeffrey Frank, 2023-03-14 Jeffrey Frank, author of the bestselling Ike and Dick, returns with the “beguiling” (The New York Times) first full account of the Truman presidency in nearly thirty years, recounting how a seemingly ordinary man met the extraordinary challenge of leading America through the pivotal years of the mid-20th century. The nearly eight years of Harry Truman’s presidency—among the most turbulent in American history—were marked by victory in the wars against Germany and Japan; the first use of an atomic bomb and the development of far deadlier weapons; the start of the Cold War and the creation of the NATO alliance; the Marshall Plan to rebuild the wreckage of postwar Europe; the Red Scare; and the fateful decision to commit troops to fight a costly “limited war” in Korea. Historians have tended to portray Truman as stolid and decisive, with a homespun manner, but the man who emerges in The Trials of Harry S. Truman is complex and surprising. He believed that the point of public service was to improve the lives of one’s fellow citizens and fought for a national health insurance plan. While he was disturbed by the brutal treatment of African Americans and came to support stronger civil rights laws, he never relinquished the deep-rooted outlook of someone with Confederate ancestry reared in rural Missouri. He was often carried along by the rush of events and guided by men who succeeded in refining his fixed and facile view of the postwar world. And while he prided himself on his Midwestern rationality, he could act out of instinct and combativeness, as when he asserted a president’s untested power to seize the nation’s steel mills. The Truman who emerges in these pages is a man with generous impulses, loyal to friends and family, and blessed with keen political instincts, but insecure, quick to anger, and prone to hasty decisions. Archival discoveries, and research that led from Missouri to Washington, Berlin and Korea, have contributed to an indelible and “intimate” (The Washington Post) portrait of a man, born in the 19th century, who set the nation on a course that reverberates in the 21st century, a leader who never lost a schoolboy’s love for his country and its Constitution. |
| joe biden worst president in history: Joe Biden Jules Witcover, 2010-10-05 Now with four new chapters that explore Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign; his sparring with Trump, both in and out of the debates; and his ultimate election as the 46th president of the United States Raised in the working-class towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with lackluster grades in school and no particular goals, Joe Biden shocked the nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in U.S. history. Over the course of more than four decades, he carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the country before going on to serve as the vice president under Barack Obama and ultimately taking up the office of president in his own right. Yet Biden’s political success has been matched by personal tragedy and countless challenges. Within two months of being elected in 1972, Biden lost his wife, Neilia, and his young daughter in a tragic accident—a loss that brought him to the nadir of despair and shook his resolve to stay in politics. He suffered two brain aneurysms and career-threatening gaffes and miscues. In 2015, he lost his eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer. These difficult trials left him a more compassionate man, particularly suited for “the battle for America’s soul” in the midst of the nationwide divisiveness brought to a head by President Trump. Based on exhaustive research by one of Washington’s most prolific journalists, including numerous exclusive interviews with Biden’s confidants and family members, as well as President Obama and the former vice president himself, Joe Biden goes beyond conventional biography to track the forces that have shaped a man whose plainspoken style and inspiring life story have resonated with millions of Americans and whose work has shaped modern American life. |
