Whether history treats our nation's 47th commander in chief well, of course depends on several conditions especially on which historian writes the history.
Winston Churchill once said, "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
The current class of left-wing historians will predictably run Trump down, but do they really count?
They are liberal clichés, performing for the left-wing parlor game, utterly predictable with little real credibility outside the liberal salons of the academy, MSNBC and CNN.
More importantly, to this author and historian, Trump will score high marks.
Another measurement of a president's success is how the American people will regard him at the end of their presidency.
Ronald Wilson Reagan had an approval rating of over 70% when he left office, but he dipped down into the 40% range during the tail end of the Carter recession.
Trump's record of success is dizzying (the border, inflation, the economy and now . . . Mideast peace).
I won't list it all here, except to dwell on the Abraham Accords and the new Mideast peace agreement. Who would have thought 20 years ago that there would be Arab embassies in Israel?
This is a monumental achievement deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize alone, just as General Douglas MacArthur's administration of the rebuilding of Japan post World War II was also deserving of a Nobel Prize.
President Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot as did John Paul II.
Was it because they were conservatives?
The Nobel Committee preferred to give its prize to a president, nearly two decades ago, based on racial preferences, as opposed to whether Barack Obama truly deserved to receive one of the Nobel Committee's highest recognitions.
His race will always be a factor in calculating his importance to history for liberals, more interested in identity, than it merits.
Seemingly Obama's only skill was in the study of himself, which is why I call him the nation's "first Facebook president."
He never met a first person pronoun he did not like.
Addtionally, the prize was even awarded to former Tennessee U.S. Senator and Vice-Preisdent Al Gore, whose "out-there" view of the environment continues to be proven wrong to this very day.
We've now had 47 presidents; most of them rank from mediocre to bad.
Joe Biden stands out because he is the most recent lacking competence and leadership.
History will record him not only as America's worst president, but perhaps our most malleable. People will look at the Biden years the same way they looked at the Hoover years, bleak and wholly without hope.
Mark Twain once joked, "History is merely a list of surprises."
However, most leaders don't take that crticial, if not cynical, view.
Most of influential men believe that, to at least a limited degrees, they are masters of our their own fates. John Kennedy said history is the "past rushing into the future."
In today's world of hyper speed communications, it does often seem that history is rushing toward us.
Pulling up the rear with Biden and Obama are John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.
All these presidents left America worse than whence they found her.
All are judged by history to have been failed presidents.
In the second class of excellent presidents are Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Harry Truman and John Kennedy.
Kennedy will always be subject to some debate as where he belongs/ranks.
He was a political conservative, fiercely anti-communist, a tax cutter and a visionary who launched America to the moon.
He's a personal favorite of mine as he was the first president of whom I was cognizant.
His handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in October of 1962, was masterful.
Presidents in the great category include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Ronald Reagan.
All did much to save many, many people, and leave their country a better place.
The accomplishments of the "Father of Our Country" are too numerous to mention.
Lincoln went on to defeat the scourge of slavery, while FDR won World War II.
Reagan overcame the Soviet Union, triumphing over communism's persistent threat.
My wife and I both worked for Reagan so he will always have a special place in our hearts.
In addition to working for the Republican National Committee, Zorine also ran CPAC for a number of years. During that time, Reagan spoke — each year.
The great philosopher Charles Adams postulated, "Do the times make the man, or does the man make the times?"
It was intended to stimulate debate but in the case of Donald Trump, there is no debate.
Trump makes the times he lives in.
Great presidents are also known for great quotes:
"Government like fire is a dangerous servant and fearful master," George Washington.
"A nation divided against itself cannot stand," Lincoln.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, FDR."
"Ask not, what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," JFK.
And "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny," Reagan, (in 1964).
And now Trump’s identifying sentence might be, "The hostages are free!" which also means peace in the Mideast which is what the headlines are saying today.
As was once said, "A leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way."
This phrase certainly applies to our greater presidents and definitely applies to President Donald John Trump today.
I won't yet place Trump in history except to rank him high so far; however, considering all the things he’s accomplished in 10 short months, he has three plus more years for even greater accomplishments.
One thing is certain.
Our nation's 47th president will leave his country as a better place in which to live.
As Napoleon once said, "A leader is one who deals in hope."
Mr. Trump deals in hope . . . consistently.
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement. Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.