How Will History's Magnifying Glass View Trump?

History Has Reason to Treat Trump Well

The question of how history and the court of public opinion will treat — that is remember — a U.S. president has been asked many times. By scholars, politicians, and others.

Presidents themselves are seemingly no stranger themselves to this question.

For example in Lincoln in his famous 1863 "Gettysburg Address," expounding on a "new birth of freedom" and his second Inaugural address of March 4, 1865 when he said "with firmness toward none, with charity for all."

Then there's President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in."

Certainly, this does not sound like a commander in chief who doesn't have at least one eye on history's poignant retrospective examinations of leadership's grip on events.

This writer firmly believes it of course also depends on the historian.

The current class of left-wing establishment historians will predictably run Trump down.

But ask yourselves, in our present age, "Do they really count anymore?"

Liberal cliques, made up of far-left academia, liberal cable TV networks, and left-wing advocacy groups are utterly predictable entities, possessing little real credibility, harshly judge our current president.

But to historians of a more conservative bent and thus more open minded, including me, Trump will score high.

This is why quite frankly, conservative historians are more prominent and consequential than those of the left-leaning variety.

What annoys them so?

Yes, Donald Trump is controversial.

All effective presidents are controversial.

When George Washington became president, already over a 100,000 thousand colonists left America. They simply didn't want to live under a constitutional republic.

The Civil War was controversial, sparking New York City's draft riots (July 13-16, 1863).

Taking on the Soviet Union was certainly controversial. Cutting tax rates and shrinking government was controversial, under Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump.

We've now had 47 commanders in chief, many mediocre to bad.

Take Joe Biden.

History will record him as not only America's worst president, but our most malleable.

His name will become a noun as in "pulling a Biden" in the future.

But . . . was Biden evil? Who knows? That one's for theologians to decide.

If we use the "Federalist Papers" as our guide, we (and other historians) can perhaps make the argument, he is of bad character. John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, the authors of the Federalist Papers hammered over and over that the most important qualification for a president was character.

They cited character dozens of times, "the real character of the chief executive."

Right behind Biden is Barack Obama. He was only skilled in the study of himself which is why I called him our nation's "first Facebook president," leaving no real measurable accomplishments in his eight-year presidency except to grow government, leaving the nation with annual economic growth of only 2%.

He never met a first person pronoun he did not like.

Pulling up the rear with Biden and Obama are: John Tyler, Millard Filmore, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and both Bushes.

They were uniformly bad presidents, but this historian won’t go as far as to say any of them possessed bad character. Some were simply victims of their time and judging them too harshly is to engage in "presentism."

Some presidents have simply been inept on a grand scale and/or "in over their heads."

Presidents in the great category include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. All did great things.

• Washington's were too numerous to mention.
• Lincoln's was to defeat the scourge of slavery.
• FDR's was shepherding the nation during the Great Depression, and winning World War II.
• Reagan's was defeating the Soviet Union and winning the Cold War while restoring American morale.

Turning back to Trump.

He's already measurably leaving America better than he found it.

Trump is aggressively tackling illegal immigration, the border and taming rampant inflation.

The economy is on track, after costing investors billions of dollars under Biden.

At another level, Trump is confronting a corrupt and dictatorial big, bloated government.

It's no easy task to practice federalism as Trump is now doing.

George Washington fought a big, corrupt and dictatorial government: the British Empire.

But he had an advantage.

He could shoot his enemies.

Trump must rely on his ability to persuade, and negotiate, like the seasoned leader he is.

Furthermore, let's not forget, Trump is moving with alacrity on his legislative (inclusive of his domestic and foreign policy) agendas.

• He sincerely wants to help the American people.
• His sincerity has been noted by our first responders and military.
• Morale in both places is up.

Lest we forget, Trump fashioned the Abraham Accords, a break from the old order.

Who in their wildest dreams imagined 20 years ago there would be five Arab embassies in Israel? This is an accomplishment of earth-shaking proportions, and he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

He’s gotten American and Israeli hostages out.

Biden slept.

He got the "Big, Beautiful Bill" passed, and did so over manufactured opposition.

Let's not forget the "BBB" contains much to take power away from Washington, D.C. and government, sending it back to the states, localities and individuals.

That’s where the Framers intended power to be!

Trump is clearly and decisively setting the agenda.

He's ushering in a new period of republican governance, just as Lincoln did — and just as FDR did with the Democrats.

He’s positioned the GOP to have the answers to the problems afflicting Americans.

Recall our dialectic to America politics. Every 20 to 40 years, there comes an election sending America wildly off in a new direction.

From Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, to Abraham Lincoln.

To Thedore "Teddy" Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan and now to Trump.

Each election has rejected the status quo in favor of a new paradigm.

I don’t know how Trump will finally end up among the panoply of presidents, bus as far as this historian is concerned, he will be ranked high, and deservedly so.

Craig Shirley is a prominent historian having written eleven books. He is now working on a book about the Trump 2024 campaign. Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.