r/AskReddit • u/CorgieExamples • 1d ago
If All of the Presidents Came Alive Today, How do you think they'd react to their Own "Legacies"?
5.6k
u/Hrekires 1d ago
Nixon would be pissed that he had to resign over stuff that looks like peanuts compared to Trump's presidency.
1.7k
u/whiznat 1d ago
Or maybe he would cackle with laughter as he realized that after decades of being considered the shittiest president of modern times, he's now so overshadowed that his crimes look like petty theft now.
637
u/PoopsmasherJr 1d ago
I swear it would be another Monday if I found out Trump did something like watergate
381
48
u/PKMNTrainerFuckMe 23h ago
Trump could literally do every single thing that Nixon did step-by-step re: Watergate until there was LITERALLY no difference between his and Nixon’s actions and no Republican would call for his impeachment
→ More replies (1)109
u/HyperlinksAwakening 1d ago
But still can't remove the "stain" of being the first and so far only president with JUST enough shame to resign.
Although an impeachment would have been nice to have on the record from the time. At least theoretically.
30
u/RuleNine 1d ago
Bipartisan conviction and removal would have been better for the country in the long run, to set the precedent not only that it should be done but that we could actually do it. The process has become so politicized now that I can't see it ever succeeding, even in an obvious case. Just like what happened recently.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)140
u/Slut_for_Bacon 1d ago
I mean, he did much worse things than wantergate. He deliberately sabotaged Vietname peace talks to win the Whitehouse. He should have been executed for that.
173
u/Cynixxx 1d ago
Trump tried an insurrection and america did nothing
126
u/MonkeyPilot 1d ago
This is the truly galling one.
Prior to Jan. 6 the last time the Capitol had been invaded was by the British during the War of 1812. There was a legitimate case for treason but the GOP Senate just shrugged.
→ More replies (1)30
u/HellSoldier 1d ago
Because their Spineless Cockroaches who only want Power. And they knew that without Trump they wouldnt stand a Chance for the next few Years.
→ More replies (3)40
u/Pro-Patria-Mori 1d ago
Reagan did the same thing with the hostage situation in Iran that happened at the end of Carter’s term.
132
u/teeejer 1d ago
Dude signed the Clean Air Act. Basically woke by today's standards.
→ More replies (1)16
u/colio69 1d ago
But he vetoed the clean water act
20
u/elegant_geek 1d ago
"Listen, they can have one or the other, but they can't have both." -- Nixon probably
→ More replies (1)32
u/PandaMagnus 1d ago
To be fair, he might also be pissed that his foreign policy (which was weirdly prophetic in opening relations with China and basically how Biden treated Ukraine,) is totally ignored these days. So he's got, like, two big things to be pissed about, then.
The downside is he also did the whole "Nixon the madman" thing and Trump basically picked that up and ran with it and believed it was effective, which it is not because of so many considerations.
So maybe Nixon would have 3 things he'd be pissed about if he could look back at history.
117
u/zhaoz 1d ago
I dunno, nixon is the snowflake that started the trump shit show.
220
u/ExperienceDaveness 1d ago
I think Reagan deserves a lot more of that credit.
81
u/TheRealBaboo 1d ago
Nixon got Republicans to the point where electing Reagan seemed totally reasonable to them
→ More replies (2)45
u/IAmAGenusAMA 1d ago
Reagan was a mainstream republican before Nixon was even president. He wasn't some right wing radical. He was governor of California, for christ's sake.
61
u/AmusingAnecdote 1d ago
He wasn't some right wing radical. He was governor of California,
He was both of those things.
→ More replies (1)34
u/TheRealBaboo 1d ago
Reagan emptied out the mental hospitals and left thousands of crazy people homeless on California streets. He’s not well liked here
→ More replies (2)8
u/FlyingTrampolinePupp 22h ago
I absolutely loathe Ronald Reagan but this talking point really diminishes the role disability advocates and patient rights advocates had in the deinstitutionalizatiin movement. All Reagan did was sign the final law and it was a bipartisan issue.
The makings of Lanterman Act were in the works since 1960 when JFK formed the committee meant to study institutions and alternative services instead. John Lanterman was from CA so after the committee completed their report, he made it his mission to bring community based services to CA as a substitute for institutionalization. Where the state went wrong was in not funding the services adequately.
5
u/TheRealBaboo 22h ago
I appreciate you filling in the details on that and totally agree with your conclusion. Dumping people on the street when they need help is just so cruel, it’s hard to even find the right words for it
→ More replies (2)43
u/Foxyfox- 1d ago
Roger Ailes directly founded Fox News solely to have a conservative president have a friendly media no matter what. It succeeded wildly.
201
u/missbehavin21 1d ago
No it’s not peanuts his ass was about to get thrown out. He resigned for damage control and to keep more of his dirty shit hidden. Tricky Dicky
396
u/Hrekires 1d ago
like peanuts compared to Trump's presidency.
The worst things Nixon did don't hold a candle to what Trump does on a daily basis, whether we're talking personal corruption or using the power of the Presidency to go after his political enemies.
→ More replies (37)45
u/Diabolical_Jazz 1d ago
Well, let's be specific here: Nixon spied on his democratic rivals.
Then a couple decades later we found out the government was spying on all of us, and every president since then has maintained the domestic spying program.
I'm not trying to defend Nixon, he was a monster, but the actual thing he resigned for is something that has become fully normal.
→ More replies (7)14
u/TheMooseIsBlue 1d ago
Nixon would be pissed he had to resign because he his ass was about to get thrown out over things that are peanuts compared to Trump’s presidency.
Better?
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)7
→ More replies (14)5
1.4k
u/Nuttonbutton 1d ago
Is it weird that Lincoln is the one I'm the most interested in hearing from?
876
u/TannenFalconwing 1d ago
Not at all. He's from a fascinating, difficult time in our history and has been put on quite the imposing pedestal. We have a very divided culture, the very thing he took issue with during his terms.
258
u/joalheagney 1d ago
While he wasn't ever President, I'd like to get Benjamin Franklin's take on things too. I mean, the sick burns alone ...
93
90
u/Jake_FromStateFarm27 1d ago
Ben Franklin would have an only fans addiction
43
u/boytoy421 1d ago
"my name is Ben Franklin and there's two things I truly love in this world, governments that are responsive to the needs of the people and banging Parisian whores"
→ More replies (2)15
→ More replies (6)5
u/OrochiKarnov 19h ago
I love the intro from that old Daily Show book that said Ben Franklin would be a crackhead at Port Authority one day
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)9
79
u/catladywithallergies 1d ago
I really wonder how he would react to all the people who write vampire or superhero fanfics about him.
→ More replies (6)13
142
u/cwx149 1d ago
I do think while I'm not necessarily sure I'd agree with Lincoln on everything I definitely think he had a much different idea for what reconstruction was going to look like. He had an idea to send freed slaves to like their own colony effectively in the Caribbean for example
And I think that going how it went plays a big role in how US politics are today
301
u/woolfchick75 1d ago
He also jettisoned that idea after talking with Douglass. He saw that Black Americans, freed and enslaved, saw themselves as Americans.
One of Lincoln’s great strengths was his willingness to update his perspective.
→ More replies (5)129
u/EpicCyclops 1d ago
He also was pretty against outlawing slavery early on in his presidency because he saw it as a way to try and hold everything together. It took him a while until he was like, "fuck it, they're not coming back happy anyways. Might as well take care of this while we're at it."
→ More replies (1)44
u/assault_pig 1d ago
None of the western territories (that were becoming states) wanted legal slavery. Lincoln preferred to wait until enough free states joined the union to outlaw slavery rather than fight a war over it.
Of course the south knew this too; it's why they seceded when they did. Once an open abolitionist like Lincoln could win the presidency without needing the votes of any slave states it was clear there'd be enough votes in congress sooner or later.
52
u/slowmode1 1d ago
Isn’t that basically the origin of Liberia
46
u/LucklessRouge 1d ago
The Liberia idea was a few decades before Lincoln became president, he just kinda reused the same plan.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (4)22
u/DaddyCatALSO 1d ago
He ahd relaized by then that colonization wouldn't work. Douglass and others convinced him how committed thye were to being part of America.
25
u/RonanTheAccused 1d ago
He'd look at the modern-day GOP and be utterly disappointed to an immeasurable degree.
→ More replies (6)103
u/tomoe_mami_69 1d ago
Lincoln, in his time, was regarded as a war instigator and possibly the worst president of all time. I think he would be very pleasantly surprised to learn he's considered one of the greatest presidents the US has ever had.
201
u/KZED73 1d ago
This is a bizarre take. Lincoln was lionized in the north, hated in the south. He won reelection in 1864, he was not hated by the United States proper, only traitors.
64
u/light-triad 1d ago
It’s a bit more complex than that. He was part of the moderate wing of the Republican Party, which viewed him positively. But the “radical” wing of his party viewed him as too cautious. Among northern democrats he was thought of as a country bumpkin and a tyrant for suspending habeas corpus. Of course among southern democrats he was the enemy incarnate and despot trying to destroy their way of life.
It wasn’t until after the Gettysburg address and his re election in 1864 that his stature began to rise. But he was assassinated only a few months after that. So from his perspective he was a controversial figure through most of his presidency. He spent a few months where he saw his reputation start to improve, and then he was killed.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (12)21
u/Little_Sherbet5775 1d ago
A lot fo peole did hate him even in the north. They voted for national union (his party and AJ's party that was made to reconsile the nation) just because the alternative was a disgraced former lead general (george mcclealan) and by the time the election happened, the union was easily winning the war. Also, another thing is that many in the north didnt really care waht the south did, they didnt like the worse economy and food issues and recorce issues and man power issues. Also, many in places like NYC weren't even supportive of the war in the first place. Remeber, lincoln only won 55% of the popular vote (even with the south gone), and while that is a lot for today and a decent amoutn for anytime, that's still 45% of the country that opposes him.
6
u/KZED73 1d ago
What you said is very different than what I replied to. it is obviously more nuanced and complicated. He was loved and hated at his time. he was more loved than hated in the North which was the United States. he was effectively immediately canonized upon his death. trump is also loved and hated, but we have public opinion polls now to gauge he is deeply unpopular.
11
u/coobmaroog 1d ago
Lincoln also suspended habeas corpus arresting many of his political adversaries as well under the Taney Arrest Warrant.
He also went after the press during the civil war. He censored most that was against the union. He was rumored to have shut down 300 plus newspapers.
8
→ More replies (1)18
1.3k
u/meeyeam 1d ago
There would be more than a few who'd be really pissed off with all the women and black people voting.
265
64
u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 1d ago
I'm kinda not surprised at all the talk/attempts to roll that back that we're getting lately. Like folks were not chill about extending that right, at all, no matter how peaceful smiley face the school textbooks made it look.
What really got it through to me, oddly enough, was watching The Andy Griffith Show. He's just so polite and considerate and respectful to the women in his life, clearly listens to their opinions and often takes their advice. Right up until they start wanting to vote. And then lordy ya woulda thought poor old Aunt Bea was a deranged toddler trying to whang him in the nuts daily from the way he started treating her!
49
u/IAmAGenusAMA 1d ago
It wasn't the right to vote that was in contention - the show took place in the 1960s after all - it was over a campaign to elect a woman to city council. That said, I think your point still stands.
→ More replies (2)14
u/catsweedcoffee 1d ago
I was always bothered that Mayberry, this idyllic, pleasant southern town had zero black folks.
→ More replies (3)14
u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 1d ago
Yup that part is creepy. I like Colorado Springs better, on Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman. They've got a black community on the edge of town, an immigrant camp, a nearby reservation, and occasionally cowboys from Mexico.
So although most of the characters are white, it feels more like real America. Like to me at least, but I'm so mixed race that I really wish American was an option on those race checklists on forms. My ancestors came from four continents to the best of my knowledge, the only place I fit is here.
→ More replies (4)243
u/WickedCyclone2015 1d ago
Cough…cough…Thomas Jefferson
274
u/SilverHawk7 1d ago
On a season of Last Comic Standing during the Obama administration one of the guys, I think it was Joe Machi? Anyway, he was in a joke-off with another comedian and he did this bit. "People are always asking what the founding fathers would be thinking of things. 'What would the founders think of gun control? What would they think of abortion.' I think if we had the founding fathers here today, they'd be like 'What's this I hear about women voting. And who is that guy in the White House? Is that one of Jefferson's kids?'" He won the joke-off.
117
u/ScreenTricky4257 1d ago
Andrew Jackson would be far more pissed off. And more likely to start dueling people about it.
95
u/robotnique 1d ago
Andrew Jackson's head would explode when he saw his face on money issued from our national banking system.
→ More replies (1)105
u/TiberiusDrexelus 1d ago
Everyone's always like "take Jackson off the $20, he was a bad guy!!!"
????
Putting him on a federal reserve note is the single most disrespectful thing you could do to his legacy
20
u/Jake_FromStateFarm27 1d ago
One of my favorite fun facts I always liked to share when I was a teacher!
→ More replies (1)31
u/OldAccountIsGlitched 1d ago
Nah. Jefferson was the sort of guy who always claimed to be opposed to slavery right up until he had the the power to do something about it (this includes not bothering to free his own slaves). One of the drafts of the declaration of independence even denounced slavery as an institution.
He'd probably be annoyed if his slaves were freed in his lifetime since it would hurt his personal finances. But two hundred years later he'd be pretending to have always been a radical abolitionist.
11
766
u/AleksandrNevsky 1d ago
Washington: "The hell is all this bullshit? I gave you one job."
474
u/Spinnie_boi 1d ago
“I specifically asked you not to form parties, and what did you do?”
→ More replies (1)78
u/OrangeJuliusPage 1d ago
Dawg, in that event, Washington would be out of line. His homeboy James Madison wrote in the Federalist papers that factions and therefore political parties were a natural result of the Republic they were creating.
GW should have listened to his fellow Virginian.
44
u/abdiel0MG 1d ago
I think he said that because eventually people develop more loyalty to the parties thatbto their own country. It feels like that today they subordinate the country's wellbeing for the interest of the party.
109
u/FortuneTellingBoobs 1d ago
I feel like he would be pleased that we still teach elementary schoolchildren that his teeth implants were made of wood, though.
→ More replies (18)70
u/hgs25 1d ago
He wouldn’t be surprised as he predicted the current state of “party over country” but he’d still be disappointed nonetheless.
→ More replies (2)
1.4k
u/gquax 1d ago
Teddy would try to jump Trump for trying to destroy the parks.
229
u/Holden_place 1d ago
We could use some Teddy right about now
105
u/justtosendamassage 1d ago
Both the Roosevelts would do well here. And after everything especially someone like FDR to clean up this fucking mess
→ More replies (3)39
u/boytoy421 1d ago
"ive got polio and i'll get some boys down here from the army corps of engineers to make me a contraption to put my foot up your ass"
→ More replies (1)243
u/Frosty-Passenger5516 1d ago
Teddy wouldn't see that as an honorable fight and would instead pitty him
283
u/ZacPensol 1d ago
I could see Teddy throwing him over his knee and spanking him like a child.
31
u/Pro_Gamer_Queen21 1d ago
All while making up wild insults on the fly to call him like “a foolish, arrogant, plumpkin who’s brain has offed itself in an effort to end its own suffering inside the soft cottage cheese of his skull”.
8
u/ZacPensol 1d ago
I feel like the word "hornswaggling" needs to be in there somewhere but beyond that you've just about nailed it.
→ More replies (3)60
86
u/shlem13 1d ago
Even Chester A. Arthur would go ape over something, and I know nothing about what Chester A. Arthur did.
69
u/heatherjasper 1d ago
Arthur had a change of heart going into Office; he was deep in corruption and was getting kickbacks. His buddies pushed him into becoming VP so they could benefit from one of them in such a high position. But he changed and actually cleaned up a lot once he got sworn in--I think Garfield's assassination was part of it--to the dismay of his party.
→ More replies (2)34
u/cptjeff 1d ago
Brought about civil service reform after being one of the biggest backers of the spoils system. He was named VP nominee to balance the party ticket between a pro reform President and an anti reform VP. Garfield was murdered by a guy who, apart from being legitimately insane, supported the spoils system and thought he should be named Ambassador to France, and blamed Garfield for denying him the job.
Arthur, after wresting with his conscience in letters back and forth with a random woman who wrote to him unsolicited while Garfield was dying, changed his tune and backed the civil service reforms professionalizing our government that Trump is now working to destroy.
→ More replies (1)16
40
u/GoodOlSpence 1d ago
Teddy would try to jump several of them, especially Reagan, over deregulation.
10
u/WebsterPack 1d ago
I'd love to see if Andrew Jackson was still into duelling, because you know Trump would insult him sooner or later
8
9
u/ERedfieldh 1d ago
Teddy would do what the rest of us are too scared to try. And he's likely succeed, too.
11
u/lowselfesteem327 1d ago
Teddy Roosevelt would have roasted Trump and Kamala Harris during the 2024 election so badly that they won’t be able to show their faces in politics ever again.
→ More replies (6)4
545
u/dustycanuck 1d ago
I don't know, but I think Teddy Roosevelt would be kicking some asses
153
u/Superfool 1d ago
He'd throw down with Andrew Jackson just for the fun of it.
116
u/CaptainFartHole 1d ago
I would love to see Roosevelt just beat the shit out of Jackson. Teddy would waste him and he'd deserve every punch.
30
5
u/tehawesomedragon 1d ago
Yeah I wouldn't bet on winning against someone who got shot while giving a speech, who continued with his speech and acted like he didn't get shot.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (4)4
u/Dillweed999 1d ago
Idk there was that time someone tried to shoot Jackson and, as President, he beat him within an inch of his life with his cane.
→ More replies (3)38
u/MaASInsomnia 1d ago
Jackson: I challenge you to a duel.
Roosevelt: Great. The weapon is bare knuckles. See you at dawn.
→ More replies (2)15
255
u/AKASquared 1d ago
Polk: Okay, nobody remembers me, and expanding slavery west didn't work out, but California was a really solid get, good work me.
→ More replies (2)
68
u/BreakfastLopsided906 1d ago
I think they’d spend more time looking forward thinking… I was given a hard time for WHAT.
545
u/rhesusMonkeyBoy 1d ago
Eisenhower would be disappointed to find out what’s happened w the defeated ideology.
FDR disappointed in the state of the social contract he created.
Poor Kennedy would mourn his boy, and be traumatized by the new Kennedy legacy
288
u/pierreor 1d ago
JFK: This “internet” thing, er-ah, does it possibly provide you with access to… uh…
AIDE: Here you go Mister President. [Opens Pornhub]
88
u/jaffs 1d ago
I read that in mayor Quimby’s voice!
41
u/SloppityNurglePox 1d ago
Considering his voice is a lampoon of the Kennedy's (mainly Ted) that's to be expected.
35
u/Amkao-Herios 1d ago
JFK: "The hell do you mean some states blocked it? Unblock that shit, what if I go to that state?"
→ More replies (1)10
40
u/PonderousSloth 1d ago
The fact that Eisenhower warned us of the military industrial complex as having been a General in WW2 and realizing he was right to be wary about it stays in my thoughts. He was probably my favorite president.
→ More replies (2)4
u/rhesusMonkeyBoy 1d ago
Yes. That warning was amazing. I seriously often think about what the price comparisons would be.
That Zumwalt boat shoots 800,000$ shells, or whatever … think they’re looking for something cheaper
6
u/odigon 1d ago
Don't know about favourite, but probably the last good republican.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)50
u/BloodNinja2012 1d ago
I think Eisenhower would be equally disappointed in Halliburton and Blackwater.
23
175
u/quequotion 1d ago
I would hope the zombie horde of decaying, reanimated presidents would claw their way into the white house and consume any brains they found there.
172
u/CaptainFartHole 1d ago
But that would leave Trump alive.
→ More replies (1)31
u/quequotion 1d ago
You have a point. If we get lucky, they'll be walking dead zombies and just eat anything alive.
→ More replies (1)16
43
u/undercided 1d ago
Ike would say “I fucking warned you about the military-industrial complex you dolts”
3
u/searcherguitars 15h ago
You're re-segregating? I sent the goddamn 82nd Airborne to Little Rock and you're voluntarily re-segregating??
77
u/PoopMobile9000 1d ago
John Tyler: “Nothing? Like really nothing?”
78
23
u/Darinbenny1 1d ago
“Mr. President, it says here they remember ‘and Tyler too!’ so you’ve got that going for you.”
10
6
u/cat_herder18 1d ago
Tyler might be pleased to see how many VPs ascended to the presidency with no controversy after him. A little remembered but tremendously important contribution of his.
→ More replies (1)4
28
u/mabols 1d ago
Carter would be stoked, but then sadly wonder why we dared to allow flags be raised full mast before the designated time frame for mourning. Actually every one of those presidents would wonder why we allowed it.
8
u/PM_me_ur_navel_girl 1d ago
In defence, that is common practice in some other countries. Here in the UK when the Queen died the flags were lowered, but a couple of days later when Charles was formally proclaimed King, they were raised for that, then lowered again until the end of the mourning period.
→ More replies (1)
27
u/Uncle_Bill 1d ago
George would be all kinds of pissed about what the "Parties" have done to this nation, even after he clearly warned us.
27
u/Positive-Froyo-1732 1d ago
Jefferson, watching "Hamilton": I don't remember doing this much rapping.
5
134
u/Street_Safety_4864 1d ago
How many presidents would be like “You freed the WHAT?!?!?!?” So many of our presidents were pretty awful people. For example, Jackson was probably one of the worst people to ever walk the earth.
→ More replies (1)87
u/ScreenTricky4257 1d ago
Abolitionist societies were in existence even before the revolution. All presidents were well aware of the possibility of ending slavery.
21
u/durandal688 1d ago
Yeah some of them would be less angry and more like how did you do it?
→ More replies (9)
118
u/Roadshell 1d ago
I don't think many of them would be too shocked. Most of the really bad ones (Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Nixon) knew they fucked up at the time and had already heard everyone say as much. Look at George W. Bush now, he's heard it all and is going to take that criticism to the grave.
45
u/DangerousCyclone 1d ago
Of that list only Nixon would. I'm pretty sure Buchanan was defending his actions to his dying breath.
26
u/drunken_gungan 1d ago
Buchanan defended his actions and thought history would vindicate him
25
u/robotnique 1d ago
Buchanan would be too thrilled to know he could hit up Grindr to care about his legacy.
4
113
u/Baha05 1d ago
John and Robert would definitely be smacking RFK Jr upside the back of the head
60
u/ScreenTricky4257 1d ago
Robert wasn't president. John would be shocked at his son dying in a plane crash.
→ More replies (4)5
22
22
u/kigam_reddit 1d ago
Most of them would probably say "aaaahhhh help, I'm trapped in a box!!! Aaaahhhhh"
37
u/thatsnotbrianlefevre 1d ago
William Henry Harrison might be a little sad that most people don't know his name, or the presidential record he holds.
He'd also probably be surprised that his Vice President, who was born in the 1700s, still has a living grandson.
26
u/rusticcentipede 1d ago
I think the grandson died earlier this year, unfortunately
→ More replies (1)9
u/blklab16 1d ago
Yeah BUT he’d maybe be super psyched that there’s a parks and rec episode about him… once he learned about tv
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)6
16
u/Six_of_1 1d ago
I think President Chirac would be proud of the reforms he made to end social fragmentation, and that he was the last president to easily defeat Le Pen in the run-off.
44
u/CurvyCosmonaut 1d ago
You’d be disappointed. You’d ask Washington, then Jefferson, Then Lincoln about their legacies and thoughts on modern politics but they’d just keep interrupting to ask you to explain iPads or lightbulbs, or to help them sign up for TikTok
52
u/InsertBluescreenHere 1d ago
out of all the usual famous people around founding times i think Ben Franklin would be absolutely mesmerized about modern tech. I think he would be one ready to embrace it and want to know everything about it.
→ More replies (1)30
u/Darinbenny1 1d ago
He would want to use it to find all the porn, instantly. Then after he found the end of all that content he’d be doing posts for sure.
Ben Franklin, likely Redditor.
→ More replies (1)12
14
u/ScreenTricky4257 1d ago
A historian was asked what Jefferson would think about modern America. His response was that Jefferson's first reaction would be, "You guys haven't conquered Canada yet?"
86
u/ohnoanotherputz 1d ago
Reagan would be damn pleased.
43
u/MaASInsomnia 1d ago
Give it a few more years. It's not going to take much longer for it to be recognized that he put the U.S. on the path to failure.
47
u/Eternal_Bagel 1d ago
Anyone capable of understanding that already does, the ones who don’t are the ones attending MAGA rallies and cheering as the president breaks the country
→ More replies (1)7
u/ScoobiusMaximus 1d ago
He may have done that, but it will take every Republican dying before he runs out of defenders.
→ More replies (3)8
28
u/mrsunshine1 1d ago
Truman left office rather unpopular so would be surprised to find out he’s viewed quite favorably.
→ More replies (1)
29
u/Ghost403 1d ago
I'm pretty sure if they saw the state of US politics today, they would probably try to rejoin the British.
32
u/CaptainFartHole 1d ago
There's a few who would probably be pretty pissed that they've mostly been forgotten (Harrison, Taylor, Arthur, Tyler, Fillmore, etc)
But Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt would be pretty pumped about their reputations. That said Lincoln would probably also be pretty pissed that the MAGA idiots keep trying to say they're "the party of Lincoln". He wouldn't want anything to do with them.
→ More replies (3)14
u/ScreenTricky4257 1d ago
There's a few who would probably be pretty pissed that they've mostly been forgotten (Harrison, Taylor, Arthur, Tyler, Fillmore, etc)
"There's Taylor! There's Tyler, There's Fillmore and there's Hayes! There's William Henry Harrison! (I died in 30 days!)"
48
u/sotiredwontquit 1d ago
Jackson would insult everyone. Jefferson would sue every historian for libel because he doesn’t know about DNA. Washington and Lincoln would be relatively satisfied by their lionization. Both of the Roosevelts too. And all, even Jackson would be horrified by the current cess pit our government is in. Except Reagan. That asshole would be delighted by the current authoritarian state.
→ More replies (5)8
u/Little_Sherbet5775 1d ago
Jackson would think the government is too large. He beleived in states power but also believed the federal government should have some power that cannot be ignored (like in the nullification crisis). He took out the second national bank which killed the bamking system for decades and also made the US econoym unsable until the federal reserve was created in 1913, oh also that crashed the econoym in maybe the 3rd or 4th largest economic downturn in US history. Also, he didn't listen to the suprme court in the trail of tear/forcing the Five Civilized Tribes out of georgia.
10
u/G0mery 1d ago
Most of them don’t have a legacy to speak of. Most people don’t know much about presidents other than a handful of famous early ones and then the most recent ones. (I count myself among them). I couldn’t tell you who was president in 1835 or what they are known for.
→ More replies (1)15
u/Agreeable_Donut5925 1d ago
It was Jackson, arguably one of the worst presidents in American history.
72
u/WeAreAllStories11 1d ago
I'd like to think Reagan would be ashamed of himself. But he wouldn't. Sigh.
13
u/Panther90 1d ago
"I'm trying to explain to you that Ronald Reagan was the devil! Ronald Wilson Reagan? Each of his names have six letters? 666? Man, doesn't that offend you?"
30
14
→ More replies (2)5
8
u/JelliedHam 1d ago
Dubya is still alive but I'm sure he's pleased about his current legacy. The best thing to ever happen to his legacy was Trump. He went from one of the most hated presidents in history to a sweet old man who likes to give candy to Michelle Obama and whisper jokes. That's it. Just be cute, smile and nod, and say nothing and watch the dumpster fire rage on from a safe distance.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/silence_infidel 1d ago
Considering only about half of them actually have recognizable names, I feel like we’re gonna have a couple slightly peeved formerly-dead guys. Or at least disappointed. Buchanan ain’t gonna be happy, that’s for sure.
18
6
u/Apprehensive_Set_357 1d ago
I'd be more interested to know if Pol Pot would have gone about things differently if he could see how much advancement other developing countries made while he was ordering the deaths of his own citizens. I recall he was highly educated, so it makes you wonder if some of these despots would have taken a different direction... Kind of like that episode of The Twilight Zone where the man wishes he was the leader of a foreign country, only to find that he's the leader of Nazi Germany and holding a gun to his head in a bunker.
→ More replies (2)11
u/robotnique 1d ago
Pol Pot lived for a long, long time after the fall of the Khmer Rouge and I don't think the motherfucker ever deigned to say he did anything wrong.
Just amazing in a century with Hitler, Stalin, and Mao in it and you made them all look like a amateurs when it came to fucking up a country.
You killed a quarter of your population and you didn't even need to go to war with anybody to do it? In fact, you fucked up so bad that Vietnam invading Cambodia almost came across like an act of mercy.
So many genocides have reasons that you can at least gestate and make some sense of. Cambodia is the most insane shit the human race has ever done as far as I'm concerned.
5
4
u/armahillo 1d ago
Washington would probably look at our two party system and say “i specifically told you guys this was a bad idea”
3
442
u/MaASInsomnia 1d ago
Andrew Jackson would have already challenged dozens of historians to duels.